When Gifted Students Underachieve

Why are some gifted children willing to tackle new challenges whereas others seem insecure or uninterested? Why do some gifted students achieve while others become caught in a cycle of underachievement? Are there strategies teachers and parents can implement that promote an achievement-oriented attitude? The Underachieving Gifted Child: Recognizing, Understanding, and Reversing Underachievement answers these important questions. Although there are many factors that contribute to achievement, achievement-oriented students exhibit four key traits: they believe that they have the skills to perform well, they expect that they can succeed, they believe what they are doing is meaningful, and they set realistic expectations and implement strategies to successfully complete their goals. This book offers specific strategies to help increase student achievement by improving students' attitudes in these four important areas.

Grades 5–8

When Smart Kids Underachieve in School: Practical Solutions for Teachers takes a look at the 10 most common reasons why some smart, advanced, and gifted students do not reach their achievement potential. Reasons for underachievement range from social-emotional needs, lack of proper programming, not being challenged, and potential learning disabilities. Each chapter discusses a different cause and three practical strategies that can be used to overcome it. Useful for teachers, counselors, gifted coordinators, and administrators, this book is an easy-to-read, must-have resource for any educator looking to identify, understand, and reverse underachievement. Grades K-12

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With Doing Poorly on Purpose, veteran educator James R. Delisle dispels the negative associations and stereotypes connected to underachievement. By focusing on smart kids who get poor grades—not because they’re unable to do better in school but because they don’t want to—Delisle presents a snapshot of underachievement that may look far different from what you envision it to be. There is no such thing as a “classic underachiever.” Students (and their reasons for underachieving) are influenced by a wide range of factors, including self-image, self-concept, social-emotional relationships, and the amount of dignity teachers afford their students. Helping “smart” students achieve when they don’t want to is not an easy task, but you can reengage and inspire students using Delisle’s insights and practical advice on these topics: * Autonomy * Access * Advocacy * Alternatives * Aspirations * Approachable Educators Smart, underachieving students need the reassurance that they are capable, valuable, and worth listening to despite their low academic performance. If these students—who are otherwise academically capable—don’t feel they are getting respect from those in charge of their learning, then the desire to conform and achieve is minimized. In a word, they want dignity. Don’t we all?

Contributors from 18 nations give this text a cross-national perspective. It is designed as a synthesis and critical review of significant theory and research on all aspects of giftedness, both to help frame more valid research questions and to provide guidance for educational policy and practice.

This book provides an opportunity for researchers, professionals, and practitioners working directly with gifted individuals to engage with and examine the concept of underachievement of highly capable and talented individuals from different perspectives. Chapters written by experts in gifted education from diverse backgrounds explore underachievement in principle, illuminate underachievement as a response to written and unwritten policy and practice, showcase ranges of intellectual capability outside of traditional academic subjects, shift deficit views of not meeting rigid expectations to honoring interests and cultural values of the individual, and provide suggested and proven practices and services as solutions to bridge the gaps in achievement and performance for gifted and talented students. Expertly blending theory with practice, Underachievement in Gifted Education is a must read for all practitioners, educators of gifted individuals, and researchers seeking more opportunities to help students align how they choose to exhibit their talent and efforts with external and internal expectations, personal interests, and cultural values to reach their maximum potential.