Research on Black student presence in gifted and talented programs consistently illuminates issues with recruitment and underrepresentation. While enrolled, gifted Black students face a series of issues that affect their ability to persist and achieve, especially in nondiverse environments. This work examines the reflections of four Black adults…

This paper examines the justification for a culturally responsive educational initiative to raise the educational underachievement of Maori students in New Zealand. The initiative is justified by claims that the recognition in the classroom of a student's cultural identity will lead to the student's educational achievement. Using an account of a…

This article presents the author's critique on "Differentiating Low Performance of the Gifted Learner: Achieving, Underachieving, and Selective Consuming Students". The authors of the article titled "Differentiating Low Performance of the Gifted Learner: Achieving, Underachieving, and Selective Consuming Students" investigated…

This article presents the author's response to commentaries on "Differentiating Low Performance of the Gifted Leaner: Achieving, Underachieving, and Selective Consuming Students." The commentaries have focused on two issues: (1) the merits of distinguishing selective consumers from other students; and (2) the quality of the study's methodology.…

This study comparing 70 gifted children (ages 5-14) with 2 control groups revealed that emotional problems were not the result of gifted ability per se but of other disturbing matters such as others' expectations or family conflict. Academic underachievement was related to self-concept; gifted children's greater sensitivity was usually…

Examined the effects of early identification and psychological services on underachievement through a follow-up study conducted six years later. One hundred and seventeen fourth-grade underachievers were divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group received psychological services. Follow-up studies were made of them at high…

Discussion of the affective development of gifted students who are underachieving considers external stresses including a feeling of invisibility and mixed messages from the environment, internal stresses such as self-image, unrealistic self-expectations, and the possible co-existence of a learning disability. (DB)

Reviews three prominent theories addressing social and cultural factors that can inhibit academic excellence among African American boys: Steele's stereotype threat model; Ogbu's cultural-ecological perspective; and Majors and Billson's "cool pose" theory. All three emphasize barriers preventing these boys from incorporating academics…

Describes the one-to-one integrated tutoring and therapy offered to gifted underachievers at a learning clinic in the United Kingdom. The approach centers on respect for the self and focuses on strengths rather than weaknesses. Case studies illustrate the counseling philosophies, procedures, and strategies. (DB)

As hypothesized, academic failure produced greater discrepancies between parental expectancy and children's achievement among high socioeconomic status (SES) children than among low SES children, and decreased self-regard among the former but not the latter. Furthermore, relatively low academic achievement was associated with weakened self-concept…

Describes a preventive program designed to pre-empt learning difficulties and to ensure each youngster a successful start in school. Discusses the high school drop-out and the underachiever as potential juvenile delinquents. (CM)

This digest is intended to help parents and teachers understand and cope with underachievement in gifted students. Underachievement is defined and its various components (e.g., content and situation specificity and ties to self-concept development) are explained. Strategies to reverse patterns of underachievement are classified as either…

Written by teachers, the manual contains nine chapters designed to help regular and special education teachers teach social studies to handicapped students in the mainstreamed setting. Chapters have the following titles and authors: "Social Studies in the Mainstreamed Classroom, K-6" (A. Ochoa, S. Shuster); "My Place in Space--Painting Maps on…

Gifted students sometimes camouflage themselves behind a facade of underachievement. Causes of underachievement include: (1) social and emotional conflict due to societal misconceptions, expectations, and stereotypes; low self-concept; and family instability; (2) a stifling or inhibiting academic environment; and (3) physiological and neurological…

Gifted students' perceptions of an internal or external locus of control (LOC) and the effect on their behavior is discussed. Research is reviewed that shows that gifted students who are proficient academically or in other areas believe they have an internal locus of control, while underachieving gifted students perceive an external LOC. (CR)