The statements that he has made by emphatically declaring that acceleration is not needed with the Common Core Maths are supremely irresponsible.
I'm pretty sure you're mistaken. He's referring to
acceleration-itis in American schools, not gifted kids. This problem is widespread and is contributing to U.S. mathematical illiteracy.
Background:
At some point (1980s or 90s?), someone noticed that students who took algebra in 8th grade had higher SAT scores and did better in college than other students. It was decided that
acceleration was responsible for this difference (not smarter students).
An acceleration arms race commenced. When I was a kid, 5-10% of an 8th grade class was allowed to take algebra I. These days, geometry is routinely offered in middle schools, and algebra II is now creeping in. This means that pre-algebra is routinely offered in 6th grade. After all, if algebra in 8th grade improves SAT scores, geometry in 8th grade will improve them even more!
Result: many, many students are losing out on 2-3 years of fundamental mathematics education. The loss of 6th grade math is especially bad, because it cements ideas from 4th and 5th grade math. The problem is compounded by teachers who don't understand the subject matter and bad textbooks. And millions of children are lost to mathematics.
