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Recently, researchers have begun to probe the relationships among underachievement, attention deficit disorders, and learning disabilities (Hinshaw, 1992a, 1992b). Renzulli, J. S., & Smith, L. H. (1978). Although clinicians report success with counseling interventions, research on therapeutic approaches has documented limited success in reversing students underachievement patterns (Baymur & Patterson, 1965; Butler-Por, 1993; Jeon, 1990). We will not post comments that are considered soliciting, mention illicit topics, or share highly personal information. Rimm, S. (1997a). (1990). Borkowski, J. G., & Thorpe, P. K. (1994). Personal patterns of underachievement. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. (1995). In a culture that generally prizes both childhood and adult achievement, we label as underachievers those students who do not perform as well as we might expect them to perform. Rimm (1997a) believes that if students are not working to their ability, they are underachieving (p. 18). Her qualitative research study examined the patterns of underachievement and subsequent achievement of 10 young adults. Counselors and therapists can help underachievers strengthen deficient reward systems, modify passive-aggressive propensities, and alleviate emotional deficits; educators can help students fill educational gaps and alleviate or compensate for cognitive handicaps. 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). 11-12). (1997, June). One fact seems certain: The identification procedure should flow directly and logically from the definition of gifted 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. This attitude-achievement paradox makes understanding and reversing their underachievement difficult to those unfamiliar with the phenomenon (Mickelson, 1990). Confidence intervals are usually reported with the standardized test scores. 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. In L. K. Silverman (Ed.). In M. C. Wang & E. W. Gordon (Eds. ), The gifted and talented: Developmental perspectives (pp. Curriculum compacting: A guide for teachers. 39-40). Growing up gifted (2nd ed.). Two methods can help reduce heterogeneity of the criterion variable (Raph et al., 1966). The sample consisted of 54 students from primary schools; 35 high achievers and 24 underachievers. 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. In K. A. Heller, F. J. Monks, & A. H. Passow (Eds.) Externalizing behavior problems and academic underachievement in childhood and adolescence: Causal relationships and underlying mechanisms. Even a child who does poorly in most school subjects may display a talent or interest in at least one school subject. (1998). Definitions of gifted underachievement as a discrepancy between potential and performance are by far the most common. 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). 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. Counseling families. 416-435). Dowdall and Colangelo (1982) described three underlying themes in the definition of gifted underachievement: WebIn this lesson, you will learn about the emotional and environmental causes of underachievement in gifted students, as well as strategies to help gifted students The results of this research suggest that flexible, student-centered enrichment approaches may help reverse underachievement in gifted students. Frick, P. J., Kamphaus, R. W., Lahey, B. Up to 50% of gifted children underachieve at some point in their school career; therefore, it is an important issue for parents and educators to address. (1991). Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Association of Gifted Education, 1-7. An orphan for many years, Future research could explore the generality of the underachievement phenomenon and investigate whether interventions that are successful with gifted students might also apply to the wider spectrum of underachieving students. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. Supplee, P. L. (1990). Because students underachieve for so many different reasons, no one intervention strategy can possibly reverse these behaviors in all underachieving gifted students. The Journal of Educational Research, 90, 259-268. (1997). However, although operational definitions provide clarity, they sacrifice flexibility and inclusiveness in a quest for precision. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Students who seem to be unmotivated may have attention deficits. Does providing part- or full-time gifted programming reduce the occurrence of academic underachievement among the gifted? Many states mandate the use of multiple criteria to determine giftedness. Permission Statement 119-137). 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. Academic underachievement and behavior disorders, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 189-194. American Psychologist, 51, 77-101. The Enrichment Triad Model: A guide for developing defensible programs for the gifted and talented. McNab, T. (1997). High-achieving parents often provide positive role-modeling of achievement-oriented behavior; (Rimm & Lowe; Zilli, 1971). Barton, J. M., & Starnes, W. T. (1988). New York: John Wiley and Sons. Students peer groups in high school: The pattern and relationship to educational outcomes. WebUnderachievement is the unanticipated difference between accomplishment and ability. Further research in this area must focus on developing multiple approaches to both preventing and reversing underachievement. For example, low self-concept is one of the most common characteristics ascribed to underachieving gifted students (Belcastro, 1985; Bricklin & Bricklin, 1967; Bruns, 1992; Clark, 1988; Diaz, 1998; Fine & Pitts, 1980; Fink, 1965; Ford, 1996; Kanoy, Johnson, & Kanoy, 1980; Schunk, 1998; Supplee, 1990; Van Boxtel & Monks, 1992; Whitmore, 1980). The literature also presents a variety of other classroom designs, such as self-contained classrooms, and home and school partnerships. Van Boxtel, H. W., & Monks, F. J. The construct of underachievement in gifted students differs across cultures. In these classrooms, educators strive to create a favorable environment for student achievement by altering the traditional classroom organization. 68-69). Do we help or hurt a child when we ask him or her to assimilate into the majority culture? If a student scores in the 99th percentile on an IQ test, that does not mean that he or she should also score in the 99th percentile on standardized measures of achievement. Therefore, future researchers in this field should posit coherent, complete models of gifted underachievement and design interventions in accordance with their proposed models. Finally, researchers and practitioners must translate knowledge and insights about causes and correlates of underachievement into models and strategies that educators can use to develop more effective prevention and intervention programs. Furthermore, the majority of interventions have attained limited long-term success (Dowdall & Colangelo, 1982; Emerick, 1992). This student may have consciously decided not to expend the time or effort to do seemingly meaningless homework and willfully chose to engage in more self-actualizing activities. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. WebOften the most disruptive student in the class are the gifted underachievers. Mexican American students who came from Spanish-speaking backgrounds and who became proficient in English (FEP) were generally more successful in school than were those from Spanish-speaking backgrounds who were not proficient (LEP students) in English or than Latino students from English speaking backgrounds. For each personality trait common to gifted underachievers, there are many other underachieving gifted students who do not exhibit that trait. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. One could even argue that Rimms definition includes almost all students. Storrs, CT: University of Connecticut, National Research Center for the Gifted and Talented. Likewise, negative peer attitudes can often account for underachievement (Clasen & Clasen, 1995; Weiner, 1992). Richert, E. S. (1991). ), Handbook of Gifted Education (2nd ed., pp. Underachievers are a very heterogeneous group. Baum, S. M., Renzulli, J. S., & Hebert, T. P. (1995b). New York: Teachers College Press. The first method involves using a large random sample of subjects in order to dilute the effects of criterion heterogeneity. If tests provide invalid inferences about a students ability or achievement, they must, by extension, be invalid indices of underachievement (Ford). Obviously, factors other than ability, such as motivation, personality characteristics, family environment, school environment, and peer pressure, influence achievement. More recent studies (e.g., Anderson & Keith, 1997) report correlations as high as .67 between measures of ability and achievement. Family systems characteristics and underachieving gifted males. Tomlinson, C. A., Callahan, C. M., & Lelli, K. M. (1997). The absence of any clear, precise definition of gifted underachievement restricts research-based comparisons and hinders the quest for suitable interventions. (1982). New York: Teachers College Press. The sample consisted of 56 gifted underachievers and 122 gifted achievers from 28 high schools Distinguishing between a chronic underachiever and a gifted student who has processing deficits, learning disabilities, or attention deficits is crucial because the interventions that are appropriate for these subgroups may be radically different. Causal attributions of underachieving gifted, achieving gifted, and nongifted students. Current identification practices that underidentify gifted African American students hinder the identification of gifted underachievers of African American descent. Professor Department of Educational Psychology D. Betsy McCoach Researcher, However, counseling treatments have met with limited success. Gifted Child Quarterly, 36, 140-146. Fernandez, R. M., Hirano-Nakanishi, M., & Paulsen, R. (1989). Planning and implementing programs for the gifted. The concept of underachievement, though often discussed, is still vaguely defined in the professional literature. In other words, tests may not register the decline since the first test did not discriminate accurately (Rimm et al., 1989 p. 62). This moderate correlation between the intelligence test scores and school grades means that IQ scores explain only 25% of the variance between school grades and IQ scores, leaving 75% of the variance in achievement test scores unaccounted for by IQ scores. Gifted Child Quarterly, 41, 5-17. Renzulli, J. S., Reid, B. D., & Gubbins, E. J. The underachieving g roup was set apart by the ollf ow n i g characteristics (Ga l l a g h e r ) : - organization, Gifted Education in the U.S. - State Policy & Legislation, Tips for Students: Inspiring Young Scientists through Independent Research, Davidson Fellows - Leveraging Science & Engineering Innovation to Better the Environment.