famous gifted underachievers

Baum, S. M., Renzulli, J. S., & Hebert, T. P. (1995b). Krouse, J. H., & Krouse, H. J. Supplee (1990) instituted a part-time program for gifted elementary underachievers. Mather, N., & Udall, A. J. Jeon, K. (1990, August). Who is the gifted underachiever? This article by Sally Reis and D. Betsy McCoach reviews years of studies on underachievement among the gifted. If we hold low expectations for students who then achieve at low levels, they are not underachievers. Belcastro, F. P. (1985). The participants in Emericks study believed that a specific teacher had the greatest impact in reversing their underachievement behavior. Future research should focus on evaluating the efficacy of both instructional and counseling treatments. Thorndike, R. L. (1963). Zimmerman, B.J. Underachievers in school: Issues and intervention. Finally, should adults place higher expectations on gifted students, or does this represent an elitist and utilitarian view of humanity? Lupart, J. L., & Pyryt, M. C. (1996). Mansfield Center, CT: Creative Learning Press. Barton, J. M., & Starnes, W. T. (1988). Webmajority of educators use in defining gifted underachievement. Finally, educators must consider the different value systems within the Hispanic American community in order to understand the achievement of Hispanic American youth (Reis et al., 1995). 68-69). ), The gifted and talented: Developmental perspectives (pp. Only after we recognize potential can we assess whether performance is below potential. How can a gifted student also be an under-achiever? In 95% of the families, one parent emerged as the disciplinarian, while the other parent acted as a protector. 5072 Accesses. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Culturally diverse students face unique barriers to their achievement for several reasons. As educators, we may or may not be able to change the external factors that contribute to the underachievement of certain gifted students. Storrs, CT: University of Connecticut, The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. 119-137). 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. Baum, S. M., Olenchak, F. R., & Owen, S. V. (1998). 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. 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. Several recent researchers operational and conceptual definitions of gifted underachievement are summarized in Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, and Table 4 (please see all Table links at bottom of article). However, counseling treatments have met with limited success. Growing up gifted (3rd ed.). 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. 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? Charles Culpeper, owner, and CEO of Coca Cola is another example of a successful high school dropout. This phenomenon of deliberate underachievement has been found to be particularly evident among gifted adolescent females, as a response to perceived sex-role expectations, and among African American gifted students involved in the process of adolescent impression management, as an attempt to control the perceptions other Please note the date, author, and publisher information available if you wish to make further inquiries about any republished materials in our Resource Library. One strategy for counseling passive-aggressive underachievers involves helping adolescents to recognize their abilities and interests, clarify their personal value systems and preferred goals, and pursue their studies to serve their own purposes rather than to meet or frustrate the needs of others (Weiner, p. 290). Toward explaining differences in educational achievement among Mexican American language minority students. These parents do not set high standards or expect their children to reach them. In most counseling situations, the counselors goal is not to force the underachiever to become a more successful student, but rather to help the student decide whether success is a desirable goal and, if so, to help reverse counterproductive habits and cognitions. Students peer groups in high school: The pattern and relationship to educational outcomes. In some states, students must achieve an IQ score at or above a certain cut-off in order to acquire the gifted label. Chapter. The remainder of this article assumes that underachievement exists and merits attention and research; however, the authors recognize that even this most fundamental concept evokes value judgments and debates. However, such definitions may not adequately distinguish between gifted students who achieve and those who underachieve. Minority students are often underrepresented in programs for the gifted and talented (Ford, 1996; Tomlinson, Callahan, & Leili, 1997). How can educators help bright students who are underachieving in school? This behavior illustrates a values conflict between adult and child (Whitmore, 1986). Psychology in the Schools, 17, 395-399. Psychological Bulletin, 111 (1), 127-155. A. The Davidson Young Scholars progr, RT @Indl_Learning: Some of the executive functioning skills are: High-achieving students acknowledged the importance of being grouped together in honors and advanced classes for academically talented students. Baum, S. M., Owen, S. V., & Dixon, J. In addition, as many as 25 to 30 percent of high school dropouts may be gifted individuals. Reis, S. M., Neu, T. W., & McGuire,J. 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. Storrs, CT: University of Connecticut, National Research Center for the Gifted and Talented. Does providing part- or full-time gifted programming reduce the occurrence of academic underachievement among the gifted? Identifying an underachiever using one of the broader, more inclusive definitions is also problematic. Crossover children: A sourcebook for helping students who are gifted and learning disabled. (1989). Educators must also realize that home, peer, and cultural environments may impact students levels of achievement. (1988). (1982). 149-195). In other words, they may not identify a student as an underachiever unless performance in at least one major subject area is at least one year below grade level. Definitions of gifted underachievement as a discrepancy between potential and performance are by far the most common. 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. These and many other question remain unanswered. New York: Viking Penguin. The concept of underachievement, though often discussed, is still vaguely defined in the professional literature. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of Gifted Children, Louisville, KY. Schwekzgebel, R. (1965). In a qualitative study of this intervention technique, five major features of the Type III enrichment process contributed to the success of the intervention. Whitmore (1986) suggested that the problem of gifted students who lack motivation to participate in school or to strive to excel academically is, in most cases, a product of a mismatch between the childs motivational characteristics and the opportunities provided in the classroom (p. 67). Psychosocial development in intellectually gifted children. We will not post comments that are considered soliciting, mention illicit topics, or share highly personal information. Clark, B. Almost all of the students who completed Type III investigations showed some positive gains in either behavior or achievement during the course of the school year. Gifted Child Quarterly, 42, 96-104. (1981). 39-40). Consider an extreme example: No one would be surprised if a student who had been ill for a long period of time scored significantly lower on a standardized achievement test or a final exam than a healthy classmate of similar ability. A common method of defining ability involves the use of an IQ test, such as the WISC-III or the Stanford-Binet IV. Reis, S. M., Burns, D. E., & Renzulli, J. S. (1992). New York: Teachers College Press. Conversely, there is a 10% chance that this students real IQ score is lower than 124 or higher than 134. In J. H. Borland (Series Ed.) Both Whitmore and Supplee designed their programs to effect immediate change in student behaviors, as well as to research the construct of underachievement. Renzulli, J. S. (1977). There are a variety of ability areas that may be assessed, including general intellect, creativity, leadership abilities, and specific subjects, such as math. 11-12). Obviously, factors other than ability, such as motivation, personality characteristics, family environment, school environment, and peer pressure, influence achievement. Planning and implementing programs for the gifted. In addition, Diaz (1998) found that the absence of early appropriate academic experiences impeded Puerto Rican students opportunities to develop their abilities when they reached high school. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. These findings suggest that reversing the underachievement pattern may mean taking a long, hard look at the underachievers curriculum and classroom situation. ), Underachievement (pp. In N. Colangelo & G. A. Davis (Eds. Emerick, L. J. Setting and agenda: Research priorities for the gifted and talented through the year 2000. Researchers proposing definitions in this category make no attempt to explicitly define or measure potential. Gifted Child Quarterly, 32, 353-358. Hinshaw, S. P. (1992a). Hidden gifted students: Underachiever prevalence and profile, Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 20, 36-53. Storrs, CT: University of Connecticut, The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. Academic underachievement among the gifted: Students perceptions of factors that reverse the pattern. Underachievers are a very heterogeneous group. However, the relationship between language proficiency and school is complex. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 11, 121-133. We will not post comments that are considered soliciting, mention illicit topics, or share highly personal information. Criteria for identifying gifted underachievers should include a method for determining observable discrepancies between ability and achievement. Gifted Child Quarterly, 32, 267-272. Some of the definitions included in Table 1through Table 4 (e.g., Mather & Udall, 1985; Redding, 1990) are specific operational definitions. ), Underachievement (pp. Even a child who does poorly in most school subjects may display a talent or interest in at least one school subject. If low self-concept causes underachievement, interventions that raise self-concept should enhance student achievement. Though significant research has investigated identifying characteristics of underachieving gifted students, current research is yet to fully employ the established theoretical knowledge to determine practical strategies for the reversal and remediation of underachievement in gifted students. Families with underachieving children tend to exhibit less positive affect (Mandel & Marcus, 1988). Although conducting case studies and qualitative research on underachieving gifted students has become quite popular, few researchers have attempted to utilize true quasi-experimental designs to study the efficacy of various interventions. Because causes and correlates of underachievement differ, no one intervention reverses underachievement patterns in the full spectrum of gifted underachievers. Whitmore, J. R. (1980). Several issues pose potential problems for understanding the underachievement of African American students. Rimm and Lowe concluded that particular styles of parenting appear to be less important than maintaining consistency within a parenting approach. For many minority and disadvantaged gifted children and adolescents, underachieving leads to deprivation of opportunities to receive educational services Distinguishing exactly what constitutes a discrepancy between ability and achievement also poses challenges. Operational definitions categorize a continuous variable (academic performance), thereby creating arbitrary divisions between achievement and underachievement at a certain cut-off point. Future research on the effectiveness of separate classes for gifted underachievers should attempt to utilize a quasi-experimental design. Gifted Child Quarterly, 30, 66-69. Vocabulary facilitates communication; without a common vocabulary, professionals cannot assume that they are discussing the same construct. Any discussion of issues relating to underachievement in gifted students must carefully define both the constructs of giftedness and underachievement. Other research also suggests that students who are more involved in extracurricular activities (Colangelo et al., 1993; Reis et al., 1995) are less likely to be underachievers. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Rimm (1997a) believes that if students are not working to their ability, they are underachieving (p. 18). M. (1995). (1998). Baymur, F., & Patterson, C. H. (1965). In this conception of underachievement, underachievers may be viewed as individuals who fail to self-actualize. Patterns of underachievement among gifted students. The attitude achievement paradox among Black adolescents. Like gifted students in general., they exhibit great variability and diversity in their behaviors, interests, and abilities. Labeling a student an underachiever requires making a value judgment about the worthiness of certain accomplishments. Baker, J. The first method involves using a large random sample of subjects in order to dilute the effects of criterion heterogeneity. When we hold low expectations for students, we may be unable to recognize, and therefore reverse, these students underachievement behaviors. Mickelson, R. A. WebThe purpose of this study was to examine whether gifted achievers and gifted underachievers differ in their general academic self-perceptions, attitudes toward school, attitudes toward teachers, motivation, and self-regulation, and goal valuation. Child Development, 64, 467-482. Includes types of underachievers, suggestions for motivating students and some famous underachievers. Broedel, J., Ohlsen, M., Proff, F., & Southard, C. (1965). However, the current conceptualization and the literature on the underachieving gifted and on special populations (such as gifted/LD, gifted/ADD or ADHD, gifted students with physical disabilities or behavioral or emotional problems) appear to treat the two groupings as separate and unrelated (Lupart & Pyryt, 1996, pp. Sociology of Education, 71, 68-93. Mansfield Center, CT: Creative Learning Press. The range of characteristics ascribed to gifted underachievers by numerous authors are summarized in Table 5 and Table 5 (continued). Due to the difficulty in defining underachievement, it appears that the concept of underachievement maybe regarded as a subjective, rather than an objective, classification. Counseling the gifted and talented. Abstract. Students who are not given adequate opportunities to develop their talents often become involuntary underachievers. Recent research suggests that quality of schooling (Anderson & Keith, 1997; Baker, Bridger, & Evans, 1998) and completion of academic course-work research (Anderson & Keith) appear to be significant predictors of achievement for at-risk high school students. Whitmore, J. R. (1986). 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, Underachievement in Gifted Children. (1996). Let us define underachievement as a discrepancy between expected achievement and actual achievement. One fact seems certain: The identification procedure should flow directly and logically from the definition of gifted underachievement. 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. If unchallenging scholastic environments produce underachieving gifted students, then providing intellectual challenge and stimulation at all grade levels should decrease underachievement. However, if one accepts the general premise that underachievement involves a discrepancy between ability and achievement, a need exists to operationally define these key concepts. They can but they dont. Ethically, it may be difficult to have a true comparison group in such studies because the researcher must withhold treatment that he or she believes is valuable for underachieving gifted students. Therefore, one might expect counseling approaches to effectively address the problem of underachievement. Weiner (1992) outlined four different interventions for four distinct groups of low achieving students: (1) strengthening deficient reward systems, (2) alleviating cognitive and emotional handicaps, (3) filling educational gaps, and (4) modifying passive-aggressive propensities. 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). (1982). 501-513). Roeper Review, 7, 184-189. Heacox, D. (1991). The problem in this case lies in our initial predictions, not in the students levels of achievement. Permission Statement Rimm, S., Cornale, M., Manos, R., & Behrend, J. It brought great attention to the phenomenon of underachievement among Perhaps the family discord is a result of rather than a cause of, the childs underachievement. B. In another study comparing the families of underachievers to those of achievers, families with underachieving gifted students were not classified as dysfunctional any more frequently than families with achieving gifted students (Green, Fine, & Tollefson, 1988, p. 271). Gifted Child Quarterly, 31, 180-185. Therefore, future researchers in this field should posit coherent, complete models of gifted underachievement and design interventions in accordance with their proposed models. Frick, P. J., Kamphaus, R. W., Lahey, B. Unfortunately, the need for multiple approaches to treatment will complicate the research designs necessary to test the efficacy of underachievement interventions. In 95% of the families, one parent played the role of the parent that challenges and disciplines, and the other took the role of the protector. A comparison of gifted underachievers and gifted high achievers. Emerick, L.J. Storrs, CT: University of Connecticut, National Research Center for the Gifted and Talented. ), Understanding the gifted adolescent, (pp. No one predictor will ever include all the determinants of a behavioral outcome. For example, an observed score of 130 on WISC-III is in the 98th percentile. 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. Whitmore (1989) identified three broad causes for underachievement in gifted children: Lack of motivation to apply themselves in school Environments that do They may criticize the school for emphasizing conformity rather than originality and creativity. Do students underachieve because they come from families in conflict? A comparative study of achieving and underachieving boys of high intellectual ability. WebUnderachievement Syndrome: A Psychological Defensive Pattern. WebFor example, many gifted individuals underachieve simply because their parents do not stress the importance of academic achievement and how it can translate into success in the future. Therefore, in the absence of developing formal programs for underachievers, providing underachievers with support, attention, and positive feedback could help these students reverse their underachievement. Gifted Child Quarterly, 42, 5-14. Despite this interest, the underachievement of gifted students remains an enigma. Confidence intervals are usually reported with the standardized test scores. B., Loeber, R., Christ, M. A. G., Hart, E. L., & Tannenbaum, L. E. (1991). Renzulli, J. S., & Reis, S. R. (1985). As previously mentioned, most definitions of underachievement involve a discrepancy between ability and academic achievement/performance. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Family systems characteristics and underachieving gifted males. Vol. Fink, M. B. Because the passive-aggressive behavior of such children is usually directed against their families, family counseling interventions may also help reverse passive-aggressive underachievement. We need to move beyond correlational studies of common characteristics of underachieving students and begin to explore linkages and flow of causality among these different characteristics and student achievement. Butler-Por, N. (1987). Further research and inquiry into this area should address the need for clearly defined, well-researched, and effective interventions for gifted underachievers. Students may experience short-term lags in achievement that may not be indicative of a long-term underachievement problem. 3, pp. & M. Bireley & J. Genshaft (Vol. In M. Kornrich (Ed. 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. Author Lesley Sword provides strategies for parents to help their. However, neither study used a control or comparison group; therefore, the results of their studies may not be generalizable to the entire population of underachievers. (1988). 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 Reaching the gifted underachiever. This definition could include most gifted students, as many receive top grades in school without expending sustained effort. This phenomenon is sometimes called geographic giftedness (Borland, 1989). Educational Psychologist, 33, 45-63. Please note, the Davidson Institute is a non-profit serving families with highly gifted children. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 14, 451-467. The absence of any clear, precise definition of gifted underachievement restricts research-based comparisons and hinders the quest for suitable interventions. For each personality trait common to gifted underachievers, there are many other underachieving gifted students who do not exhibit that trait. Similar research on the flow of causality between student achievement and self-efficacy, self-regulation, student attitudes, peer attitudes, and other factors believed to influence underachievement will help researchers develop more effective intervention strategies to combat underachievement in gifted students. Van Boxtel, H. W., & Monks, F. J. No reason exists to believe that all gifted students should achieve well academically (Janos & Robinson, 1985) or that ability and achievement should be perfectly correlated (Thorndike, 1963). In K. A. Heller, F. J. Monks, & A. H. Passow (Eds.) Green, K., Fine, M. J., & Tollefson, N. (1988). Dynamics of the underachievement of gifted students. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Educational Psychologist, 34, 15-28. Classroom grades, though unreliable and teacher dependent, provide one of the most commonly used methods to assess and evaluate students. Or, is there a dynamic interaction between the underachiever and the family? Latino students may also confront unique barriers to their academic achievement. Several common factors appeared to play a part in the students reversal of underachievement. Often, students may not be classified as underachievers unless they have exhibited low performance for at least a year. Some professionals may try to gauge an age/performance discrepancy when identifying underachievers (Mandel & Marcus, 1995). Although using a precise operational definition of gifted underachievement clarifies the exact nature of the population being studied, it may also prevent the identification of certain types of potential gifted underachievers. WebStudents who are both gifted and have LD exhibit remarkable talents in some areas and disabling weaknesses in others (Baum, 1990). Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Association of Gifted Education, 1-7. 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. Deficits in self-control or self-regulation may engender underachievement (Borkowski & Thorpe, 1994; Krouse & Krouse, 1981). (1997, June). 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). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas. New York: Teachers College Press. Gifted achievers and gifted underachievers showed difference in their attitudes toward school, attitudes toward teacher, motivation, self-perception, and goal 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). Rimm, Cornale, Manos, and Behrend (1989) suggested using longitudinal test data in order to screen for possible underachievement.

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