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Elementary Advanced Academic Options

Educational acceleration is one of the cornerstones of exemplary gifted education practices, with more research supporting this intervention than any other in the literature on gifted individuals.  The practice of educational acceleration has long been used to match high level student general ability and specific talent with optimal learning opportunities.

The purposes of acceleration as a practice with gifted students are:

1.) to adust the pace of the instruction to the students' capability in order to develop a sound work ethic,

2.) to provide an appropriate level of challenge in order to avoid the boredom from repetitious learning, and

3.) to reduce the time period necessary for students to complete traditional schooling.

Birdville ISD offers two advanced academic options for elementary students: Full grade level acceleration and acceleration in math (telescoping).    Credit by Exam testing must take place without prior instruction  (before any formal instruction in the tested grade level begins).  Students must be enrolled and attending a Birdville ISD school before any Credit by Exam testing can occur.

Students in Birdville ISD may pursue acceleration testing for telescoping in math (accelerating in math only) or full grade-level acceleration (grade-skipping) based on students' mastery of academic content and/or documented need for accelerated course content.

Credit by Examination WITHOUT Prior Instruction (CBE for Acceleration) is administered to a student seeking credit for a course or grade level without receiving any prior instruction in the course(s).  Birdville ISD employees are not able to provide any resources that provide any sort of instruction to prep the student for taking a Credit by Exam test.

An elementary student may test out of a grade level or math course with NO prior instruction if the following criteria are met in accordance with Board policy:

• Telescoping in math (single subject acceleration in math): Credit by Exam assessments consist of one assessment for each year-long course.  To telescope in math, a student must meet the following requirements:
  • A student must earn 90% or higher on an approved Credit by Exam (CBE) Mathematics test for the grade level the student desires to accelerate past.
  • A student must be recommended for the acceleration placement by a district representative
  • A student's parents or guardian must give written approval of the acceleration
• Full grade level acceleration (grade skipping):  Credit by Exam assessments consist of one assessment for each year-long course.  To accelerate out of a single grade level, a student must meet the following requirements:
  • A student must earn 80% or higher on an approved Credit by Exam (CBE) test for each of the core content areas (Mathematics, Reading-Language Arts, Science, Social Studies) for the grade level the student desires to accelerate past.  The first test that is given is Mathematics.  If the student does not earn 80% or higher on the Mathematics test, no additional tests are ordered and the testing process ends for the student.
  • A student must be recommended for acceleration by a district representative
  • A student's parents or guardian must give written approval of the acceleration

Birdville ISD utilizes credit by exam assessment services from the University of Texas at Austin-UT High School, a Texas Education Agency (TEA)-approved assessment provider.  Exams are criterion-referenced tests that evaluate mastery of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for a specific subject or grade level.  UT High School provides study guides for each credit by exam test offered.  It is strongly recommended that parents review these study guides to familiarize themselves with the content that will be covered during the test and what the format of the test is like.  The study guides provide some practice questions that students can complete.  

Students may attempt Credit by Exam testing one time per school year and only during the designated testing windows/dates.  Please see the document below for Credit by Exam test dates for the 2023-2024 school year.  Because Credit by Exam testing must occur PRIOR to any instruction in the grade level/content that the student is trying to test out of, the majority of Credit by Exam testing for elementary students is done during the summer test dates.  

Birdville ISD charges a $25 fee to order the first Credit by Exam test for a student.  After the first Credit by Exam test is completed by the student, Birdville ISD will reimburse the $25 fee back to the original form of payment.  If a student fails to complete a Credit by Exam test after it has been ordered, the $25 fee will not be reimbursed.  

Questions regarding Credit by Exam testing may be directed to the Coordinator of GT Services:  contact Stacye Onstott, Coordinator of GT Services