Fast Track to Excellence: Impact of English I Acceleration on Gifted Learners\u27 Academic Achievement and Course Selection at the Secondary Level

Academic acceleration, sometimes referred to as “appropriate developmental placement” (Lubinski & Benbow, 2000, p. 138), is a differentiation practice providing academically gifted students with opportunities to learn curriculum more quickly. The research study was a mixed method experimental design where the evaluator examined two dependent variables in the study: academic performance and scheduling choices of academically gifted students. The independent variable was the intervention put into place for academically gifted students at the middle school: accelerated English I. The study compared AIG students who accelerated the English I class with those who did not in order to isolate whether or not the class influences the outcome (grades and performance) in upper level English classes and testing requirements as well as future scheduling choices offered at the secondary level (Creswell, 2014). After careful analysis of the quantitative and qualitative results, the findings of this study indicate that the implementation of the English I acceleration program had positive effects on both student achievement and student scheduling. This mixed methods study addressed the use of subject-specific acceleration at the middle school to meet the needs of academically gifted learners. The findings of the study added to the limited research on the effectiveness of accelerated academic programs put into place to meet the needs of gifted students