What Underachieving
Middle School Students
Believe Motivates them to Learn
Middle School Students
Believe Motivates them to Learn
|
|
Middle School Students Believe Motivates them to Learn |
|
Chapter 1: The Challenge to Educate Everyone Chapter 2: A Review of
Literature
Chapter 3: Methods Chapter 4: The Results Chapter 5: Discussion |
Characteristics of Underachieving Students Forty years of research has helped educators understand underachieving students. They can be characterized by attributes such as disorganization, lack of concentration, perfectionism, low self-esteem, unwillingness to conform, anxiety, vulnerability to peer pressure, and a sense of external locus of control (Coleman, et. al., 1966; Whitmore, 1980; Ford, 1992, 1996). Much of what has been written about underachievement has been written about underachieving gifted students. In fact, the gifted underachiever has been described as "one of the greatest social wastes of our culture" (Gowan, 1955, p. 247). Of course, any student who is unable to reach his academic potential in school deserves the kind of attention that gifted students receive. Rimm (1986, 1988) is interested in all underachieving students and developed the Achievement Identification Measure (AIM) that describes five dimensions, or classes, of indicators for identifying underachieving students: competition, responsibility, self-control, achievement communication, and respect. These categories were borne out in factor analysis and the assessment is highly reliable (Rimm, 1986). Comparing Rimm’s list of indicators of underachievement to other lists of characteristics for underachieving gifted students (for example Ford, 1996, see Appendix B), it becomes evident that general underachievers share many of the same characteristics: the student doesn’t participate in school activities, the need for acceptance outweighs his or her academic concerns about school and achievement, home life is stressful, the student’s family is of low socio-economic status, the student feels alienated, the student has a negative attitude toward school, he or she cannot tolerate structured and/or passive activities, the student has low self-esteem or self-concept, the student exerts little effort on school tasks, which is reflected in standardized test scores or grades, and the student bores easily and is disruptive. |
|
|
Send questions or comments to wilder@somtel.com Last updated April 25, 2001 |
Assistant Professor of Education University of Maine at Farmington 104 Main Street Farmington, ME 04938 207.778.7179 wilder@somtel.com http://violet.umf.maine.edu/~mmuir |