A Longitudinal Examination of the Fourth Grade Slump in Creativity

TLDR

The study followed 350 children from 1959 to 1964, administering annual creative thinking tests and analyzing a random sample of 100, with raw scores converted to standard/T‑scores using fifth‑grade norms. Longitudinal analysis revealed significant slumps in all creativity dimensions, with 45–61 % of children experiencing drops of five or more points, though some improved; overall, most children ended fifth grade lower than third, with the largest decline in fluency and the greatest growth in elaboration.

Abstract

From September 1959 to May 1964 the children enrolled in a university and a public elementary school were tested each year with a battery of tests of creative thinking. Relatively complete data were obtained for 350 children. A random sample of 100 cases was drawn from this pool for further analysis. All raw scores were converted to standard or T-scores based on fifth grade comparison group norms. The results showed that when studied longitudinally, there are statistically significant slumps in fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration. Although from 45 to 61 percent of the subjects showed significant slumps (losses of five or more standard score points), there were a few who showed significant increases ranging from 11 percent on fluency to 38 percent on elaboration. There is a general recovery trend in the fifth grade but from 16 to 29 percent show decreases of five or more standard score points between the third and fifth grades. Many children end up with lower scores in the fifth grade than they attained in the third grade. The proportion ranges from 21 percent on elaboration to 52 percent on fluency. In general there is the strongest tendency for growth in elaboration and the weakest In fluency.