From Struggling to Successful: The Power of Acceleration
A Tale of Hope from Suzy Pepper Rollins

For years, the dominant method of support for students with gaps has been remediation, the reteaching of skills missed in past years.  The idea was “If we could just fix these kids and go back and reteach everything they missed, they’d be just fine.” Of course, as they are moving backwards in time, their peers are moving forward.  And then we scratch our heads and ponder how the gaps got bigger… It can feel pretty futile, for learners and educators.  

This session is about a different approach, acceleration.  Acceleration is a tactical process in which we prepare students for success.  How? By strategically inserting prior knowledge, vocabulary, and just the prerequisite skills needed for this week…things they will be using right away.  Acceleration gets under the hood of what’s missing for a learner – prior knowledge – which is often listed by researchers as the single most important element to mastering new learning.  

This session is with Suzy Pepper Rollins, who has been a leader in rethinking how we can turn struggling learners into successful ones – quickly!  She shares her steps and processes with acceleration.  

As part of this session, Suzy has placed a power point on the site with tips and research on acceleration.  

In addition, ASCD has her chapter on acceleration open.  Click here to read her chapter on acceleration.