Underachievement
Is your child achieving their potential?
Is your child achieving their potential?
Underachievement can be hard to measure. In Australia we have no Grade Point Averages (GPAs) as in the US and, at present, no National standards. There can also be a lack of school testing in some schools until Years 11 and 12. The subjective assessment of underachievement by parents, the child and their teacher(s) is also problematic.
If you believe your child might be underachieving at school, your child’s ability and achievement levels need to be determined and a report developed with some educational recommendations made to assist the school to meet the needs of your child. Dr Byrne would be happy to discuss this process with you.
The area of underachievement is a complicated issue for gifted children. It is poorly understood.
Dr Byrne's doctoral study "Promise Unfulfilled: Academic Underachievement in Children of High Intellectual Potential" (2002) researched the levels of academic achievement and underachievement in a group of 50 children whose IQs ranged between 125 and 200.
What Gail found in her research was:
Achievers and underachievers were of similar age, family size, and, there were no birth order differences. There were no differences in school types the students attended or single sex vs co-education.
If you believe your child might be underachieving at school, your child’s ability and achievement levels need to be determined and a report developed with some educational recommendations made to assist the school to meet the needs of your child. Dr Byrne would be happy to discuss this process with you.
The area of underachievement is a complicated issue for gifted children. It is poorly understood.
Dr Byrne's doctoral study "Promise Unfulfilled: Academic Underachievement in Children of High Intellectual Potential" (2002) researched the levels of academic achievement and underachievement in a group of 50 children whose IQs ranged between 125 and 200.
What Gail found in her research was:
- Over one in three gifted children (38%) scored two stanines lower than their ability predicted in Reading Comprehension and Mathematics using norms at the gifted child's current Year level. These students underachieved at their Grade level in key areas.
- Only 62% of gifted children with an average IQ of 146 achieved at a level expected of their grade for age – the same level expected of an IQ 100 student
- The actual incidence of underachievement is likely to be much higher as the formula used did not account for 'potential' to perform
- Covert underachievement and chronic underachievement were the major types of underachievement
- There were no gender differences. Although a higher number of boys were found to be underachieving this difference was not significant
Achievers and underachievers were of similar age, family size, and, there were no birth order differences. There were no differences in school types the students attended or single sex vs co-education.