Armstrong, T. (1987) In Their Own Way. New York: Putnam. (371.92/A738)

"I realized that the millions of children being referred to learning disabled classes weren't handicapped, but instead had unique learning styles that the schools didn't clearly understand. Furthermore, it seemed to me that the reason so many millions of additional children were underachieving, experiencing school phobias, or just plain bored in the classroom was because no one had recognized and used what they really had to offer in the learning place - their special talents and abilities." (pp.ix-x)

 

Bailey, S. (1991) A special case. TalentEd, 34, 1-2.

A case study of 'Kim', a talented WA girl with poor coordination and poor eyesight.

 

Baldwin, A.Y. (1994) The seven plus story: Developing hidden talent among students in socioeconomically disadvantaged envrionments. Gifted Child Quarterly, 38 (2), 80-84.

"The philosophical approach of this grant was derived from Gardner's concept of multiple intelligences. The program was designed to involve teachers, parents, district staff, and students in program design and implementation." (p.80)

 

Baldwin, A.Y. Gear, G.H. & Lucito, L.J. (Eds) (1978) EducationalPlanning for the Gifted. Reston: Council for Exceptional Children. (371.95/B181E)

Subtitled 'Overcoming Cultural, Geographic and Socioeconomic Barriers', this booklet covers identification, curriculum and methods, and community aspects of provision for gifted minority children.

 

Baum, S.M., Renzulli, J.S. & Hebert, T.P. (1995) Reversing underachievement: Creative productivity as a systematic intervention. Gifted Child Quarterly, 39 (4), 224-235.

"The most compelling finding of this research study was the positive gains made by the students through their involvement in the Type III intervention. Eighty-two percent of the students made positive gains during the course of the year and in the year following the intervention. Most were no longer underachieving in their school settings at the end of the intervention. Five aspects of the process evolved as important foci for different groups of students: 1) the relationship with the teacher, 2) presentation of self-regulation strategies, 3) opportunity to investigate their own issue of underachievement, 4) the opportunity to work on an area of interest in their preferred learning style and 5) the opportunity to interact with an appropriate peer group." (p.224)

 

Borland, J.H. & Wright, L. (1994) Identifying young, potentially gifted, economically disadvantaged students. Gifted Child Quarterly, 38 (4), 164-171. [See under Definition / Identification]

 

Butler-Por, N. (1993) Underachieving gifted students. In K.A. Heller, F.J. Monks & A.H. Passow (Eds) International Handbook of Research and Development of Giftedness and Talent. Oxford: Pergamon. pp.649-668. (371.95/H477i)

Discusses definition, identification, subgroups of underachievers, causes and characteristics of underachievement, and intervention treatment of academic underachievement.

 

Butler-Por, N. (1987) Underachievers in School: Issues and Intervention. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. (371.956/B986u)

Comprises two sections, 'Part 1: Identification, Characteristics and Treatment of Underachievers' (4 chapters) and 'Part 2: Education of the Underachiever' (5 chapters). Contains much practical advice as well as a systematic review of the research literature at that time, with reference to her own doctoral study of underachievement.

 

Clements, C., Lundell, F. & Hishinuma, E.S. (1994) Serving the gifted dyslexic and gifted at risk. Gifted Child Today, 17 (4), 12-17, 36-37.

Describes the use of 'differentiated-integrated curricula and enrichment', using the theme 'Legends, Legacies, and Traditions' as an example.

 

Colangelo, N., Kerr, B., Christensen, P. & Maxey, J. (1993) A comparison of gifted underachievers and gifted achievers. Gifted Child Quarterly, 37 (4), 155-160.

"The findings in this study provide some new perspectives on underachievement. First, gifted underachievers are not necessarily from poverty or at-risk backgrounds. There is a middle class background to our sample. Also, the underachievers in our study did not seem antagonistic toward school. Their evaluation of the school experience was fairly positive and balanced. Our suspicion is that these students may not demonstrate behavior and attitude problems and thus are 'overlooked' by educators. ... The gender imbalance in this study is striking. The males are the underachievers when there is a compoarison of classroom performance and standardized test scores." (p.155)

 

Cornell, D.G. (1992) High intelligence and severe delinquency: Evidence disputing the connection. Roeper Review, 14 (4), 233-236.

"This study examines the relationship between intelligence and delinquency in a sample of 157 youth convicted of serious crimes. Only a small proportion of the delinquents obtained high scores on intelligence testing; most were of below-average intelligence. Highly intelligence delinquents shared a history of troubled family backgrounds, school behavior problems, substance abuse, and other delinquent activity, but they did not differ substantially from less intelligent delinquents. Three case examples illustrate the severity of family problems which preceded the commission of serious crimes by highly intelligent youth." (p.233)

 

Deschamp, P., Robson, G. & Nash, C. (1981) Identifying High-Ability Disadvantaged Students. Perth: Education Department of W.A. (371.952/D446I)

"Both the individually administered WISC-R and the achievement test results confirm that there are substantial numbers of high-ability students in schools in disadvantaged areas." (p.33) Discusses alternative methods of identifying them.

 

Donnelly, J.A. & Altman, R. (1994) The autistic savant: Recognizing and serving the gifted student with autism. Roeper Review, 16 (4), 252-256.

"Gardner (1987) uses the savant skills of individuals with autism to illustrate the exceptional capacities of the brain. However, studies show that these individuals lose their extreme savant skills as they become more habilitated (Rimland & Fein, 1988). Grandin (1992) suggests that savants lose their unusual talents as they become less fixated on their specialized intrersts." (p.255)

 

Emerick, L. (1992) Academic underachievement among the gifted: Students' perceptions of factors that reverse the pattern. Gifted Child Quarterly, 36 (3), 140-146.

"With few exceptions, studies of interventions for gifted underachievers have demonstrated only limited success. This study investigated factors which had influenced the reversal of the underachievement pattern in 10 gifted students, ages 14 to 20, who moved from chronic underachievement to academic success. Results indicated six factors were influential in reversing poor school performance. There was evidence that some gifted underachievers may respond well to interventions incorporating educational modifications which focus on individual strengths and interests." (p.140) The six factors were: "out-of-school interests, parents, goals associated with academic achievement, classroom instruction and curriculum, the teacher, and changes in self." (p.144)

 

 Evans, L. (nd) Degrees of Disadvantage: A Consideration of Able Children in Inner City Schools. Oxford: NACE. (CR371.95/D321)

Briefly (15pp.) discusses causes of underachievement and what inner-city schools can do to help.

 

Frasier, M.M. & Passow, A.H. (1994) Toward a New Paradigm for Identifying Talent Potential. Storrs: National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. (Q371.956/RR43294112)

Includes chapters on 'Improving the identification of the gifted in minority and disadvantaged populations', 'Understanding and attending to cultural influences affecting talent identification and development', 'An exploratory study of characteristics of economically disadvantaged and limited English proficient gifted students', 'Gifted attributes and gifted behaviors' and 'Toward a new paradigm for identifying talent potential amongst culturally diverse populations'.

 

Frasier, M.M., Hunsaker, S.L., Lee, J., Finley, V.S., Frank, E., Garcia, J.H. & Martin, D. (1995) Educators' Perceptions of Barriers to the Identification of Gifted Children from Economically Disadvantaged and Limited English Proficient Backgrounds. Storrs: National Research Canter on the Gifted and Talented. (Q371.956/R43295216)

"They identified two issues as major barriers to identification: (a) test bias, and (b) teachers' inability to recognize indicators of potential in certain groups. Five other issues were identified as moderate barriers: (a) students' use of nonstandard English and/or limited proficiency in the English language, (b) differences in language experiences, (c) parents not providing a stimulating home environment, (d) use of narrow screening/selection processes, and (e) teachers' prejudicial attitudes. Three issues were identified as minor barriers: (a) beliefs that intellectual giftedness is not valued by certain groups, (b) teachers' fears about program quality diminishing when minority and economically disadvantaged students participated, and (c) beliefs about the limited number of gifted children who come from economically disadvantaged and limited English proficient backgrounds." (p.v)

 

Harvey, S. & Seeley, K.R. (1984) An investigation of the relationships among intellectual and creative abilities, extracurricular activities, achievement, and giftedness in a delinquent population. Gifted Child Quarterly, 28 (2), 73-79.

"The most important conclusion drawn from these results is that gifted students exist in the population of anti-social youth." (p.78)

 

Heacox, D. (1992) Up From Underachievement. Melbourne: Hawker Brownlow Education. (CR371.93/H432u)

This book "describes a step-by-step program for intervening with underachievement and promoting student success. Teachers and parents learn specific ways to support achievement and create a positive learning environment. Students learn specific ways to set goals, manage their work, develop good study habits, and boost their own self-esteem. Together, they develop a plan for action that clearly outlines everyone's responsibilities." (p.6)

 

Henegar, L.E. (1984) Nurturing the creative promise in gifted disadvantaged youth. Journal of Creative Behavior, 18 (2), 109-116.

Discusses Torrance's 'creative positives' and how these might be built upon in gifted disadvantaged students - e.g. through art, creative problem solving, drama and storytelling, and creative writing.

 

Hunsaker, S.L., Frasier, M.M., King, L.L., Watts-Warren, B., Cramond, B. & Krisel, S. (1995) Family Influences on the Achievement of Economically Disadvantaged Students: Implications for Gifted Identification and Programming. Storrs: National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. (Q371.956/R43295206)

"Studies of context reveal that gifted students exist and are nurtured within economically disadvantaged families, but point to the need to focus on individual expressions of giftedness within cultural contexts when making decisions about the placement and programming." (p.v)

 

Jenkins-Friedman, R., Richert, E.S. & Feldhusen, J.F. (Eds) (1991) Special Populations of Gifted Learners: A Book of Readings. Unionville: Trillium. (371.950973/C741)

Includes Passow on 'Educational programs for minority/disadvantaged gifted students', Baldwin on 'I'm black but look at me, I am also gifted', Reis on 'We can't change what we don't recognize: Understanding the special needs of gifted females', Richert on 'Rampant problems and promising practices in the identification of disadvantaged gifted students', Baum on 'An enrichment program for gifted learning disabled students', Miller and Terry-Godt on 'The handicapped gifted' and Spicker, Southern and Davis on 'The rural gifted child'.

 

Kaniel, S. & Reichenberg, R. (1990) Dynamic assessment and cognitive program for disadvantaged gifted children. Gifted Education International, 7 (1), 9-15.

"It seems that systematic thinking and meta-cognition can be a central goal in enrichment programs. Such programs must be applied to the regular curriculum." (p.14) These, and the question of identification, are discussed in some detail.

 

Karnes, M.B. & Johnson, L.J. (1990) Identifying and Programming for Young Black Gifted Children. Monroe: Trillium. (371.953/K18i)

"Among young children who are potentially or functionally gifted, those from low-income homes are the most likely to be unidentified and as a result not appropriately programmed for, and among those from low-income homes the ones most likely to be overlooked are those who are black." (p.v)

 

Kolb, K.J. & Jussim, L. (1994) Teacher expectations and underachieving gifted children. Roeper Review, 17 (1), 26-30.

"The negative impact of teacher expectations can be reduced by enhancing the accuracy of beliefs teachers hold about their students and by reinforcing the beliefs gifted children hold about themselves." (p.30)

 

Lemley, D. (1994) Motivating underachieving gifted secondary students. Gifted Child Today, 17 (4), 40-41.

Describes several successes using independent studies. "If a student thinks the work being done is special, he or she usually puts in extra effort." (p.40)

 

Linnemeyer, S.A. (1991) Minds in the Making: A community resource program. Roeper Review, 14 (1), 35-39.

This program "was designed to expand the existing program for the gifted and talented in an urban district to include typically underserved populations, e.g., students with talents who were not being addressed because of lack of funds and the economically disadvantaged who did not meet the criteria for formal identification for highly academic programs." (p.35)

 

McCluskey, K.W., Baker, P.A., O'Hagan, S.C. & Treffinger, D.J. (1998) Recapturing at-risk, talented high-school dropouts: A summary of the three-year Lost Prizes project. Gifted and Talented International, 13 (2), 73-78.

'Lost Prizes, a tri-district project designed to 'reclaim' at-risk, talented high-school dropouts, ran from September, 1993, through June, 1996. Their talents notwithstanding, the young people in question were basically 'doing nothing and going nowhere.' Through career exploration, individual growth plans, mentoring experiences with business partners, and Creative Problem Solving training, the flexible, off-site program attempted to help these at-risk students make reasoned educational, career, and life decisions. The project has worked successfully with many dropouts whose talents have been identified, appreciated, and nurtured. Indeed, 57 of the 88 participants (65%) have responded by completing high school, entering post-secondary programs, or obtaining full-time employment.' (p.78)

 

Maker, C.J. & Schiever, S.W. (Eds) (1989) Critical Issues in Gifted Education, Vol. II: Defensible Programs for Cultural and Ethnic Minorities. Austin: Pro-Ed. (371.95/D313)

Comprises sections on 'Hispanics', 'American Indians', 'Asian-Americans', 'Blacks' and a final chapter on 'Programs for gifted minority students: A synthesis of perspectives'. Includes contributions from a wide range of writers.

 

Masson, G. (1996) Visual-spatial learners: A new perspective. Understanding Our Gifted, 8 (3), 1, 11-16.

"Educators must begin to understand and accept that non-sequential, non-verbal, intuitive learning is a natural and legitimate learning style and not necessarily an abnormality to be fixed." (p.12) Includes a section on 'Some techniques that work' - eg "Visual-spatial learners who have access to a computer should be doing 75 to 80% of their written work on the computer by the time they are in 8th or 9th grade." (p.14)

 

McCluskey, K.W., Baker, P.A., O'Hagan, S.C. & Treffinger, D.J. (1998) Recapturing at-risk, talented high-school dropouts: A summary of the three-year Lost Prizes project. Gifted and Talented International, 13 (2), 73-78.

'Lost Prizes, a tri-district project designed to 'reclaim' at-risk, talented high-school dropouts, ran from September, 1993, through June, 1996. Their talents notwithstanding, the young people in question were basically 'doing nothing and going nowhere.' Through career exploration, individual growth plans, mentoring experiences with business partners, and Creative Problem Solving training, the flexible, off-site program attempted to help these at-risk students make reasoned educational, career, and life decisions. The project has worked successfully with many dropouts whose talents have been identified, appreciated, and nurtured. Indeed, 57 of the 88 participants (65%) have responded by completing high school, entering post-secondary programs, or obtaining full-time employment.' (p.78)

 

Meeker, M. (1995) Turning ugly ducklings into swans. Gifted Child Today, 18 (2), 30-39, 48.

Discusses the use of Structure of Intellect (SOI) with disadvantaged students, including those from different cultural backgrounds.

 

Mendaglio, S. (1995) Children who are gifted/ADHD. Gifted Child Today, 18 (4), 37-38, 40.

"My main concern with gifted children who are diagnosed as ADHD is with their emotional experience. ... My hope is that readers will be influenced by this discussion to look beyond the labels, aggressiveness, or noncompliance and look for clues indicating the emotional turmoil that these children and adolescents may be experiencing." (p.40)

 

Newell, M. (1989) Adapting the triad model to serve gifted underachievers. Gifted Educational International, 6 (2), 98-101.

"This paper suggests adaptations to the Triad to more effectively serve the needs of gifted underachievers, particularly in the affective domain." (p. 98)

 

Olszewski-Kubilius, P., Grant, B. & Seibert, C. (1994) Social support systems and the disadvantaged gifted: A framework for developing programs and services. Roeper Review, 17 (1), 20-25. [See under Social/Emotional Development: General]

 

Peterson, J.S. (1997) Bright, tough, and resilient - and not in a gifted program. Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 8 (3), 121-136.

"Research, identification, and programs in gifted education have typically not accommodated the 'tough bright', described in this article as abused, neglected, and undernurtured - a subgroup in the 'diversity' gifted education has been admonished to identify and serve. Qualitative analysis of language generated in structured interviews with a group of high-ability, at-risk middle-school children (N=11), who had not been identified for special programming, yielded information related to personal difficulties, perceived support, familiarity with danger and violence, home environment, school experiences, perceptions of the future, and resilience. Suggestions for identification and programming are based on findings in the study." (p.121)

 

Pledgie, T.K. (1982) Giftedness among handicapped children: Identification and programming development. Journal of Special Education, 16 (2), 221-227.

Discusses "(a) developing staff sensitivity to the existence of gifted students who are also handicapped; (b) formulating an identification process that will not allow the weaknesses of children to mask their giftedness; and (c) developing a transdisciplinary team approach ... in creating an individualized educational program for each child." (p.221)

 

Ralph, R. (1995) Good practice: 'Up from underachievement' at Delroy High School. TalentEd, 49, 2-5. [See under School Provision - Australia]

 

Redding, R.E. (1989) Underachievement in the verbally gifted: Implications for pedagogy. Psychology in the Schools, 26 (3), 275-291.

"Underachievement is discussed in terms of global versus analytic processing styles, intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation, verbal versus quantitative interests and abilities, and the concomitant achievement patterns. ...Underachievement is viewed as a mismatch between the school's curriculum and testing procedures and these children's unique needs and stylistic approaches toward learning." (p. 275)

 

Rimm, S.B. (1987) Why do bright children underachieve? The Gifted Child Today, 10 (6), 30-36.

Identifies several pressures on bright children: the pressure to be brilliant, to be creative, to do something spectacular, to find oneself, to be popular, to be good, and to be the best sibling. Concludes with lists of 'parent recommendations' and 'teacher recommendations' - e.g. "Parents should discuss effort, problem-solving strategies, creative thinking processes, and ways of dealing with failure so that children learn the routes to achievement." (p.36)

 

Rimm, S.B. (1986) Underachievement Syndrome: Causes and Cures. Watertown: Apple Publishing. (371.926/R577u)

"The first section of the book describes the symptoms and causes of Underachievement Syndrome. ... The second part ... documents the practical techniques which we use successfully with parents and teachers. ... Last, we ask you to continue our work by inventing your own methods. Our trifocal model furnishes a framework and Rimm's Laws of Achievement summarize the most important principles." (p.xii)

 

Rimm, S. (1985) Identifying underachievement: The characteristics approach. G/C/T, 41, 2-5.

"Coping successfully with defeat, continuing efforts when work becomes difficult, and creatively using failure to learn from mistakes are characteristics of achievers." (p.4) Discusses five dimensions of achievement: competition, responsibility, self-control, achievement communication and respect.

 

Rimm, S.B. & Lovance, K.J. (1992) How acceleration may prevent underachievement syndrome. The Gifted Child Today, 15 (2), 9-14.

"This case study information should not be used to support acceleration for all gifted underachieving children, but only to encourage parents, teachers, and administrators to consider that lack of an academic challenging curriculum may be a genuine problem for some of the gifted underachievers who refuse to do their daily assignments." (p.14)

 

Rimm, S.B. & Lovance, K.J. (1992) The use of subject and grade skipping for the prevention and reversal of underachievement. Gifted Child Quarterly, 36 (2), 100-105. [See under Acceleration]

 

Runco, M.A. (1993) Creativity as an Educational Objective for Disadvantaged Students Storrs: National Research center on the Gifted and Talented. (CR371.9043/R939c)

"There are several reasons to be optimistic about the creative potential of at-risk and disadvantaged students. One reason for optimism is simply that creative potential seems to be very widely distributed. ... Fourteen specific recommendations are offered at the end of this paper. Six of these describe behaviors to avoid .... The other eight recommendations describe objectives and suggestions ...." (p.ix)

 

Supplee, P.L. (1990) Reaching the Gifted Underachiever: Program Strategy and Design. New York: Teachers College Press. (371.956/S959r)

"The ideas presented in this book worked for me as I designed and implemented the program and curricula, for the teachers who took over the classes for me as I continued my research, and for the gifted, underachieving children that we met through the established program." (p.xv)

 

Vail, P.L. (1988) Smart kids with school problems: Roots and wings. Principal, 68 (1), 37-39.

Uses a case study of a fifth grade boy to illustrate the point that 'conundrum kids' "are intelligent and talented, but nevertheless they struggle and often fail because their learning styles and developmental timetables do not match the materials, methods, or sequences of a standard curriculum." (p.37)

 

Vail, P. (1987) Smart Kids With School Problems. New York: E.P. Dutton. (371.95/V129s)

A more detailed discussion of the 'conundrum kids', with several case study examples to illustrate aspects of their identification and special needs.

 

Van Tassel-Baska, J., Olszewski-Kubilius, P. & Kulieke, M. (1994) A study of self-concept and social support in advantaged and disadvantaged seventh and eighth grade gifted students. Roeper Review, 16 (3), 186-191. [See under Social/Emotional Development: General]

 

Wallace, B. & Adams, H. (Eds) (1993) Worldwide Perspectives on the Gifted Disadvantaged. Chippenham: A B Academic Publishers. (371.827/W927)

Comprises 21 papers, with contributions from Feuerstein & Tannenbaum, Arroyo & Sternberg, Adams & Wallace, McClelland, Yewchuk & Mulcahy, Butler-Por, Passow, Sisk, Renzulli & Reis, Reid, and Freeman, among others.

 

Whitmore, J.R. (1980) Giftedness, Conflict, and Underachievement. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. (371.95/W616G)

Makes extensive use of case study material from the author's years as teacher and then researcher in the Cupertino, California, program for highly gifted underachievers. Explains the special programs devised to help these children and argues that the early identification of such children is highly desirable.

 

Whitmore, J.R. (1986) Understanding a lack of motivation to excel. Gifted Child Quarterly, 30 (2), 66-69.

"The purposes of this article are to help parents and teachers in understanding the nature and causes of underachievement, and to show them how to work more effectively with underachieving gifted children." (p.66)

 

Wright, L. & Borland, J.H. (1993) Using early childhood developmental portfolios in the identification and education of young, economically disadvantaged, potentially gifted students. Roeper Review, 15 (4), 205-210. [See under Identification]

 

Yewchuck, C. & Lupart, J.L. (1993) Gifted handicapped: A desultory duality. In K.A. Heller, F.J. Monks & A.H. Passow (Eds) International Handbook of Research and Development of Giftedness and Talent. Oxford: Pergamon. pp.709-726. (371.95/H477i)

Covers identification, characteristics and provision, with reference to several subgroups: gifted learning disabled, gifted hearing impaired, gifted retarded, and preschool handicapped gifted.

©TalentEd is located at the School of Education, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.

This page updated: 23 January 2006 Webmaker: Howard Smith. hsmith4@une.edu.au