What Ever Happened to Grade Skipping?

Accelerating the Gifted in a Time of Tight Budgets

By Laura Vanderkam & Richard Whitmire

Even in the best of times, gifted education is controversial. Why your child and not my child? When the economy and school budgets get tight, the gifted conversation only heats up more, with parents anxious to hang on to any advantage their child might garner, and budget hawks eager to ax programs some see as expendable.

That phenomenon is playing out across the country. In Washington state recently, Gov. Christine Gregoire vetoed part of an education reform package that would have required the state to step in when cash-strapped districts couldn't fund gifted education; her veto note questioned the idea of giving priority to gifted education over other needs. In Montgomery County, Md., the debate is more existential, with the district considering abandoning its practice of labeling 2nd graders as gifted or not gifted.

We sympathize that when funds are scarce, and some kids are failing, spending money on top achievers seems hard to justify. But nurturing gifted students and saving money don't have to be at odds. Districts such as Montgomery County are overlooking an obvious, easy, inexpensive solution: acceleration, also known as old-fashioned grade (or subject-matter) skipping. There is no better way to give gifted...