Grade skipping and the achievements of girls

The aim of the present study is to assess and document the experiences of schools, parents, adolescents, and, finally, adults with grade skipping in Germany to form recommendations for handling this type of acceleration. This article is based on three studies on grade skipping; two studies conducted in schools in Lower Saxony, Germany, spanned the years 1980–2001, the first including questionnaires for parents and interviews with adolescents. The third study, conducted in 2012, consists of questionnaires for adults born between 1917 and 1987. Overall, the schools reported few intellectual problems and slightly more emotional or social ones. As for the parents, for 97% of the girls and 88% of the boys it had been the right decision. The adolescents were much happier in the higher grades as they felt they fitted in better despite some problems with older students. Of the adults, 89% of the females and 78% of the males reported they would grade skip again if conditions were the same. When problems occurred, findings revealed that when handling grade skipping, mistakes had been made due to a lack of knowledge of acceleration.