Title

A Comparison of Perceptions of Barriers to Academic Success Among High-Ability Students From High- and Low-Income Groups: Exposing Poverty of a Different Kind

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2018

Publication Title

Gifted Child Quarterly

Volume

62

First Page

111

Last Page

129

Keywords

age/developmental stage, high income, low income, middle school, qualitative methodologies, special populations/underserved gifted

Abstract

© 2017, © 2017 National Association for Gifted Children. In 14 focus group interviews, sixth- to eighth-grade high-ability students from high- (n = 36) and low-income (n = 45) families were asked to describe the barriers they perceived to their academic success. Three themes were identified through the qualitative analysis: Constraining Environments, Integration versus Isolation, and Resource Plenty versus Resource Poor. Students in both groups experienced environments not conducive to learning, inhibiting peers, and teachers as a barrier. Students in the low-income group described mayhem in their schools, which interfered significantly with learning. These students were highly integrated in their school community, whereas the students in the high-income group were socially isolated from both peers and teachers. Both groups exhibited issues of poor fit within their schools: autonomy and competence for both, relatedness for students in the high-income group. Attention to these issues will help support these students in achieving their potential.

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