What is it about?
In this study, I compared the adult incomes of people who experienced academic acceleration (e.g., grade skipping, early kindergarten, graduating from high school early) with similar people who did not. I found that, on average, accelerated individuals had incomes 4.66% higher than non-accelerated individuals. Accelerated women had higher incomes (6.78%) than non-accelerated women. The income advantage of accelerated men compared to non-accelerated men was much smaller (0.83%). Income gaps varied across time and were largest in early adulthood.
Featured Image
Photo by Michael Longmire on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Academic acceleration is widely supported among gifted education experts, and there is strong evidence for its academic benefits. This study--along with an earlier study of mine--shows that there are economic benefits, too. These benefits last well into adulthood. Academic acceleration is not used with bright or gifted students as often as it should be. I hope that this article gets more parents to consider grade skipping and other forms of acceleration for their children.
Perspectives
This article is a replication of an earlier study I performed on economic outcomes, and I was pleased when the results were similar. Also, I am the beneficiary of full-grade acceleration (as were two of my four brothers), and it is nice to see that my anecdotal positive experience is supported by empirical data. Finally, I am glad to contribute to the literature on this widely accepted--but seldom implemented--practice. I hope that my work can make a teacher, principal, or parent more likely to decide that a bright child can skip a grade.
Dr Russell T. Warne
Independent Scholar
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Possible economic benefits of full-grade acceleration, Journal of School Psychology, December 2017, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsp.2017.07.001.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Related article
This is an earlier article showing (mostly) similar results, using the historic Terman dataset.
Press release
University press release about the study.
Radio interview
Radio interview about the study and the preceding study based on the Terman data.
Daily Herald news story
Blurb in the local newspaper about the article.
High Flyer blog post
Blog post on the Thomas B. Fordham Institute's High Flyer blog summarizing the study.
Radio interview
Interview on BYU Radio's "Top of Mind with Julie Rose" about this study and the Terman study I did. Interview starts at 52:35.
Contributors
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