Academic acceleration policies introduce high-achieving students to more rigorous coursework with the aim of rerouting their academic trajectories in high school—and beyond.
But new research suggests the effects of one increasingly popular acceleration strategy—in which high schools automatically enroll qualifying students in the most challenging courses they are qualified to take—may not increase students’ likelihood of enrolling in college, persisting to their second year, or taking higher-level courses as freshmen.
The findings suggest that automatic-enrollment policies may be more effective if students are identified for acceleration earlier in their schooling, said researchers who conducted the analysis for the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, or CALDER, at the American Institutes for Research.
The researchers studied 11th and 12th grade Washington state students who attended districts with automatic-enrollment policies, under which high schools enroll proficient students in advanced and dual-credit courses, requiring parental consent to opt out, rather than requiring students to opt in.
Slotting students in advanced courses “can be a signal to the student that, ‘Hey you are the kind of student who can do this. You are capable and can rise to the challenge,’” said Megan Austin, a principal researcher at AIR and co-author of the analysis.
“But we are also talking about acceleration pretty late in high school,” she added. “At that point, their expectations may be pretty set, their GPAs and their transcripts are pretty set. It’s unlikely that we are going to see major shifts.”
State law inspired by policies districts had enacted on their own
Washington’s first-of-its-kind law, passed in 2019, required all districts to enact automatic-enrollment policies by the 2021-22 school year. If students meet or exceed proficiency benchmarks in math or English on 8th grade or high school state assessments, schools must automatically enroll them in the most rigorous advanced courses available.
That law was inspired by policies districts had enacted on their own and on previous legislation passed in 2013 that encouraged, but did not require, automatic-enrollment policies based on high school test scores. Between 2013–14 and 2015–16, 72 of Washington’s 263 districts with at least one high school had adopted a policy.
Researchers previously found students in districts with voluntary automatic-enrollment policies were more likely to take advanced courses, but the effects of the policies may have been limited by a lack of availability of dual-credit and Advanced Placement courses and students’ decisions to opt out.
The latest analysis examined outcomes of about 145,000 11th and 12th grade students with proficient or advanced test scores in districts that voluntarily adopted automatic-enrollment practices between 2013–14 and 2015–16, before the statewide requirement took effect. Researchers compared later post-secondary outcomes in districts with the policies to data collected in the same years from districts without them.
The researchers found no significant effect on students’ likelihood of enrolling in a two-year or four-year college or persisting to the second year. Students in districts with automatic enrollment were two percentage points less likely to take at least one upper-level course in their first year of college. That may suggest they used college credits they’d earned through AP or dual-credit courses to take a lighter load their freshman year, rather than moving more quickly through college requirements, Austin said.
Earlier acceleration may have greater effects
“Accelerating students in the last two years of high school may potentially be too late to substantially change students’ postsecondary trajectories,” the authors wrote. “This may particularly be the case for college enrollment.”
The findings may inform a growing area of policy, the researchers wrote.
Since 2023, 10 states have enacted automatic-enrollment policies that require schools to enroll all 8th grade students in algebra if their scores on state tests demonstrate they are ready, according to an Education Week analysis.
The aim of such policies is to eliminate the barriers that keep otherwise qualified students from pursuing advanced coursework, like biases in teacher references, students’ lack of confidence, or inadequate awareness of academic pathways.
Previous research has shown accelerating students earlier in their academic careers may have more significant effects on their high school and college performance, according to the CALDER researchers.
“Accelerating students earlier may have the potential for longer-run impacts,” they concluded.
