The study found that even kids with genius-level IQs need the support of teachers to help them reach their full potential.
Launched in 1971, SMPY is one of the longest-running longitudinal studies of gifted youth in world history. Study scholars have used survey data from study participants to advance hypotheses about talent development and occupational preferences
“Whether we like it or not, these people really do control our society,” Jonathan Wai, psychologist at the Duke University Talent Identification Program, recently told Nature.
“The kids who test in the top 1% tend to become our eminent scientists and academics, our Fortune 500 CEOs and federal judges, senators and billionaires.”
However, much of the study’s research suggests that children who show an early aptitude for subjects like science and maths tend not to receive the help they need.
This is because teachers who see the best performing students acing their test scores choose instead to devote the majority of their attention to students who are struggling with classwork.
When researchers compared a control group of gifted students who didn’t skip a grade to those who did, the grade-skippers were 60% more likely to earn patents and doctorates and more than twice as likely to get a Ph.D. in a field related to science, technology, engineering, or maths (STEM).
However, the study pointed out that teachers and parents can also read this finding with optimism. If they notice a child is gifted, the best evidence suggests they should never stop supplying that child with tougher and tougher work.