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UNSW’s Gifted Education Research, Resource and Information Centre (GERRIC) has been awarded an international grant to investigate the under usage of academic acceleration in Australian schools.
The grant, worth $500,000, comes from the John Templeton Foundation of Pennsylvania, USA.
“Research has identified 18 ways gifted and talented students are able to successfully move ahead of their age-peers,” says Professor Miraca Gross, Director of GERRIC. “However, teachers and principals are often wary of allowing students to skip grades in case they miss out on necessary work or in case it harms them socially or emotionally”.
Gifted students can move ahead through avenues including early entrance to school, grade skipping, going to an older grade for specific subjects and telescoping two schools years into one.
“When acceleration is planned and implemented effectively, research shows it can be of enormous benefit to academically gifted students,” says Professor Gross, co-author of a major report in 2004 on the use of acceleration in the United States, A Nation Deceived: Why Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students.
Professor Gross and GERRIC’s Director of Research Professor Karen Rogers will lead the investigation. Both are internationally recognised for their research on acceleration.
“The reasons for the under usage of acceleration in Australian schools may be quite different to what we identified in the US – or they may be similar,” says Professor Gross. “It’s important to find out why schools are reluctant to use procedures that have been proven to be so effective.”
Established in 1997 GERRIC was the first research centre in gifted education in the Southern Hemisphere and remains a leader in its field. The Centre’s research focuses on the social and emotional development of academically gifted children.
Website: http://gerric.arts.unsw.edu.au
Author: Alex Clark, Media Unit
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Last Updated: February 26, 2008