Accelerated Excellence:
+ Martin Luther King, Jr. graduated from high
school at 15.

+ T.S. Eliot was an
accelerated student.

+ U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor graduated from high school
at 16.






very classroom has one. The proverbial “ace” or “brilliant” student who seems to effortlessly garner top grades. While it’s not surprising that individual student aptitude differs within classrooms, it is startling that some of the nation’s brightest students are not being accelerated into more stimulating academic environments.

The debate around accelerating gifted children is not new to American education and usually comes down to several arguments. Some contend that schools are not familiar enough with the positive research on acceleration. Others argue that if a child is not kept with age peers, the child’s social development suffers.

For the first time ever, a two-volume report, A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students, shows why America’s schools routinely avoid academic acceleration. Based on research by Dr. Nicholas Colangelo and Dr. Susan Assouline of the University of Iowa, along with Dr. Miraca Gross of the University of New South Wales in Australia, the research finally brings together the wealth of information available on acceleration.

The first volume synthesizes key findings about academic acceleration from five decades of research. The second volume showcases chapters written by 17 leading scholars are covering topics such as: entering school early, grade skipping, high school challenges, Advanced Placement courses and how adults who were accelerated in school feel about their experiences now. As the report’s authors state, “Every sentence in this volume is culled from the research of America’s leading education experts.”

A Nation Deceived supports the idea that acceleration is the most effective intervention for highly capable students. Acceleration is defined by the authors as, “An educational intervention that moves students through an educational program at a faster than usual rate. It means matching the level, complexity, and pace of the curriculum with the readiness of the student.” The acceleration philosophy can be applied across academic, emotional and social categories and can be applied in the short and long term.


Highlights of the report include:

+ Students who are moved ahead tend to be more ambitious, and they earn graduate degrees at higher rates than other students.
+ Interviewed years later, an overwhelming majority of accelerated students say that acceleration was an excellent experience for them.
+ Accelerated students feel academically challenged and socially accepted, and they do not fall prey to the boredom that plagues many highly capable students who are forced to follow the curriculum for their age-peers.


After the September publication of A Nation Deceived, it was featured in articles in both Time and Education Week, as well as newspapers and radio coverage across the country. The Time article—“Saving the Smart Kids”—gave the report high marks for comprehensive evidence, “Perhaps A Nation Deceived will convince schools that the gifted sometimes need to run ahead before they can walk at their own pace.”

“The fact is that the research is very positive,” write the authors. “The paradoxical reality is that in the face of all the evidence, many schools either prohibit or discourage acceleration and a number of educators hold views contradictory to the evidence.”

Dr. Nicholas Colangelo, director of the Connie Belin & Jacqueline N. Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development housed at the University of Iowa, is part of a research team that intends to bring the spotlight back to what researchers have known for years: “Acceleration works and works better than alternatives . . . I hope there would be a copy in every school in America,” he says.

A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students is available for free to schools, media, and parents. It is available as a free download at www.nationdeceived.com.