A COMPARISON OF GIFTED UNDERACHIEVERS AND GIFTED HIGH ACHIEVERS

The purpose of this study was to compare a national sample of gifted u nderachievers and gifted high achievers on a number of characteristics . Giftedness was measured as a composite score at or above the 95th pe rcentile on the American College Testing Program (ACT). Underachieveme nt was defined as reporting a high school grade-point average of less- than-or-equal-to 2.25 (on a 4.00 scale), and high achievement was defi ned as reporting a grade-point average of greater-than-or-equal-to 3.7 5 (on a 4.00 scale). Participants for this study were 30,604 high scho ol juniors and seniors: gifted underachievers n=257: gifted high achie vers n=30,347. The underachievers generally had lower scores on the AC T and less extensive out-of-class accomplishments. Over 90% of the und erachievers were Caucasian males. Comparisons are provided on a number of nonacademic variables between underachievers and high achievers.