Acceleration

Acceleration in education refers to allowing students to move through the curriculum at a faster pace than their peers. Acceleration can take many forms, such as specific learning standards, grade skipping, subject acceleration, early entrance to a college or university, and Dual Enrollment. Acceleration aims to provide appropriate challenges and opportunities for advanced students to learn at a level commensurate with their abilities, interests, and needs. It is important to note that acceleration is not appropriate for all gifted students and should be considered on a case-by-case basis, considering factors such as intellectual ability, social-emotional readiness, academic achievement, and service delivery model, which may include online instruction.

In ACPS, teachers provide acceleration within the on-grade-level classroom environment. However, some students require greater services than what is provided at the K-12 level. ACPS has a referral process to determine if acceleration is an appropriate fit for the child. After submitting an acceleration referral, ACPS will screen students for full-year acceleration in grades K-3 and single-subject or whole-grade acceleration in grades 4-12. If parents request more than one subject for Grades 4-12, the acceleration screening will default to whole-grade level acceleration. To be screened for acceleration, students must be already eligible for AAS services in the area of acceleration and receive documented differentiation above and beyond the gifted curriculum.

Timelines

Families new to ACPS may request an acceleration at the end of the first quarter up to three weeks into the second quarter. Acceleration requests for students not new to ACPS are due by April 15th of each school year for placement the next school year. Note: Parents/guardians may only request acceleration once a school year.

If you would like to have your child considered for acceleration, please reach out to the AAS director at megan.tempel-milner@acps.va.us. 

Summer Residential Governor's Schools

Summer Residential Governor’s Schools provide high school juniors and seniors with intensive educational experiences in visual and performing arts; humanities; medicine and health sciences; mathematics, science, and technology; or through mentorships in marine science, or engineering.

Each Summer Residential Governor’s School focuses on one special area of interest. Students live on a college or university campus for up to four weeks each summer. During this time, students are involved in classroom and laboratory work, field studies, research, individual and group projects and performances, and seminars with noted scholars, visiting artists, and other professionals. In the three mentorships, students are selected to work side-by-side with research scientists, physicians, and a variety of other professionals. A director and a student-life staff provide supervision of students 24 hours a day, throughout the program.

For more information, please visit VDOE's website.