Sunday 25 September 2011

Misreading the statistics

Gifted Lives: what happens when gifted children grow up,a recent publication from Professor Joan Freeman, was reviewed on the gurgle.com website

According to new research, children labelled as gifted in early life are no more likely to succeed as adults. In fact, Prof. Joan Freeman, who studied the adult careers of 210 child prodigies for her book Gifted Lives: What Happens When Gifted Children Grow Up, has found that only six of those studied became incredibly successful in later life: Gifted children are just as likely to fail as adults.

Oh no she did not study 210 child prodigies!

The professor studied 70 children labelled as gifted through membership of the National Association for Gifted Children, 70 children from the same school class with near identical academic ability who had not been so labelled and 70 children, again from the same school class, chosen at random to allow for similar social backgrounds.

And if I hadn't read the professor’s own article in Education Today (Volume 61 Number 2 (Summer 2011)) (which I can't find anywhere online) I would have believed the reviews of her book.



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