| The purpose of this study was to summarize the existing literature about the effect of acceleration on the social and emotional development of gifted elementary (K-8) students. A meta-analysis was conducted of the empirical research studies indexed before January, 1992, which identified various forms of acceleration of elementary gifted students and which reported on the social and/or emotional effects associated with that acceleration. The specific aims of the study were to determine if there were statistically significant social or emotional effects of acceleration and to make recommendations for personnel about the implementation of acceleration programs.;The data in the study consisted of all locatable reports of research from 1928 until 1987 with social and emotional outcomes as a result of acceleration of elementary gifted students. A search resulted in a final set of 23 studies for meta-analysis. Each study was examined and a summary prepared. The summaries included a description of the setting and procedures, a listing of the variables, and the results reported in the study, e.g. raw scores, F-values, t-scores, frequency scores or means and standard deviations. By using the formulas of Rosenthal, Wolf, and Glass, McGraw, and Smith effect sizes were calculated for each social and emotional variable. An overall effect size for each study was obtained from the average of each individual effect size in the study. The 23 overall effect sizes for each study were then averaged to obtain an overall effect size for the study to observe the effect of acceleration on the social and emotional development of gifted elementary students.;The 388 effect sizes were averaged to obtain an effect size of.13 for the research to answer the question of available evidence on the effect of acceleration on the social and emotional development of gifted elementary students. To further evaluate the question, several subgroup analyses were performed. The method of telescoping produced the greatest effect size (.15) with combined methods showing the least ($-$.01); kindergarten accelerants had the most positive effect size (.14); research conducted on accelerated students after college revealed the greatest gains (.28) and in the six (of 23) studies that performed analyses by gender of the pupil, boys showed greater gains (.21) than girls overall (.15).;From the overall effect sizes reported for each study and the overall effect size for this research, there was found to be significant support for the intervention though the effect was small. There was very little difference between the accelerated and non-accelerated students, and to a small extent, positive results were produced. |
