This information was produced by the staff of the Belin-Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development (B-BC) at the University of Iowa (belinblank.org). The resources and information listed here are for informational purposes; there is no direct or implied endorsement by the B-BC. Services provided by the B-BC include programs for academically talented K-12 and college students, professional development for teachers, the Assessment and Counseling Clinic, the Acceleration Institute (accelerationinstitute.org), and graduate programs and research in gifted education.

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Annotated Bibliography

Articles are listed in descending order by year (most recent first), and then by first author's last name.

Motivation

Matthews, M. S., & McBee, M. T. (2007). School factors and the underachievement of gifted students in a talent search summer program. Gifted Child Quarterly, 51, 167-181.  

Matthews, M. S., & McBee, M. T. (2007). School factors and the underachievement of gifted students in a talent search summer program. Gifted Child Quarterly, 51, 167-181. [Keywords: Achievement and Motivation]

The topic of underachievement and how to reverse it has received a great deal of attention in the gifted education literature. The present study sought to add to the knowledge base on this issue by investigating the occurrence of underachievement behaviors and their predictors in a population of highly gifted students attending a summer educational program based on the talent search model. A group of 440 students in Grades 8-10 were given the School Attitude Assessment Survey–Revised at the beginning of the program. Attitudes toward and grades obtained in students' regular schools had little to no predictive value on students' academic and behavioral performance during the summer program. Results support qualitative findings in the literature, suggesting that educational interventions can be extremely effective in reversing the expression of underachieving behaviors.

Matthews, M. S. (2006). Gifted students dropping out: Recent findings from a Southeastern state. Roeper Review, 28, 216-223.  

Matthews, M. S. (2006). Gifted students dropping out: Recent findings from a Southeastern state. Roeper Review, 28, 216-223. [Keywords: Achievement and Motivation]

Dropping out of school has been presented as a serious problem affecting gifted students, with some authors suggesting that 20% or more of dropouts could be gifted (e.g., Pimm, 1995; Robertson, 1991). Longitudinal data from North Carolina were used to investigate high-school dropout rates among gifted students (N = 7916) who had participated in a regional talent search program as seventh graders. In contrast to some prior estimates, results indicate that dropout rates among this particular gifted population are extremely low. Dropout rates among all gifted subgroups, as well as across this entire population, were below 1%. Gifted students differed from the general dropout population in being less likely to report dropping out due to attendance problems and more likely to drop out to attend a community college. Limitations of the findings are discussed, and implications for gifted education policy and practice are offered.