An Intervention Strategy to Facilitate the Achievement of Potential in Two Underachieving Gifted Students: Two Case Studies

Abstract

Not all gifted students achieve according to their exceptional potential. Up to half of the gifted population underachieve. Though significant research has been conducted into identification and characteristics of underachieving gifted students, there is a need for current research to use the established theoretical understandings and investigate practical strategies for the reversal and remediation of underachievement in gifted students. The researcher proposes the Creative Writing Program as an intervention strategy for underachieving gifted students. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the researcher‟s Creative Writing Program and, in so doing, identify the successful teaching strategies that facilitate the achievement of potential in two underachieving gifted students. To answer these research objectives, two separate case studies were conducted with two participants identified as being gifted, yet underachieving. The data were gathered from multiple sources and perspectives including: interviews with student-participants, teachers and parents; the researcher‟s observations and field notes; and a qualitatively evaluated pre- and post-test. The data were analysed using open-coding methods and it was found that the Creative Writing Program impacted the student-participants‟ negative feelings, underachieving behaviours and social awareness. It was also found that the following strategies were successful for facilitating the achievement of potential in underachieving gifted students: one-to-one teaching, positive teacher identification and differentiation