Bill H.641

An Act relative to Academic Acceleration for K-12 Students

By Representatives Kelcourse of Amesbury and Kilcoyne of Northborough, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 641) of James M. Kelcourse, Meghan Kilcoyne, and others relative to academic acceleration of students in kindergarten through grade twelve. Education.

SECTION 1.  Section 1B of chapter 69 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the twenty-fifth paragraph, in lines 151-167,  the following paragraph:-

“The board of elementary and secondary education shall establish regulations regarding the use of whole-grade and content-specific academic acceleration in the public schools of the Commonwealth. Said regulations will authorize and provide a framework for school districts to provide access to appropriate curriculum and instruction for students who demonstrate readiness for academic content, skills, or understanding at a level beyond the curriculum ordinarily taught to students of a certain age. In developing said regulations, the department shall consider, at a minimum, the following acceleration strategies:

(a) Single subject acceleration;

(b) Combined classes (multi-age);

(c) Online and correspondence courses;

(d) Concurrent or dual enrollment;

(e) Curriculum compacting;

(f) Credit by examination or prior experience;

(g) Competency/mastery-based learning;

(h) Whole-grade acceleration (one or more);

(I) Self-paced instruction;

(j) Mentoring;

(k)Early graduation;

Said regulations shall require the use of a tool, such as the Iowa Acceleration Scale, designed to take personal bias out of the decision-making process when considering a child for acceleration, and to ensure that acceleration decisions are systematic, thoughtful, well-reasoned, and defensible.”