BellaOnline Forums Education Gifted Education Acceleration Legislation -- What's going on in MN

Dearest BellaOnline Gifted folks,

I am submitting this with permission from the author in an effort to spread the word about acceleration legislation on the state level. Below is a summary of an acceleration workshop put on by the Minnesota Department of Education.

I found it fascinating, hopeful, and exciting! Take your time reading through this and if possible, I'd like to hear what's going on in other states regarding acceleration?

Wendy Skinner

---- scroll down---

I [Janette Boik], along with several other members of the MCGT [Minnesota Council for Gifted & Talented] Legislative Committee, recently attended an acceleration workshop put on the Minnesota Department of Education. Below are my notes from the conference.
_____

On October 3, 2007 the Minnesota Department of Education presented a workshop entitled "Acceleration: The Decision is Yours". The presenter was Dr. Susan Assouline, Associate Director of The Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development and one of the developers of the Iowa Acceleration Scale.

Wendy Behrens, Minnesota Dept. of Ed's Gifted and Talented Specialist, spoke briefly about the recently passed legislation that directs school districts to "adopt procedures for academic acceleration of gifted and talented students that include an assessment of students' readiness and motivation for acceleration and a match between the curriculum and the students' academic needs". Ms. Behrens stated that all districts must have a written acceleration policy that is available to the public. She further stated that the policy should contain specific criteria for acceleration in addition to a procedure. The state's assumption is that each district started working on the policy over the summer and continues to work on it now. Ms. Behrens made it clear that districts would not be monitored for ccompliance regarding the policy but eluded to the fact that monitoring could happen in the future.

The Minnesota Department of Education website has numerous resources available including resources specific to acceleration. The web address is:BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

Wendy-

Thank you! GREAT information on acceleration. I've written about grade skipping, but you've reminded me that I want to address other forms of acceleration as well. For anyone who is currently working on advocating for their child, I also recommend that you read, "Genius Denied" and "A Nation Deceived".

Wow! That sounds wonderful -- hopefully it will play out as well as it reads!

For those of you who are considering grade or subject acceleration for your child, here a the link to my school district's "Acceleration Procedures."

BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

I also recommend that people join their state gifted support organizations. This will allow you to have the most up to date information on policies and procedures, and network with advocates, teachers, and other parents.