Applying Frasier Four A’s to Promote Upstander Teachers for Academic Acceleration of Gifted Black Students

Abstract

Acceleration is an effective approach for many high ability students, and it can be especially beneficial for Black students. Upstander teachers are those who recognize educational crises and the problem of overlooked and underdeveloped gifts and talents of Black students in regular and gifted education programs. They proactively identify Black students’ intellectual and academic strengths and plan not only enrichment services, but accelerated pathways for Black students to be appropriately challenged. Too many Black students with gifts and talents succumb to boredom, underachievement, and atrophy when bystander teachers have low academic expectations of them and fail to recommend them for academically rigorous advanced and accelerated learning experiences. The purpose of this article is to present acceleration as a means of creating equitable opportunities in gifted education for gifted Black students using Frasier’s Four A’s framework: attitude, access, assessment, and accommodation. Specifically, the following questions are addressed: What are upstander attitudes toward acceleration and related policies? How can upstander teachers know if a Black student is a good candidate for acceleration and increase their access to acceleration? How can upstander teachers provide equitable assessments of Black students for acceleration? What can upstander teachers do to support acceleration programming that accommodates the needs of gifted Black students? Six tables provide an overview of acceleration types, a guide to promote equitable acceleration, and considerations for accelerating gifted Black students.