Iowa Acceleration Scale
The Iowa Acceleration Scale (2nd Ed.) is a tool to help schools make effective decisions regarding a grade-skip.
The IAS guides a child study team (including educators, teachers, parents, and other professionals) through a discussion of the academic and social characteristics of the student.
The IAS provides:
- A more objective look at the student;
- An analysis of the major factors to be considered in making a decision;
- Guidelines for weighting the relative importance of the major factors;
- Documentation of the student’s strengths and concerns
- A numerical range to guide the discussion and decision of acceleration; and,
- A standard of comparison with students who have had successful accelerations.
Validation Studies
The effectiveness of the IAS as a decision making instrument has been validated in multiple studies. These studies are reported in A
Nation Deceived (Vol. II), Appendix D.
Great Potential Press
The IAS (2nd Ed.) can be purchased from Great Potential Press. The proceeds from the purchase of the IAS are fully returned to Belin-Blank Center student and teacher programs. No authors of the IAS benefit financially from sales of the book.
NAGC 2007
More recent results demonstrating the effectiveness of the IAS were presented at the 2007 National Association of Gifted Children in a talk titled "Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS) in Determining the Appropriateness of Whole-Grade Acceleration."