Elementary School MATH Acceleration Procedures

Board of Education Policy 4000, Instructional goals… “encourages and supports initiatives and program flexibility permitting students to learn at a rate commensurate with their skills, abilities, performance, and interests”.  Furthermore, Policy 4000 states…. “Initiatives developed by the district should include the opportunities for both enrichment and acceleration”.

In accordance with this Board of Education policy, procedures are in place which will result in the identification of students who will benefit from opportunities for acceleration.  The following narrative describes the procedure for identifying these students.

Definition of Terms

1. Enrichment – to go beyond the base expectations for the course.  The focus is on extension of the student’s learning, not simply more of the same material.

2. Acceleration – to move at a faster pace than is normally expected through Shenendehowa’s instructional program, including single subject and whole grade acceleration.

Enrichment Strategies

Enrichment opportunities may be provided to students based on a teacher’s knowledge of the child’s needs, discussion between school staff and the child’s parents or directed by recommendation of the child’s home school’s Child Study Team (CST) committee.  The decision to provide enrichment to a student should be made on the basis of demonstrated ability and need.  Enrichment may be provided in those areas where a child has mastered the core content and would benefit from an opportunity to enhance his/her learning.

Evaluation of a student who has received enrichment may be accomplished by collecting samples of student work (including projects), gathering feedback from the student, gathering feedback from the child’s teachers or other school staff, and from the child’s parents/guardians.  Documentation will be made by the child’s classroom teacher in regard to the enrichment program the child received for math.  This information will be placed on the green test data card found in the child’s cumulative folder and/or SIS system.
 

Acceleration Procedure

Referral Process:  A referral may be made by an administrator or teacher during the first two marking periods for acceleration to take place in the current school year.  A referral may be made by a parent/ legal guardian after the second marking period for potential acceleration for the following year. 

The referral shall be submitted to the School Principal, who will be responsible for forwarding copies of the referral to the building’s CST and the Academic Administrator for math.

Should the referral be submitted by someone other than the child’s parent, the referring person will contact the parents to notify them that their child has been referred to the school team for consideration to accelerate.

Data Collection:  The referral of a student will be reviewed, in the order in which it is received, by a child study team designated by the School Principal.  Members of the team may include the child’s teacher, the School Principal, other teachers of the child, school psychologist, and counselor. 

The team will discuss the reasons for the referral using the information below:

• A review of school records

• Student work samples

• A review of available data including local and state test results

• A review of on-going classroom assessment results presented by the teacher

• Discussion of classroom observation data provided by the teacher(s) or other certificated staff

If the CST determines that math acceleration is a possibility, the CST designee will contact the Academic Administrator for math to provide additional data.  The CST designee will also contact the parent to notify them that testing will take place to obtain the additional data.

Examples of possible additional data:

• Testing for Advanced potential (ie. TOMAGS, SCAT, I.Q., etc.)

• Teacher Evaluation Questionnaire

Review of Data:

The information gathered by the Academic Administrator for math will be sent to the child study team evaluating the referral.  This team will determine if acceleration is warranted based on a thorough analysis of all data, using a district created rubric. Members of the team may include the child’s teacher, the School Principal, other teachers of the child, the school psychologist, and counselor.   

Student Assessment:  In some cases, it may be determined, based on the data gathered and reviewed, that the student would benefit from acceleration.  If so, the child study team will recommend how acceleration can be provided.  This recommendation will be reviewed by the Academic Administrator for math and the Deputy Superintendent prior to implementation.    

If acceleration is not recommended at that time, a future evaluation may be initiated during the next school year. A designated member of the CST will inform parents of the team’s decision to accelerate or not and what program will be provided to meet their child’s needs.

Program Planning: The need for acceleration will be determined on a case by case basis.  Documentation of acceleration will be placed in the cumulative folder.

Evaluation of Program Impact:  Once a plan for acceleration has been implemented, data should be gathered to evaluate its impact on student learning.  Data collected might include, but not be limited to, the following:

Samples of student work, tests, quizzes and projects

• Student feedback

• Teacher(s) comment / evaluation

• Parent feedback

• Observation of the Student

Annual Review: Students participating in an accelerated program will be evaluated on an on-going basis throughout the school year.   If required, planning for the following school year will be accomplished through an annual meeting.  The review will focus on an assessment of the student’s success given the current program, the student’s need for continued programming, and the expectations set forth by the general education curriculum in successive years.

Finalized 12/20/07 (This document is subject to periodic review and updating)

SHENENDEHOWA CENTRAL SCHOOL

ELEMENTARY ACCELERATION

STUDENT REFERRAL FORM 

Referral No. _______              20___                                            Date of Receipt________
(for building use only) 

PART I.  General Information

Student Name _______________________________________________________________
                               Last                                First                            Middle                 

DOB ______________   Grade __________          Homeroom __________________

Referral initiated by: _____________________ Referral completed by: ___________________

1. Reason for referral:

2. How long has this need been evident?

3. Indicate any actions that you or other school personnel have taken to address this need:

4. Has this child ever been identified as a student with special education needs? Yes / No

            Classification category ___________________________

5. Siblings  (age/grade): 

6.  Previous Acceleration in Family:

7.  Special Interest/Area of Competency (Music, Art, History, Sport, etc): 

8.  Has this child ever referred for math acceleration in the past? Yes/No 

If so, who made the referral?_______________

9.  Please attach samples of this student’s typical work, a copy of the child’s latest report card or any testing that has been completed.

Check and circle those characteristics that apply to the student you are referring.

PART II. Academic Characteristics

a. General Ability

___      exhibits an increased pace of progress beyond the norm
___      demonstrates strength/weakness in abstract reasoning
___      demonstrates strength/weakness in information, content knowledge and processing
___      demonstrates exceptional memory skills
___      is exceptionally creative or original in activities or ideas (uses materials in unusual 
           ways,  elaborates stories, sees many possible answers/solutions)
___      asks complex questions
___      makes connections among areas of study

b. Reading/Language Arts

___      advanced decoding and comprehension skills
___      advanced sight and verbal vocabulary
___      advanced written work
___      likes to play with words; uses advanced sentence structure and vocabulary
___      gives complex answers to questions
___      ability to make inferences

c. Mathematics

___      identifies and manipulates numbers and symbols
___      advanced ability in the use of number operations
___      performing multi-step processes
___      advanced ability in the use of concepts and applications
___      uses alternative methods to solve problems

d. Speech/Language

___      language development and usage is exceptional
___      exhibits exceptional use of grammar or syntax in speaking or writing

e. Other (Science, Social Studies, etc.)

___      reasons well, thinks of creative ways to solve problems
___      advanced ability to use/remember facts
___      gives complex answers to questions
___      very interested in cause-effect relationships
___      has spontaneous or advanced sense of humor
___      shows an intense interest in one or more specific academic or non-academic subjects

PART III. Social/Emotional Behavioral Characteristics (anecdotal):

f. Social/Emotional

___      (does / does not) work cooperatively with peers
___      self image (is / is not) positive and/or  realistic
___      (does / does not) thoughtfully respond to criticism and modifies behavior appropriately
___      (does / does not) exhibit positive relationships with peers and teachers
___      is very emotional – cries, angers, excites easily
___      has family and home issue/concern (specify) _____________________________
___      other (specify)___________________________________________________

g. Behavior

___possible emotional characteristics: fantasizes, outbursts, daydreaming
___behavior (is / is not) exemplary
___appears inattentive during instruction
___exhibits a lack of motivation or displays potential to become bored
___exhibits high levels of motivation and active participation
___exhibits strong (appropriate / inappropriate) leadership qualities when working with others