Teachers’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Academic Acceleration

Acceleration is one method of differentiating instruction for gifted students that has proven to have positive academic and social-emotional benefits. However, it is often underutilized by teachers and administrators either due to misinformation or lack of information. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions held by teachers regarding the effectiveness of acceleration as a service option for students who are gifted. Findings indicated that, although teachers appear to be well-informed about the benefits of acceleration on academic achievement and engagement, they appear to be misinformed about the social-emotional effects of acceleration. The majority of teachers indicated that students who are accelerated would not thrive socially. Additionally, they believed that not allowing students to accelerate when a need is identified would not cause social-emotional harm to students. Further research is needed to determine if the findings indicated here are generalizable to the larger population