DNA may be a powerful predictor of educational success, new research suggests

[Jim__]

This study was by researchers at the University of York, and toward the end of the article they note that the study has a strong eurocentric bias: the researchers highlight the limitations with this technique, which includes the fact that 80% of the data polygenic scores are currently based on is from people of European ancestry. GWAS is an acronym for: genome-wide association study (GWAS). Also, the full report is available here.

From the article at phys.org

Polygenic score prediction of years spent in education across four published GWAS. Note: For each GWAS for educational attainment (EA), the year of publication (in parentheses) is shown along the x-axis, and the discovery sample sizes are given above their respective bar. Bars indicate the weighted mean proportion of variance (R2) of polygenic score predictions of educational attainment in the independent samples that were reported in the original GWAS articles. Error bars reflect 95% confidence intervals (CIs) Some 95% CIs were not reported in the original article and were estimated for the weighted mean R2. Gray circles reflect the polygenic score prediction from each independent sample, whose N is indexed by circle size (for details on the independent samples, see Supplementary Materials section 2). Credit: Educational Psychology Review (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s10648-024-09928-4
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Researchers at the University of York are calling for further exploration of the role DNA could play in predicting educational outcomes. The work is published in the journal Educational Psychology Review.

The researchers point to the findings of their new study, which reveal that recent advances in DNA analysis mean we now know genetics are one of the strongest predictors of how far an individual will go in education and the grades they will achieve.

By pooling data from multiple studies looking at the links between genes and education, the researchers gained an overview of how good genetic testing has become at predicting educational outcomes.
Genetic differences

They found that up to 25% of differences in school grades between individuals can be attributed to genetic differences. This is a greater effect than a person's family socioeconomic background (10%) and the Ofsted rating of the school a child attends, which only accounts for 4% of an individual's educational success.

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[elleng]

1. No kidding?

[hedda_foil]

2. In other words, more intelligent people tend to do better and go further in school.

And there is a strong genetic component to intelligence. Well, yeah.

[Jim__]

3. In other words, if genetic tests can lead to early identification of people who are likely to have educational problems,

you may be able to help these people before problems develop. From the article in phys.org:

"Knowing how genetics affect education could help us in the future to step in and give children personalized extra support before any learning difficulties develop."

[Igel]

4. Or conversely, if genetic tests can lead to early identification

of people who are likely to be educationally gifted, you may be able to ensure that these people are encouraged and assisted in developing their gifts to the maximum ability possible.

Note that effort still really matters in all of this, but in the general population a lot of G/T kids wind up simply bored or they're not given challenges that produce resilience. The first makes them simply stop trying and the latter discourages them when surmountable obstacles, seen for the first time, are encountered.

This is especially true for the kind of population the SAT was originally intended to find--those from disadvantaged or underserved backgrounds who wouldn't think about advanced training because it wasn't in their network's experience.