Identifying Profound Human Capital Expressly and Reliably During Early Adolescence: A 25-Year Longitudinal Study

• In Event: 61.082 - Outcomes of Acceleration

Abstract

Recently, Kell, Lubinski, and Benbow (2013) tracked the educational, occupational, and creative accomplishments of youth identified before age 13 performing at the top 1 in 10,000 level in either mathematical or verbal reasoning ability. They reported that such high potential youth grow up to make significant societal contributions through leadership positions in domains that create modern culture. The goal of the current study was to directly replicate the magnitude of effect reported by Kell et al. using a comparable independent sample. Overall, results mirror the original findings. Extreme mathematical or verbal reasoning ability appears to be an early indicator of human capital contributions across a wide variety of adult educational, occupational, and creative endeavors.

Authors

• Matthew C. Makel, Duke University

• Harrison Kell, Educational Testing Service

• David Lubinski, Vanderbilt University

• Martha Putallaz, Duke University

• Camilla P. Benbow, Vanderbilt University