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There are many forms of acceleration, some of which provide children with the opportunity to learn material at a faster rate (compacting, telescoping) and some of which mean that children are moved to a more appropriate learning level (such as another grade), one at which there is something new to learn.

Either or both of these goals are legitimate for gifted students.

The process is surrounded by myths about what the child will miss and social issues that may arise. Study after study has shown the success of accelerating gifted students the majority of the time.

For a fuller description, see the report, A Nation Deceived, (www.nationdeceived.org).

For a detailed analysis of acceleration strategies, you might like to read Re-Forming Gifted Education by Karen B. Rogers.

The Iowa Acceleration Scale is a well recognized method for assessing if an individual student is a good candidate for acceleration.

ABC Ontario reported to the Ministry of Education in September 2008 on the use of acceleration, and other successful strategies, in Ontario schools. That report is available here.

School boards may have a policy on acceleration. You should be able to review a copy of this written document.

Here is an example of an acceleration policy from an Ontario school board that provides a solid introduction to good acceleration practises: