Underachievement in Gifted Students: Causes & Solutions Finally, African American students often exhibit an attitude-achievement paradox; they report positive attitudes toward education, yet they manifest poor academic achievement. The researchers found no relationship between poverty and achievement, between parental divorce and achievement, or between family size and achievement. Columbus, OH: Merrill. Environmental influences and events have a major impact on students achievement. In contrast, although the parents of underachieving gifted children may verbally espouse the values of achievement, they may have lives characterized by frustration and lack of fulfillment (Rimm & Lowe). Counseling families. The Relationship between Underachievement of Gifted Students Labeling this phenomenon dropping out with dignity, she concluded that some students may underachieve as a direct result of an inappropriate and unmotivating curriculum. Minority students are often underrepresented in programs for the gifted and talented (Ford, 1996; Tomlinson, Callahan, & Leili, 1997). Because causes and correlates of underachievement differ, no one intervention reverses underachievement patterns in the full spectrum of gifted underachievers. IQ test scores, achievement percentile scores, or grades that have declined for three years in a row are strong indicators of an underachievement problem. (1998). This article reviews and analyzes three decades of research on the underachievement of gifted students in an attempt to clarify the present state of research. Clark, B. Some of the definitions included in Table 1through Table 4 (e.g., Mather & Udall, 1985; Redding, 1990) are specific operational definitions. Peer relationships impact adolescent behavior (Brown, 1982; Clasen & Brown, 1985; Reis, Hebert, Diaz, Maxfield, and Ratley (1995) found that high-achieving peers had a positive influence on gifted students who began to underachieve in high school. Two common measures of achievement are standardized achievement test scores (e.g., the California Achievement Tests, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, the Stanford Achievement Tests, Metropolitan Achievement Tests, the Terra Nova, etc.) Underachievement in Gifted Students Underachievement is an issue that can be especially impactful among gifted students, particularly those who are profoundly gifted. Profoundly gifted individuals score in the 99.9th percentile on IQ tests and have an exceptionally high level of intellectual prowess. She found that parents frequently oppose each other when disciplining their children. New York: Viking Penguin. We have tended to become preoccupied with scholastic aptitude measures because they do correlate substantially with later achievement, and consequently do permit some improvement in the accuracy of predictions. The extent and effects of peer pressure among high school students: A retrospective analysis. WebGifted underachievers are underachievers who exhibit superior scores on measures of expected achievement (i.e., standardized achievement test scores or cognitive or intellectual ability assessments). Gifted Child Quarterly, 15, 279-292. Too often, for no apparent reason, students who show great academic promise fail to perform at a level commensurate with their previously documented abilities, frustrating both parents and teachers (Whitmore, 1986). When we hold low expectations for students, we may be unable to recognize, and therefore reverse, these students underachievement behaviors. Rimm, S. (1997a). Moreover, a students family, school, or community environment or peer influences may also influence his or her level of achievement. In addition, bestowing adult status on a child at too young an age may contribute to the development of underachievement (Fine & Pitts, 1980; Rimm & Lowe, 1988). Locus of control and self-concept in achieving and underachieving bright elementary students. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_3" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Please note, the Davidson Institute is a non-profit serving families with highly gifted children. New York: John Wiley and Sons. A comparison of gifted underachievers and gifted high achievers. The research literature mentions only a small number of interventions. (1991). In addition, many professionals add a temporal dimension to the identification procedure (Mandel & Marcus, 1995). Earl A Grollman High Rimm and Lowe studied the family environments of 22 underachieving gifted students. Even so, several studies have found that underachievers do not exhibit lower self-concepts than their achieving counterparts (e.g. This finding does not imply causality, since students often select friends whose characteristics are already similar to theirs (Berndt, p. 18). However, whenever a students performance drops substantially over a short time period, it should merit the attention of a teacher or a counselor. Students who seem to be unmotivated may have attention deficits. ), The gifted and talented: Developmental perspectives (pp. Although this may be a suitable method for identifying underachievers from the general school population, such an age/performance discrepancy may only identify the most severely underachieving gifted students.
