The Extent, Nature and Effectiveness of Planned Approaches in ...

Research related to the effectiveness of acceleration. Given the often less-than-inconspicuous natureof acceleration, unlike enrichment-based provisions, some forms are much more readily identifiable.For example, early entrance to a level of schooling and grade-skipping are clearly seen as accelerativeoptions. These options have been explored in the research primarily as ‘acceleration-only’ approaches,and from those, literature spanning several decades has developed. It should be noted, that theseemanate primarily from America where teaching is reported as less differentiated than other countries(Freeman, 1998, 2001); however, the research context has not prevented New Zealand educators frommaking broad generalisations regarding the research-based evidence of the effectiveness ofacceleration (Easter & Moltzen, 1997; McAlpine & Reid, 1987; Ministry of Education, 2000;Moltzen, 2000a; Townsend, 1996). It is also very important to understand that although the literaturereports many generic research findings regarding the practice of acceleration, the type of provision andits use in combination with enrichment would impact upon the effectiveness of acceleration inpractice.Many national and international commentators report that the research regarding acceleration isoverwhelmingly positive; however, these findings must be considered against the backdrop of thereported limitations of research examining acceleration:• The results of research studies which measure effectiveness of different approaches are oftenover-generalised, with a tendency by researchers not to make any distinctions betweendifferent types of acceleration (Southern et al., 1993).• Students unlikely to succeed in accelerated programmes select themselves out and so studiesfocus on successful students (Stanley & Benbow, 1986; Olszewski-Kubilius, 1995).• Sample sizes are usually and inevitably small (Olszewski-Kubilius, 1995). Most studies haveinvestigated groups of students, as opposed to individuals (Easter & Moltzen, 1997).• Many of the studies of early entrance programmes have been conducted by the creators of theprogrammes; this may cause concerns about bias (Cramond, 1996).• The majority of the research has focused on academic adjustment to the exclusion of socialand emotional adjustment (Cornell et al., 1991).• Students who drop out of acceleration programmes are critical subjects who are not includedin research data because they are often unwilling or unavailable to participate in a study(Cornell et al., 1991).Julian Stanley, one of the leading researchers and proponents of acceleration, developed the Study ofMathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) in 1972. The original goal of SMPY was simply to identifystudents who before age 13 reason exceptionally well mathematically and to “help them find thespecial, supplemental, accelerative opportunities they sorely need in order to move ahead faster andbetter in mathematics and related subjects” (Stanley, 1991, p36). Many students enrolled in SMPYbecause “they were starved for mathematics at the proper pace and level and rejoiced in theopportunity to take it straight rather than being ‘enriched’ with mathematical puzzles, social studiesdiscussions, trips to museums, critical thinking training not closely tied to mathematics” (Stanley,1991, p. 37).Since the early 1970s, this programme has expanded to include verbal and scientific reasoning abilitiesin the assessment and a variety of programme opportunities. Lupkowski-Shoplik et al. (2003) reportthat the programme serves over 300,000 students in the United States, Australia, Ireland, and Canada.This is one of the most widely cited programmes of acceleration. It includes a fifty-year longitudinalstudy of over 5,000 mathematically and/or verbally gifted students, and in addition, a voluminousamount of other research studies conducted by other university-based programmes. Hence, whilst thestudies reported make reference to ‘SMPY students’ this does not refer to a single study of the effectsof acceleration upon a single group of students. Despite the diversity of research studies conducted,48