Education
Education

Young children with attention problems less likely to graduate

By Maureen Downey
July 7, 2016

A new Duke University study suggests problems paying attention in school in early childhood can foreshadow academic challenges later, including graduating from high school. Such students are 40 percent less likely to graduate, according to the study.

The study finds early attention skills are the most consistent predictor of academic success.

The study found young students with early attention difficulties had lower grades and reading achievement scores than their peers by fifth grade. The gap persists, culminating in lower graduation rates.

“There’s not a lot out there about how early attention problems affect academic outcomes over such a long time frame,” said David Rabiner, an associate dean of Duke’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and a faculty fellow of the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy. “This study is one of the first to focus on how attention problems as early as first grade relate to such an important educational outcome as high school graduation.”

To read more, go to the AJC Get Schooled blog.

About the Author

Maureen Downey has written editorials and opinion pieces about local, state and federal education policy since the 1990s.

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