This study handled underachievement issue of gifted students by developing and validating educational programs as a solution, or relief, of their academic underachievement problems. The proposed educational program was designed to enhancing reading co...
This study handled underachievement issue of gifted students by developing and validating educational programs as a solution, or relief, of their academic underachievement problems. The proposed educational program was designed to enhancing reading comprehension ability of gifted students with underachievement.
For developing and validating the effective solution to underachievement of gifted students in Korea, this study performed the following efforts:
1. Developing a reading comprehension strategy program in Korean language for solving the underachievement of gifted middle school students
2. Identifying gifted underachievers among middle school students
3. Validating the developed program by applying, and exploring the effects of, the program to the identified underachieving gifted students
Based on comprehensive literature review, this study found that key issues of underachievement have to do with learning strategy, and also that learning strategy was established as‘reading comprehension strategy.’ Considering diverse reading comprehension models and strategies suggested by preceding studies, the reading comprehension strategy program in Korean was customized for underachieving gifted students on the middle school level.
In identifying gifted students with underachievement, Supplee(1990)’s definition of gifted underachievers was adopted. In Supplee’s definition, underachieving gifted students are at 8-9 stanine on the intelligence test, and their school grades are at least 3 stanine lower than their IQ. Based on this definition, 36 gifted underachievers were identified among 941 middle school students that this study collected data from.
The effectiveness of the reading comprehension strategy program as a solution to underachievement of gifted students was explored by applying the developed program to 36 identified students after school twice a week for 6 weeks, conducting pre- and post-tests that were selected to measure their reading comprehension abilities, collecting their academic achievement data before and after the intervention by this study, and interviewing students.
As the results of this study, reading metacognition ability, reading comprehension skills, and school grades of gifted students with underachievement were meaningfully improved as a group. On the individual level, 12 identified students, exactly one third of the whole group of underachieving gifted students, showed so improved academic achievement as we can say they overcame underachievement based on the Supplee’s definition.
The solution, reading comprehensive strategy program, this study seems to be effective to underachievement problems of at least one third of underachieving gifted students, but not to about two third of them. The finding of unsuccessful two-third cases is not surprising at all because we already know that the causes of underachievement of gifted students are various. On the contrary, the finding of successful one-third cases shows us that we now have a useful remedy for underachieving gifted students.