Gifted Grade-Skippers in Germany
- Skipping a grade, one specific form of acceleration, is an intervention used for gifted students. Quantitative research has shown acceleration to be a highly successful intervention regarding academic achievement, but less is known about the social–emotional outcomes of grade-skipping. In the present study, the authors used the grounded theory approach to examine the experiences of seven gifted students aged 8 to 16 years who skipped a grade. The interviewees perceived their “feeling of being in the wrong place” before the grade-skipping as strongly influenced by their teachers, who generally did not respond adequately to their needs. We observed a close interrelationship between the gifted students’ intellectual fit and their social situation in class. Findings showed that the grade-skipping in most of the cases bettered the situation in school intellectually as well as socially, but soon further interventions, for instance, a specialized and demanding class- or subject-specific acceleration were added to provide sufficientlySkipping a grade, one specific form of acceleration, is an intervention used for gifted students. Quantitative research has shown acceleration to be a highly successful intervention regarding academic achievement, but less is known about the social–emotional outcomes of grade-skipping. In the present study, the authors used the grounded theory approach to examine the experiences of seven gifted students aged 8 to 16 years who skipped a grade. The interviewees perceived their “feeling of being in the wrong place” before the grade-skipping as strongly influenced by their teachers, who generally did not respond adequately to their needs. We observed a close interrelationship between the gifted students’ intellectual fit and their social situation in class. Findings showed that the grade-skipping in most of the cases bettered the situation in school intellectually as well as socially, but soon further interventions, for instance, a specialized and demanding class- or subject-specific acceleration were added to provide sufficiently challenging learning opportunities.…
Author details: | Anna GronostajGND, Elise Werner, Eric Bochow, Miriam VockORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986215609999 |
ISSN: | 0016-9862 |
ISSN: | 1934-9041 |
Title of parent work (English): | The gifted child quarterly |
Publisher: | Sage Publ. |
Place of publishing: | Thousand Oaks |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Year of first publication: | 2016 |
Publication year: | 2016 |
Release date: | 2020/03/22 |
Tag: | acceleration; grade-skipping; qualitative methodologies; social and/or emotional development and adjustment |
Volume: | 60 |
Number of pages: | 16 |
First page: | 31 |
Last Page: | 46 |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Institution name at the time of the publication: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Profilbereich Bildungswissenschaften |