Characteristics Of Gifted Underachievers Education Essay

Characteristics Of Gifted Underachievers Education Essay This selective review of literature aims to establish the characteristics of gifted underachievers, know the causative factors contributing to their underachievement, understand various strategies schools and teachers could adopt in reversing student underachievement, and present the implications of the aforementioned. Characteristics of gifted underachievers It is important for educators to have a clear understanding as to who are considered gifted underachievers in the classroom. Amazingly, the number of highly intellectual students who had not achieved well in school is as high as 50% (Schultz, 2005). Comprising this group is a large population of underserved or neglected talented students by gifted programs. If this number is not provided much needed attention, it is imperative therefore that this issue has to be addressed. A survey of existing literature seemed to disagree not only on the definition of underachievement but the legitimacy of categorizing gifted underachievement as an academic behavior. The controversial study in Moon (2004) sent shockwaves to the scientific community by stating that some researchers believed underachievement is simplistically attributed to test error. Yet scientists like Rimm have devoted their entire professional careers reversing underachievement. Chaffey (2004) emphasized that the underachievement definition adopted by the teacher will serve as basis for identifying underachievers and consequently the students receiving appropriate plan of action. Having successfully recognized gifted underachievers in the classroom will allow teachers’ expectations to be shifted upwards as research strongly suggests that improved academic performance in underachieving students is linked to high teacher expectations. Various studies point to its multi-faceted nature which has sometimes muddied educational experts in the field; but regardless of origin, underachievement is defined as the discrepancy between expected and actual ach ievement. Morando (2003) of the Columbiana Co. Educational Service Center said that gifted underachievers tend to be disorganized and their schoolwork is either incomplete or missing. Though IQ scores are very high compared to the average, there is a consistent decline in academic ability and exhibit disinterest in attending school. Moreover, the student may also be a loner, has low self-esteem, emotionally frustrated, and is economically disadvantaged. Lau and Chan (2001) described the motivational characteristics of underachieving junior high school students in Hong Kong after subjecting them to various measures namely Raven Progressive Matrices Test, vocabulary test, standardized achievement test, Marsh self description questionnaire, Causal dimension scale, Eccles and Wigfield’s expectancy value model, and Motivated strategies for learning questionnaire. The results demonstrated low academic self-concept, poor attainment value in learning as well as deficiencies in utiliz ing effective learning methods. The study also disproved the conclusion of Western researches that HK underachievers demonstrate maladaptive attribution patterns. Chow, Chow, and Ku-Yu (2003) conducted a case study involving five underachieving gifted students and used Whitmore’s checklist in characterizing their behaviors. The research yielded the following characteristics in the students: high external locus of control, negative attitude towards school, experience difficulty in establishing social relationships, set unworkable goals, attention deficit inside the classroom, resistance in following instructions, has a very varied range of interests, exhibits aggressive behavior, possesses low self-esteem, avoidant in trying out new activities, dedication in self-selected homework and assignments, dissatisfaction with achievement, dislike of memorization and drill, poor school work, and significant gap between quality of written and oral work.