Early Entrance & Acceleration

General Procedures for Grade-Level Acceleration, including Early Entrance

• Parent written requests submitted to the district for consideration to grade acceleration must occur between March 1 and May 1 of the prior school year
• Families seeking evaluation after May 1 must enroll in an age-appropriate school program, and students will be considered in the first six weeks from the onset of that school year
• The school district will confirm the request for consideration and notify the parents or guardians, outlining the procedures for evaluation
• The procedures for evaluation for acceleration are based on the Iowa Acceleration Scale, 3rd Edition research. The measures take into consideration various indicators that determine student readiness for acceleration

Baseline Criteria Level 1

• Curriculum-Based Assessment of Readiness
• End of year for grade level above benchmark in literacy fluency and comprehension and mathematics computation and concepts

Further Evaluation Level 2

• Implement Iowa Acceleration Scale Protocol Components
• Student interview conducted by School Psychologist
• Observation of students in the age-appropriate school setting using observation inventory by trained District 96 observers to be conducted before the end of the current school year
• Parent inventory protocol must be completed
• Current Teacher inventory protocol, including learning and social-emotional indicators, must be completed by the end of the school year
• Individual assessments protocols will be completed for ability, aptitude, and achievement
• Ability = Minimum IQ of 130 or above
• Achievement (Grade Level Equivalent) = At or above 90th percentile
• Aptitude (Grade Level Above) = At or above the 75th percentile
• At the completion of the various components of the Level 2 assessments, a team meeting for a comprehensive review of student qualifications for grade acceleration will occur.
• Team Members include: School Psychologist, Classroom Teacher(s), Administration and Parents/Guardians

Content Acceleration Procedures- Mathematics Only

• Students considered for content acceleration beyond the formal programming will be identified through the Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS) process
• Curriculum-based or advanced placement assessment measures are indicators used to determine readiness for acceleration
• Students will be evaluated based on the grade-level acceleration criteria
  • Implement Iowa Acceleration Scale Protocol Components
    • Student interview conducted by School Psychologist
    • Observation of students in the age-appropriate school setting using observation inventory by trained District 96 observers to be conducted before the end of the current school year
    • Parent inventory protocol must be completed
    • Current Teacher inventory protocol, including learning and social-emotional indicators must be completed by the end of the school year
    • Individual assessments protocols will be completed for ability, aptitude, and achievement
      • Ability = Minimum IQ of 130 or above
      • Achievement (Grade Level Equivalent) = At or above 90th percentile
      • Aptitude (Grade Level Above) = At or above the 75th percentile
  • At the completion of the various components of the Level 2 assessments, a team meeting will occur to comprehensively review the student qualifications for early entrance.
  • Team Members include: School Psychologist, Classroom Teacher(s), Administration and Parents/Guardians