Early High School Graduation: Policy Support for Secondary Acceleration

Abstract

In recent years, state and local support for academic acceleration has created opportunities for students with advanced learning needs to move through their education at a pace that matches their abilities and may be faster than their same-age peers. As a result, it is not uncommon for exceptionally bright students to complete their high school graduation requirements early. These students have the option to stay in high school and complete additional coursework or move on to postsecondary settings to continue their academic talent development. This article explores state and local policies on early graduation and highlights supportive policies and potential barriers to this type of acceleration.

A Pragmatic Analysis of How North Carolina School Districts Aim to Differentiate for Gifted High School Students

“…Second, we directly addressed a local pressing need, that may be beneficial to other U.S. states or school districts, by identifying a number of additional research-based and/or recommended best practices that were mentioned is some of the plans. Such noteworthy practices included social and emotional interventions (e.g., affective curriculum; Rinn, 2020), culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 2014), differentiated learning environments (Lee et al, 2021), early graduation (Plucker et al, 2022a, 2022b), leadership training (Meyer & Rinn, 2021), metacognitive skills (ElAdl & Polpol, 2020), Model UN (Khadzir & Sumarmi, 2020) and preassessments to inform differentiation (Wormeli, 2018). Some plans also included collaboration with other stakeholders besides general education teachers, such as EC, ELL, and technology teachers, administrators, and parents and families (Mofield, 2020).…”

“…A lack of comprehensive programming can be attributed to barriers such as misconceptions about gifted students, issues related to identification, and limited or no funding for resources, training, and materials (Rinn et al, 2020). It is imperative to advocate for gifted students, including those at the high school level from all backgrounds, because inadequate policies and programming could limit students’ opportunities to learn and access to the services they need to thrive (Plucker et al, 2022a).…”