Underachievement

Discrepancy between School Grades and Measures of Ability

The most common underachievement problem that frustrates parents and teachers most is caused by children who have high measured ability but do not complete assignments, homework, or put forth good effort. They rarely study or prepare for tests and seem not to be motivated to learn in school. They are characteristically disorganized and forgetful, or at least claim to be forgetful. They blame teachers, parents, or others for their problems, although some describe themselves as lazy or uninterested. Their grades may vary between A's and F's, sometimes depending on whether they prefer a teacher or subject and other times with little predictability. A nationwide study by Nicholas Colangelo and Barbara Kerr of adolescents who scored in the 95th percentile on the ACT college admission test but who were receiving below average grades in school found these young people to be predominantly boys from affluent, large schools who seemed not to blame schools or teachers for their underachievement, but were unclear about goals and seemed to lack a sense of purpose.

Discrepancies between Test Measurements of Aptitude and Achievement

Despite students' good grades, student achievement test scores may be lower than predicted by IQ test scores. Gifted children may not be exposed to curriculum that provides them with opportunities to learn material in school that provides the challenge of which they are capable. Their test scores do not show mastery of materials that other highly intelligent students have accomplished. These students typically find their work easy, but assume the ease of curriculum is related to their [Page 912]giftedness, and they have become accustomed to putting forth little effort. Grades are likely very good or even excellent so that parents and teachers rarely indicate concern. When gifted children underachieve but earn excellent grades, they may confront difficult circumstances if they move to more challenging school districts or higher levels of curriculum at middle school, high school, or college because they lack experiences with academic challenge. When confronted with academic challenge, they may rise to the occasion by compensatory effort or may give up their attempts at achieving, avoid challenges, and assume they are less capable than they actually are. They can believe that their giftedness should make learning effortless.

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