SENATE DOCKET, NO. 105        FILED ON: 1/12/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 325

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Diana DiZoglio, (BY REQUEST)

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act regarding academic acceleration for beyond grade-level students.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 105        FILED ON: 1/12/2021

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 325

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE SENATE, NO. 276 OF 2019-2020.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

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An Act regarding academic acceleration for beyond grade-level students.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. 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