We will not post comments that are considered soliciting, mention illicit topics, or share highly personal information. However, such definitions may not adequately distinguish between gifted students who achieve and those who underachieve. A longitudinal study of 35 culturally diverse, gifted urban high school students compared successful students to a similar group of high-ability students who did not achieve (Reis et al., 1995). Gifted Child Quarterly, 30, 66-69. The results of the four-year longitudinal study with gifted high school students who either achieved or underachieved in high school suggested that boredom with the regular curriculum in elementary and middle school often contributes to underachievement in high school. A. Schunk, D. H. (1998, November). Bright underachievers. Ford advocated using a more holistic approach to defining and identifying gifted underachievers: Broad, inclusive definitions of underachievement support the notion that underachievement is a multidimensional construct that cannot be assessed with unidimensional instruments (Ford, p. 54). Manila, Philippines. Baldwin, A. Y. It is erroneous to equate an A in third grade math with an A in advanced placement calculus. Reggie Bush, RB, Miami Dolphins: Bush was on his way to a top five appearance before he finally had a breakout season for the Dolphins in 2011, putting to Unmotivated underachievers may see no compelling reasons for becoming better students. Clasen, D. R, & Clasen, R. E. (1995). Different types of underachievers may require different proportions of counseling, self-regulation training, and instructional or curricular modifications. The psychology of underachievement. Definitions of gifted underachievement are inconsistent and sometimes incompatible. Baum, S. M., Renzulli, J. S., & Hebert, T. P. (1995a). Usually, a smaller student/teacher ratio exists, teachers create less-conventional types of teaching and learning activities, teachers give students some choice and freedom in exercising control over their atmosphere, and students are encouraged to utilize different learning strategies. First, researchers should begin to explore the relationship between classroom practices and academic underachievement. (1981). Fine, M. J., & Pitts, R. (1980). (1982). Ideally, the researcher would standardize both the predictor and the criterion variables and would identify as underachievers those students whose actual achievement is at least one standard deviation below their expected achievement level. Gifted Child Quarterly, 24, 51-55. For example, a A second, smaller number of authors define underachievement as a discrepancy between predicted achievement and actual 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). Paper presented at the First Southeast Asian Regional Conference on Giftedness. Up from underachievement. Please note the date, author, and publisher information available if you wish to make further inquiries about any republished materials in our Resource Library. However, counseling treatments have met with limited success. In a recent study, researchers used self-selected Type III enrichment projects as a systematic intervention for underachieving gifted students. Unfortunately, what is viewed as achievement in a poor school may be viewed as underachievement by a more competitive school or by society at large. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of Gifted Children, Louisville, KY. Schwekzgebel, R. (1965). Busch, B., & Nuttall, R. L. (1995). Because causes and correlates of underachievement differ, no one intervention reverses underachievement patterns in the full spectrum of gifted underachievers. These factors were the relationship with the teacher, the use of self-regulation strategies, the opportunity to investigate topics related to their underachievement, the opportunity to work on an area of interest in a preferred learning style, and the time to interact with an appropriate peer group. Understanding a lack of motivation to excel. WebStudent Achievement & Underachievement: A Conversation with Del Siegle from the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented Professional Learning Online Units NRC/GT's Researched Strategies to Increase Student Motivation and Academic Achievement (5 comprehensive professional learning units based on the Achievement Orientation Model) Ford, D. Y. Webmajority of educators use in defining gifted underachievement. Some of the definitions included in Table 1through Table 4 (e.g., Mather & Udall, 1985; Redding, 1990) are specific operational definitions. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. One could even argue that Rimms definition includes almost all students. In general, inadequate research has examined the interventions aimed at reversing underachievement. They can but they dont. Lupart, J. L., & Pyryt, M. C. (1996). Butler-Por, N. (1993). This finding does not imply causality, since students often select friends whose characteristics are already similar to theirs (Berndt, p. 18). Bright childpoor grades: The psychology of underachievement. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Storrs, CT: University of Connecticut, National Research Center for the Gifted and Talented. Reis, S. M. (1998). document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Gifted students in states across the country often encounter a wide range of services varying from state to state and, The following article shares highlights and insights from one of our Expert Series events, which are exclusive for Young Scholarsand, TheFellows Scholarshipawards $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 scholarships to extraordinary young people, 18 and under, who have completed a significant piece, This article explores and explains emotional intensity in gifted individuals. Sixty-six percent of the students named peer pressure or attitude of the other kids, including friends, as the primary force against getting good grades (pp. Is providing intellectual challenge especially critical during a particular age range? No test is 100% reliable. The range of characteristics ascribed to gifted underachievers by numerous authors are summarized in Table 5 and Table 5 (continued). Roeper Review, 4, 18-21. Let us define underachievement as a discrepancy between expected achievement and actual achievement. Part of this variability is explained by the error of measurement of the criterion. Recent research by Desmet and Pereira (2021) in the journal Gifted Education International took a close look at academic underachievement. This raises several important issues. In reality, the standardization of classroom grades may be neither feasible nor meaningful. Do gifted underachievers have more in common with gifted students who do achieve or low-achieving students who are not gifted? Clasen, D. R., & Brown, B. Because different school systems use different criteria to label a student gifted, the populations of students who are identified as gifted vary; and, in some cases, they are not comparable. Unfortunately, little research has addressed the effectiveness of these options. Gifted students with attention deficits: Fact and /or fiction? Practitioners who responded to a National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented needs assessment identified underachievement as a major research problem (Renzulli, Reid, & Gubbins, 1992). Educational Leadership, 54 (7), 18-22. In M. Kornrich (Ed. Although these profiles may provide educators with convenient categories for various underachievers whom they encounter, they also illustrate the difficulty in trying to create a coherent profile of a typical underachiever. Pirozzo (1982) asserted that, generally, about half of the gifted children who score in the top 5% of intellectual ability on individualized IQ tests do not demonstrate comparable school achievement. Mansfield Center, CT: Creative Learning Press. In M. Kornrich (Ed. We will not post comments that are considered soliciting, mention illicit topics, or share highly personal information. Where Are the Gifted Minorities? The third theme, presented in Table 3, views underachievement as a failure to develop or utilize latent potential without reference to other external criteria. Laffoon, K. S., Jenkins-Friedman, R., & Tollefson, N. (1989). B., Loeber, R., Christ, M. A. G., Hart, E. L., & Tannenbaum, L. E. (1991). 11-12). In N. Colangelo & G. A. Davis (Eds. Use of behavior modification strategies: A review of the research. The findings suggest that achieving proficiency in English is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for Latino students to succeed in American schools, (p. 86) Students peer groups in high school: The pattern and relationship to educational outcomes. - time management Storrs, CT: University of Connecticut, The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. The Schoolwide Enrichment Model: A comprehensive plan for educational excellence. But neither our psychological insights nor our statistical evidence give us reason to believe that a scholastic aptitude test measures all of the significant determiners of scholastic achievement. The most common component of the various definitions of underachievement in gifted students involves identifying a discrepancy between ability and achievement (Baum, Renzulli, & Hebert, 1995a; Butler-Por, 1987; Dowdall & Colangelo, Case studies of talented students who achieve and underachieve in an urban high school (Research Monograph 95120). Rimm and Lowe studied the family environments of 22 underachieving gifted students. (1992). The authors believe that creativity may be connected to this underachievement. They suggest that highly creative students have a hard time conforming to a more rigid traditional environment. Further research and inquiry into this area should address the need for clearly defined, well-researched, and effective interventions for gifted underachievers. WebUnderachievement is content and situation specific. In this conception of underachievement, underachievers may be viewed as individuals who fail to self-actualize. In other words, if we predict that students will not succeed, and then they fail, they have not performed below our initial expectations. After reviewing the research in the field of gifted underachievement, Emerick (1992) observed that the picture of the underachiever which emerges is complex and often contradictory and inconclusive (p. 140). Underachievement: A common fallacy. Borkowski, J. G., & Thorpe, P. K. (1994). Conversely, there is a 10% chance that this students real IQ score is lower than 124 or higher than 134. Even the research on common characteristics in underachieving gifted students is often inconsistent. - prioritizing The concepts of over and underachievement. First, we must recognize the talents in culturally diverse youth. 5072 Accesses. Underachieving students may not want to identify with their parents (Clark, 1983; Weiner, 1992). How can the underachievement of older students be reversed? B., Mounts, N., Lamborn, S. D., & Steinberg, L. (1993). However, whenever a students performance drops substantially over a short time period, it should merit the attention of a teacher or a counselor. Brown, B. Furthermore, Rimm (1995) developed her underachiever profiles to reflect the variety of students she had treated in her clinical practice. For (p. 157) Reis and McCoach further contend that underachievement can-not be the result of a diagnosed learning disability and must be Obviously, factors other than ability, such as motivation, personality characteristics, family environment, school environment, and peer pressure, influence achievement. General, social, and academic self-concepts of gifted adolescents. Being aware of these factors could change teacher and parent perceptions of the student as an underachiever. Although passive-aggressive underachievement may be more likely to indicate psychological disturbance than underachievement attributable to motivational, educational, and cognitive components, this type of underachievement seems fairly responsive to psychotherapy (Weiner, 1992). Rimm, S. (1997b). A comparative study of achieving and underachieving boys of high intellectual ability. New York: Teachers College Press. Renzulli, J. S., & Reis, S. R. (1997). Curriculum compacting: A guide for teachers. Child Development, 64, 467-482. Future research must attempt to unravel the complex causes of academic underachievement and provide interventions that help reverse underachievement behavior. In M. Kornrich (Ed. Causal attributions of underachieving gifted, achieving gifted, and nongifted students. (1991). Therefore, even though a gifted students performance may decline over time, he or she could still appear to be at the top of the norm group. If a student performs more poorly on measures of achievement than one would expect based on measures of ability, then he or she is underachieving. The definition of achievement in a particular subculture may be very different from that of the dominant culture. Gifted Child Quarterly, 42, 5-14. Counseling interventions concentrate on changing the personal or family dynamics that contribute to a students underachievement. There are a variety of ability areas that may be assessed, including general intellect, creativity, leadership abilities, and specific subjects, such as math. 484-487). High-ability students can have learning problems (Barton & Starnes, 1988; Baum, Owen, & Dixon, 1991; Bireley, 1995) or attention deficits (Baum, Olenchak, & Owen, 1998) of various types that affect or cause underachievement. Underachieving students frequently report peer influence as the strongest force impeding their achievement (Clasen & Clasen, 1995). The process of defining underachievement, identifying underachieving gifted students, and explaining the reasons for this underachievement continues to stir controversy among practitioners, researchers, and clinicians. A teacher may believe that reading Huckleberry Finn is more worthwhile than mastering a new video game, but a child may not. A common method of defining ability involves the use of an IQ test, such as the WISC-III or the Stanford-Binet IV. In contrast, students who underachieved had developed neither a strong belief in self nor the resilience to overcome negative experiences with their families, their schools, and their communities. Bright, underachieving students might benefit from curriculum differentiation techniques (Renzulli & Smith, 1978; Reis, Burns, & Renzulli, 1992), such as curriculum compacting or Type III enrichment opportunities. Web High-achieving students acknowledged the importance of being grouped together in honors and advanced classes for academically talented students. Therefore, such studies will require the attention of researchers who can utilize sophisticated design techniques. Often, standardized tests have low ceilings, and when gifted students score at the ceiling of a testing instrument, it is impossible to know how much higher the students performance might have been if the ceiling had been raised. Khatena, J. The participants in Emericks study believed that a specific teacher had the greatest impact in reversing their underachievement behavior. Family, school, and individual factors all seem to contribute to the emergence of underachievement behaviors (Baker, Bridger, & Evans, 1998). Disclaimer: The appearance of any information in the Davidson Institutes Resource Library does not imply an endorsement by, or any affiliation with, the Davidson Institute. The most common component of the various definitions of underachievement in gifted students involves identifying a discrepancy between ability and achievement (Baum, Renzulli, & Hebert, 1995a; Butler-Por, 1987; Dowdall & Colangelo, 1982; Emerick, 1992; Redding, 1990; Rimm, 1997a; Supplee, 1990; Whitmore, 1980; Wolfle, 1991). For example, a student who is clinically depressed or has other emotional or drug-related problems may experience a sudden decline in school grades. (1992). Objectification of data used in under-achievement self-concept study. Perhaps the family discord is a result of rather than a cause of, the childs underachievement. If we hold low expectations for students who then achieve at low levels, they are not underachievers. & M. Bireley & J. Genshaft (Vol. Supplee (1990) instituted a part-time program for gifted elementary underachievers. Often, opposition between parents increased as the challenger became more authoritarian and the rescuer became increasingly protective. Bricklin B., & Bricklin, P. M. (1967). (Rev. Locus of control and self-concept in achieving and underachieving bright elementary students. Summer 2000. 649-668). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. It explores some of the problems of identifying these students. 3, pp. The attitude achievement paradox among Black adolescents. (1992). 108-415). ), Understanding the gifted adolescent, (pp. Permission Statement Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. The authors also include suggestions for those interested in pursuing potentially promising new lines of research and inquiry in this area. Externalizing behavior problems and academic underachievement in childhood and adolescence: Causal relationships and underlying mechanisms. Personal patterns of underachievement. All information presented is for informational and archival purposes only. As the next millennium approaches, researchers must move beyond describing this educational dilemma and instead strive to find solutions. Charles Culpeper, owner, and CEO of Coca Cola is another example of a successful high school dropout. Thorndikes four reasons that explain why the correlation between measured intelligence and measured achievement is less than perfect provide insight into current issues regarding Underachievement. This material may not be reproduced without permission from NAGC. We do not know how many talented students underachieve, but we know that this issue is foremost in the minds of practitioners (Renzulli, Reid, & Gubbins, 1992). Or, can we see the forest for the trees? Chichester, England: John Wiley and Sons. The parents of unmotivated underachievers may also benefit from therapeutic strategies that encourage them to speak positively about education, show an interest in their childs schoolwork, and praise their childs accomplishments (Weiner). Recently, Reis (1998) suggested that gifted students who are not challenged in school may actually demonstrate integrity and courage when they choose not to do required work that is below their intellectual level. Kedding, R. E. (1990). Publisher: National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Do students underachieve because they come from families in conflict? Gifted Child Quarterly, 41, 5-17. Gifted individuals have learning differences, including divergent thinking, quirky humor, and a penchant for Gifted Education International, 9, 115-119. Jeon, K. W., & Feldhusen, J. F. (1993). Such a method may provide more insight into the nature of the childs achievement since children are repeatedly compared to the same norm group. For example, according to several authors (e.g., Belcastro, 1985; Bricklin & Bricklin, 1967; Bruns, 1992; Diaz, 1998; Dowdall & Colangelo, 1982; Fine & Pitts, 1980; Fink, 1965; Ford, 1996; Kanoy, Johnson, & Kanoy, 1980; Schunk, 1998; Supplee, 1990; Van Boxtel & Monks, 1992; Whitmore, 1980), positive self-concept appears to correlate with student achievement, raising an interesting but unanswered question: Does low self-concept cause underachievement or does underachievement result in a deterioration of self-concept, or does a third exogenous variable influence both self-concept and scholastic achievement? Thorndike (1963) cautioned educators and psychologists not to waste their time and effort attempting to provide explanations arising solely from measurement errors, discussed below. Many states mandate the use of multiple criteria to determine giftedness. Confidence intervals are usually reported with the standardized test scores. Cultural relativism also becomes a factor when identifying underachievement in diverse groups. Finally, the differences among the three authors typical categories of underachievers further illustrate the fact that none of the lists are definitive or immutable. Neither approach seems logical or practical for school-based research. The gifted underachiever who had reversed patterns of academic underachievement in this study exhibited characteristics also associated with the highly creative and gifted individual: independence of thought and judgment, willingness to take risks, perseverance, above-average intellectual ability, creative ability, and an intense Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Research identifies various external factors that may lead to Identifying an underachiever using one of the broader, more inclusive definitions is also problematic. Unfortunately, the need for multiple approaches to treatment will complicate the research designs necessary to test the efficacy of underachievement interventions. As you can see, intelligence and high achievement are two of the big winners. Standardized achievement tests offer one advantage over classroom grades: They provide documented, empirical evidence of reliability. 149-195). Please note, the Davidson Institute is a non-profit serving families with highly gifted children. Broad, inclusive definitions of gifted underachievement allow more flexibility in the identification of gifted underachievers. Berndt found that students seemed to resemble more closely their friends at the end of the school year than they did at the beginning of the school year. ), Underachievement (pp. RT @DavidsonGifted: Finding out your child is profoundly gifted or twice-exceptional can be overwhelming. ; Christopher Columbus, an explorer, and discoverer of new lands.Primarily home-schooled. Four types of - Blogger (1991). (1982). Finally, should adults place higher expectations on gifted students, or does this represent an elitist and utilitarian view of humanity? Brown, B. As previously mentioned, most definitions of underachievement involve a discrepancy between ability and academic achievement/performance. For many minority and disadvantaged gifted children and adolescents, underachieving leads to deprivation of opportunities to receive educational services High school underachievers: What do they achieve as adults? Determinants of underachievement as perceived by gifted, above average, and average Black students. ), Handbook of Gifted Education (2nd ed., pp. Chapter. Further research in this area must focus on developing multiple approaches to both preventing and reversing underachievement. One would expect a gifted students performance to be above grade level in some subject areas, especially those areas in which that student has been identified as gifted. Reversing underachievement: Creative productivity as a systematic intervention. Other definitions (Butler-Por, 1987; Ford, 1996; Rimm, 1997a) are broader and more inclusive. The Enrichment Triad Model: A guide for developing defensible programs for the gifted and talented. The researchers found no relationship between poverty and achievement, between parental divorce and achievement, or between family size and achievement. This attitude-achievement paradox makes understanding and reversing their underachievement difficult to those unfamiliar with the phenomenon (Mickelson, 1990). Because of these errors of measurement, psychologists can never determine with 100% certainty a students true score on the original measure. Hinshaw, S. P. (1992b). Academic underachievement, attention deficits, and aggression: Comorbidity and implications for intervention, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60, 893-903. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 329-339. Current identification practices that underidentify gifted African American students hinder the identification of gifted underachievers of African American descent. If a student spends much of his or her free time reading about world religions or volunteering at the local hospital, but fails to complete mundane homework assignments, does that represent underachievement or a personal decision reflecting a wise use of time? Certain responses to these questions may lead to the conclusion that underachievement does not exist or is not a problem that adults should remedy. Criteria for identifying gifted underachievers should include a method for determining observable discrepancies between ability and achievement. Certain treatments aimed at combating underachievement combine counseling and school-centered interventions. However, other intervening environmental influences and experiences that may not be obvious to school personnel or parents also affect achievement. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 14, 451-467. However, these findings support the notion that there is a correlation between a students achievement and the achievement of his or her closest peer group. The authors also include suggestions for those interested in pursuing potentially promising new lines of research and inquiry in this area. The literature also presents a variety of other classroom designs, such as self-contained classrooms, and home and school partnerships. WebUnderachievement Syndrome: A Psychological Defensive Pattern. Neisser, U., Boodoo, G., Bouchard, T. J., Boykin, A. W., Brody, N., Ceci, S. J., Halpern, D. P., Loehlin, J. C., Perloff, R., Sternberg, R. J., & Urbina, S. (1996).