Accelerated Placement

Accelerated Placement Act  

Overview

The Accelerated Placement Act (Public Act 100-0421) was signed into law on August 25, 2017 and will take effect July 1, 2018.

This Accelerated Placement Act requires Illinois public school districts to adopt and implement policies on acceleration that, at minimum, provide opportunities for early entrance to kindergarten and first grade, opportunities for accelerating a student in a single subject area, and opportunities for “whole grade” acceleration (sometimes referred to as “grade skipping”).

The law also allows districts to provide additional forms of acceleration not specifically addressed in the Accelerated Placement Act such as advanced courses, grade telescoping, AP courses, dual enrollment programs, etc.

The law requires that district acceleration policies include:

• A provision that states that participation in accelerated placement is not limited to those children who have been identified as gifted and talented, but rather is open to all children who demonstrate high ability and who may benefit from accelerated placement;
• A fair and equitable decision-making process that involves multiple persons and includes a student’s parents or guardians;
• Procedures for notifying parents or guardians of a child of a decision affecting that child’s participation in an accelerated placement program; and
• An assessment process that includes multiple valid, reliable indicators. 
• Other components mentioned in the law include:
• Procedures for annually informing the community at-large, including parents or guardians, about accelerated placement opportunities and the methods used for the identification of children eligible for accelerated placement;

• A process for referral that allows for multiple referrers, including a child’s parents or guardians: other referrers may include licensed educational professionals, the child, with written consent of a parent or guardian, through a licensed educational professional who has knowledge of the referred child’s abilities, or in case of possible early entrance, a preschool educator, pediatrician, or psychologist who knows the child; and

• A provision that provides that children participating in an accelerated placement program and their parents or guardians will be provided a written plan specifying the type of acceleration the child will receive and strategies to support the child.

The legislation also directs ISBE to collect and disseminate data on academic acceleration.

Please contact your child’s principal or the unit office for further information.

Full text of the Accelerated Placement Act is available on the Illinois General Assembly website.