RTSD26 Acceleration Procedures Questions

Please consider the following:

1. The intent of the acceleration process is to offer a stimulating academic environment for students who are capable of excelling in a classroom setting with children one year older.
2. The standards for acceleration are high to ensure that students are not frustrated by their advanced placement.
3. Social and emotional readiness is a contributing factor to student success.
4. Please consider that students who qualify for grade acceleration should be performing at the top of the grade to which they would be advancing.

Assessments include a variety of activities that measure each child’s progress in the following developmental domains:

1. Intellectual development
2. Academic skills and/or readiness
3. Interpersonal/social readiness

The Acceleration Team is responsible for making the final decision, taking into consideration the child’s academic and cognitive test results and social-emotional readiness. The principal will notify parents of the final decision regarding acceleration.

Children are complex beings with academic, social, and emotional needs. All these factors need to be taken into consideration when making these acceleration decisions. We referred to extensive research on academic acceleration when creating our decision making criteria.

Regarding Early Entrance, children who enter kindergarten or first grade early may demonstrate social or emotional difficulties due to their relative immaturity. As they progress through school, children who are young for their grade level may have more difficulty fitting in with their peers in social situations. They are less likely to excel in sports because of their age and/or their smaller size. Moreover, children who are whole grade or subject area accelerated may not qualify for the district's A.C.E. program which begins in 4th-grade. These and other possible effects of being younger than others in their classes should be considered carefully.

Children who turn five or six on or before September 1st are age-eligible according to Illinois state law and therefore entitled to enter kindergarten or first grade respectively. Any child may be considered for early entrance but must meet the district’s criteria that demonstrate the child’s skills are in the superior range of development.

No. To be considered for early entrance to first grade, children who are not six by September 1 will have to meet the early entrance requirements.