Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ed.D.

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education, Teaching and Learning Sciences

First Advisor

Norma L. Hafenstein, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Paul Michalec, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Stephen H. Chou, Psy.D.

Keywords

Early access, Giftedness, Highly gifted, School readiness, Acceleration

Abstract

Colorado House Bill 08-1021: Early Access is legislation that is an optional based policy for school districts in the state of Colorado to choose to implement. The basic parameters within this state legislation is identified highly gifted students defined as academically gifted, socially and emotionally mature, who are in the top 3% of the gifted peer group, motivated to learn, ready for advanced placement, and have exhausted the resources of preschool or home schooling. Colorado House Bill 08-1021: Early Access passed in 2008, but as of 2017 only 42% of school districts had a process registered with the state department of education. This study examined the limitations on the 103 Colorado school district’s adoption of an Early Access Addendum process.

This descriptive survey research design asked 19 questions addressing the four categories of limitations (hindrances, awareness, favorability, and readiness) towards adoption of an Early Access Addendum process. A total of 20 school districts completed the online survey.

Regarding the findings on awareness and hindrances, 100% of the participants are aware of the Early Access Addendum and most participants indicated that funding and human resources as the most significance limitations to adoption of an Early Access Addendum. Concerning favorability and readiness, findings revealed many participants are in favor of professional learning to address the barriers towards adoption and a limited number of participants are ready to file an Early Access Addendum. Recommendations emphasized the importance of funding options and professional learning opportunities that address the revealed limitations.

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.



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