Abstract
Can genetic screening be used to personalize education for students? Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) screen an individual’s DNA for specific variations in their genome, and how said variations relate to specific traits. The variations can then be assigned a corresponding weight, and summed to produce polygenic scores (PGS) for given traits. Though first developed for disease risk1, PGS are now used to predict educational achievement. Using a novel simulation method, this paper examined if PGS could advance screening in schools, a goal of personalized education. Results showed limited potential benefit for using PGS to personalize education for individual students. However, further analysis showed PGS could be effectively used alongside progress monitoring measures to screen for learning disability risk. Altogether, PGS is not useful in personalizing education for every child but has potential utility when used simultaneously with additional screening tools to help determine which children may struggle academically.
Ashley Edwards
Research Faculty I at the Florida Center for Reading Research
My research interests include dyslexia, reading development, and how we can use advanced statistical methods to study reading.