Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums THINKING BIG About Gifted Education Rapid Acceleration

We had some postings about rapid acceleration and early college.

Who has feedback on what Davidson does? Those are all PG kids, right?

How do they accomodate college level abilities and what ages and where do the kids go? Because I do not know much how they do it. Yet they would be the perfect example of what they do for the PG child.

Ren

I visited the Davidson Academy (DA) once. The academy is located on the campus of the University of Nevada at Reno. As I understand things, DA students who are ready for college-level work can sign up for classes at the university (at no cost), including graduate-level courses. Someone from the academy walks them to class (well, definitely the younger ones. I don't know about the ones who are 17 or 18).

They started off accepting middle and high school students. I think they may be focusing on high-school-level students now, but I'm not sure.

The DA's website should answer some of your questions.

I know a homeschooling YS family that had their child in a college course at 7 years old. And we know several others doing college-level courses online. The parent signs up and the child audits the course with the professor's approval. I'm not sure if this is relevant to what you wanted to know about Davidson but it's an option.

Hello Wren - there is some information on the Curriculum page of The Davidson Academy website that you may find helpful: http://www.davidsonacademy.unr.edu/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=233&NavID=0_36

I was referring to the Davidson Academy. Sorry I wasn't more clear.

It would be useful research to have them tracking PG students and their paths in early college etc. I think it could be very useful for parents.

And how they proceed through college, post grad etc.

Ren

I guess we don't have anyone from Davidson or parents that can respond to this.

Ren

In looking at where their grads go, a few go to prestigious colleges but many go to U. of Nevada in Reno. I would guess that if you have access to a very good public (or private) school in your area, you would end up in the same place, or perhaps a better place.

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10035.aspx

This article is a bit old (about 20 years ago) but may still be relevant to Ren's question. SMPY/SET kids generally were doing well through high school and college. 239 out of 549 (43%) kids ended up in HYPSM. It will be interesting to see the life time achievements of these kids.

===

Postsecondary SET Members

By the fall of 1992, 547 SET members had entered college or were college graduates. Although SET members are or have been represented at approximately one hundred colleges or universities, the majority have attended highly selective institutions. Ninety-three SET members attend or have attended Harvard. Next in frequency of attendance are Princeton (47 students), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (43), Stanford (38), the University of California at Berkeley (24), Yale (18), the University of Chicago (15), the California Institute of Technology (12), Johns Hopkins (11), Carnegie Mellon (10), Cornell (9), the University of Michigan (9), Brown (8), Duke (8), Rice (8), the University of Maryland (8), the University of Pennsylvania (8), the University of Washington (8), Northwestern (7), Washington University (7), Case Western (6), Harvey Mudd (6), and the University of Wisconsin (6). The remaining institutions had 5 or fewer SET members in attendance. It appears that many SET members have been accepted to the colleges of their choice. When a less selective college is chosen, it is often a state university or a college that offers merit-based financial aid and is chosen for financial reasons.

Thanks. I think there is a lot of support for my ideas of horizontal diversification as long as the math is accelerated. Particularly the story about Chris, who was homeschooled 5th through 8th grades, reentered high school for grade 9 but took university math courses.

Also this part:

Subject-Matter Acceleration
SET member Jonah took high school math in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Matthew took physics courses at a local university while in ninth grade, and David studied calculus with a tutor provided by his school while in the fifth grade. Because of their exceptional mathematical reasoning abilities, these students needed to move more rapidly than their agemates through the mathematics curriculum and related subjects, but chose not to skip grades in the process. For social reasons they preferred to remain with their agemates for most of the school day; they felt they were adequately challenged in their verbal subjects, so moving ahead in grade placement to the level of their mathematics ability was neither necessary nor desirable. Moving ahead in mathematics was important, however, if they were to be adequately challenged.

Subject-matter acceleration permits students to progress in one or more subjects without regard to age or grade placement. It may involve students' taking classes with older students (e.g., SET members in junior high often take courses in high school, and high school students take college courses on a part-time basis), working with a tutor, studying independently, or taking courses in a summer program, such as the accelerated courses offered by the talent searches. However, it is essential that schools recognize such experiences and grant appropriate credit or placement so that students do not have to repeat coursework taken for the purpose of acceleration. (See Kolitch & Brody, 1992, for a summary of SET members' experiences with regard to acceleration in mathematics.)

Grade Skipping
Students who need greater challenges in several subject areas than a typical school program provides and who are willing to leave their agemates may want to skip one or more grades so that they can take all of their classes with older students. For example, SET member Lisa, precocious in reading and mathematics at a young age, entered kindergarten at age four. James completed first and second grade in one year. Kurt, already accelerated in mathematics and bored with middle school, skipped the eighth grade and entered high school a year early. Nancy attended the Early Entrance Program at the University of Washington in lieu of high school. Daniel left high school after the ninth grade and enrolled full time in a local university. Pamela skipped the twelfth grade to enter college a year early.

Students contemplating skipping one or more grades will want to consider the impact of such a decision on their social and emotional development. Academically, they will need to consider whether there will be gaps in content that should be filled, even though their mental age suggests that placement with older students is appropriate. If early entrance to college is contemplated, students should be aware that most colleges do not make special provisions to assist young students; however, some programs, such as the Early Entrance Program at the University of Washington, offer much support to such students (Brody & Stanley, 1991; Janos & Robinson, 1985). Although caution and planning are advised for students who wish to skip grades, the procedure has been a useful mechanism for selected SET members seeking escape from a curriculum that lacks challenge.



Not saying all size fits all. But many had could make it work -- as long as the math is accelerated.

Ren

I think the question was- where do many of the graduates from DYS' school in Reno go? According to their website, many go to U. Neveada-Reno.