Underachievement

Underachievement can be hard to measure. In Australia we have no Grade Point Averages (GPAs) as in the US. The subjective assessment of underachievement by parents, the child and their teacher(s) is also problematic. We have, at present, no National standards and a lack of school testing in some schools, until Years 11 and 12.

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.

So what is Underachievement?

• Underachievement is a discrepancy between expectation and performance (Tannenbaum)
• Expectation = child’s score on a test of intellectual functioning
• Performance = lower grade levels than previous, falling below a certain grade, performance on an achievement test

What does the research tell us about underachievement?

Considering over 90 studies in their 30 year review on underachievement, Raph and Tannenbaum concluded that “only one characteristic differentiates all underachievers from all achievers: the fact that one group succeeds at school and the other does not"

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 she found 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
• 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
• Actual incidence of underachievement is likely to be much higher as formula does not account for 'potential' to perform – utilising a discrepancy with current grade
• Covert underachievement and chronic underachievement major types
• No gender differences: although a higher number of boys were found to be underachieving this difference was not significant
• Achievers and underachievers = similar age, family size, no birth order differences.   No differences in school types or single sex vs co-education.   No differences in family types or whether accelerated.