Gifted Underachievers: Who, what, why?

Rutgers UniversityGifted Education Conference

11/19/15Dr. Elissa F. Brown

elissabrown21@gmail.com

Who are they? How do we help?

Underachievers are students who exhibit a

severe discrepancy between expected achievement and actual achievement. The discrepancy must not be the result of a diagnosed learning disability and must persist over an extended period of time. Gifted underachievers score high to superior on measures of expected achievement

(Reis & McCoach, 2000)2

Underachievers

Speculation ranges from 10% to

more than 50% of the gifted population are underachievers.

-McCoach and Seigle (2008)

Causes of Underachievement

Environmental Chronically, slow-

moving classroom experiences

Peer pressure to conform to be “like” everyone else

Loneliness, isolation from classmates

Family dynamics

Individual Unrecognized learning

deficits that interfere with learning

Deficits in self-regulation: impulsivity, disorganization

Internalizing issues: anxiety,

perfectionism, low self-esteem

Externalizing issues:Rebelliousness, nonconformity, anger

Heacox’s Up From Underachievement

Gifted Achiever Pride in own work and

effort Resilience when things

go wrong Practice risk taking Self-disciplined Goal-oriented --set out

plan for own work and follow through

Gifted Underachiever Poor academic self-

concept, poor organisation

External locus of control

Perfectionism, so unlikely to take risks

Independent --insist on doing only what they want to do

Discrepancy between oral and written work

Pressure to be the smartest Pressure to be different Pressure to be popular Pressure to be loyal

Pressures Gifted Underachievers Internalize

Do students underachieve because they come

from families in conflict? Does the underachievement of the child create

problems in family dynamics? Is there an interaction between the

underachiever and the family?

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Family Issues

Regardless of exam performance, students who were

believed to have tried harder were better rewarded than those who appeared not to have tried.

Hyperactivity may be due to environmental issues: the school environment demands students to be docile, neat, quiet for extended periods of time, and interested in what the teacher is interested in.

Teachers perceive eager students are motivated and unreceptive students are unmotivated Both students may be motivated; one to achieve a

goal that requires study and the other to avoid it.

School Issues

If during the first five or six

years of school, a child earns good grades and high praise without having to make much effort, what are all the things he doesn’t learn that most children learn by third grade?

Turn and Talk….

1. High achievers who see that when they work hard, they get good grades. The curriculum is probably just beyond their grasp (eg challenging/rigor) and requires effort

EFFORT +RESULTS +

2. Struggling students who work hard, but do not get good grades. The curriculum needs modifications to allow for success

EFFORT +RESULTS -

3. Low achievers who do not need to work hard to get good grades. The curriculum is too easy and requires little to no effort

EFFORT –RESULTS +

4. Classic underachievers who put forth no effort and results are negative. They could come from either quadrant 2 or 3

EFFORT -RESULTS -

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Underachievement Framework(S. Rimm)

High Effort, High Outcomes

Feel bright, creative, and approved of by parents and teachers

Motivated to learn Extrinsic and intrinsic satisfaction Set realistic high goals, work hard, and

persevere

“Children will continue to achieve if they usually see the relationship between the learning process and its outcomes.”

Quadrant 1

High Effort, low outcomes

Set goals too high, may be in competitive environment

Sometimes parents set goals too high Learning disabled children or those with

unusual learning styles fit here Feel dumb

Quadrant 2

Low Effort, High Outcomes

Most typical dilemma for gifted Not sufficiently challenged so being smart

means doing things easily Hit brick wall when faced with real challenge Remedies: challenging work, accerlerated or

enriched curriculum, homogeneous grouping, differentiation

Quadrant 3

Low Effort, Low Outcomes

Advanced stage of underachievement – happens for children in Quadrants 2 or 3 over time

Given up reasonable goal setting Parents and teachers begin to doubt abilities Difficult to reverse and may be therapeutic help

Quadrant 4

Students attribute success or failure to different

causes: Danny got a C- on the science test. He

attributes his grade to the test being too hard.

Pedro also got a C-. He had studied a lot and thought that he was lucky to get that grade.

Lamar received an A. He thinks his ability earned his grade.

Chou also got an A. He thinks the teacher likes him.

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Attribution Theory

Ability Effort Task Difficulty Luck

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Attribution Theory:4 areas

I find the harder I work,

the more luck I seem to have.

-Thomas Jefferson

Possesses Adequate Skills to Perform the Task

Sets Realistic Expectations and

Implements Appropriate Strategies to Successfully

Complete Goals (Self-Regulation)

Task Engagement

and Achievement

Achievement-Orientation Model

Confident in One’s Ability to

Perform the Task (Self-Efficacy)

Expects to Succeed / be Supported(Environmental Perception)

Values the Task or Outcome (Meaningfulness /

Goal Valuation)

Motivation

Teachers Family Peers

Each of the four elements of the model (Meaningfulness, Self-Efficacy, Environmental Perception, and Self-Regulation) is usually present in individuals who achieve at a level commensurate with their abilities. Some of these factors may be stronger than others, but overall, achievement-oriented individuals display a combination of all four traits. Remediation can be based on diagnosing which element or elements are deficit and addressing them. Two individuals might have very different remediation programs based on their achievement-orientation profiles.

Siegle, 2009

1. Children are more likely to be achievers if

their parents join together to give the same clear and positive message about school effort and expectations.

2. Children can learn appropriate behaviors more easily if they have models to imitate.

3. Communication about a child between adults (referential speaking) within the child’s hearing dramatically affects children’s behaviors and self-perception.

Rimm’s Laws

4. Overreaction by parents to children’s

successes and failures leads them to feel either intense pressure to succeed, or despair and discouragement in dealing with failure.

5. Children feel more tension when they are worrying about their work than when they are doing that work.

6. Children develop self-confidence through struggle.

7. Deprivation and excess frequently exhibit the

same symptoms.8. Children develop confidence and an internal

sense of control if power is given to them in gradually increasing increments as they show maturity and responsibility.

9. Children become oppositional if one adult

allies with them against a parent or a teacher, making them more powerful than the adult.

10. Adults should avoid confrontations with children unless they are sure they can control the outcomes.

11. Children will become achievers only if they

learn to function in competition.12. Children will continue to achieve if they

usually see the relationship between the learning process and its outcomes.

Rimm (2004)

Inconsistent parenting techniques

In 95% of families, one parent emerged as the disciplinarian and the other acted as a protector.

Parents tend to be overly lenient or overly strict – or may vacillate between the two,

Bestowing adult status on a child at too young of an age may contribute.

Influences: Family

High-achieving peers have a positive

influence on gifted students who begin to underachieve. The reverse is true as well. One study showed that 66% of high ability students named peer pressure as the primary force against getting good grades.

Studies show that friends’ grades are very similar by the end of the year.

Influences: Peers

Opportunities to explore interests Relationship with teacher Use of self regulation strategies Opportunity to work in preferred learning

modality Time to interact with appropriate peers Opportunities to connect content with area of

interests Development of goals associated with effort Out of school experiences Smaller teacher-student ratio 30

Reversing Underachievement

Possesses Adequate Skills to Perform the Task

Sets Realistic Expectations and

Implements Appropriate Strategies to Successfully

Complete Goals (Self-Regulation)

Task Engagement

and Achievement

Achievement-Orientation Model

Confident in One’s Ability to

Perform the Task (Self-Efficacy)

Expects to Succeed / be Supported(Environmental Perception)

Values the Task or Outcome (Meaningfulness /

Goal Valuation)

Motivation

Teachers Family Peers

Each of the four elements of the model (Meaningfulness, Self-Efficacy, Environmental Perception, and Self-Regulation) is usually present in individuals who achieve at a level commensurate with their abilities. Some of these factors may be stronger than others, but overall, achievement-oriented individuals display a combination of all four traits. Remediation can be based on diagnosing which element or elements are deficit and addressing them. Two individuals might have very different remediation programs based on their achievement-orientation profiles.

Siegle, 2009

The surest way to make it difficult for children is to make it easy for them

-Eleanor Roosevelt