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Western University

Theses/Dissertations

Acceleration

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Students' Perspectives On Educational Acceleration, Lynn Dare Mar 2018

Students' Perspectives On Educational Acceleration, Lynn Dare

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation comprises three studies exploring Australian and Canadian students’ perspectives on grade-based acceleration. The first study involved Australian high-ability students, ages 9 to 14, in a two-phase group concept mapping exercise. First, I interviewed participants to hear their beliefs about grade-based acceleration. From the interview transcripts, I synthesized a list of 60 student-generated factors to consider when deciding on acceleration. Next, participants who had accelerated sorted the list of factors into groups, and rated the importance of each. I applied multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) to the sorted data, and identified six key concepts including (a) …


A Structured Conceptualization Of Reasons To Accelerate: Words From The Wise, Lynn Dare Jul 2013

A Structured Conceptualization Of Reasons To Accelerate: Words From The Wise, Lynn Dare

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Existing research indicates that carefully planned acceleration offers academic benefits with little social or emotional risk to high-ability learners. However, acceleration is seldom practiced and little is known about how students perceive acceleration. This study provides a structured conceptualization of reasons why secondary students chose acceleration through concurrent enrollment. Participants who were concurrently enrolled at Western University while in their final year at high school completed a concept mapping exercise based on Trochim’s methodology. A seven cluster model provided the best graphical representation of reasons to choose concurrent enrollment. Key concepts included (a) university preparation, (b) demonstrating initiative, (c) getting …