When Smart Kids Underachieve in School: Practical Solutions for Teachers

How important is the influence of home life on a child’s education? Academic research finds no correlation with the amount of money spent on a child’s education and educational gains. In other words, spending more money toward a child’s education does not necessarily make him or her do better. But there is a correlation between parental influences and educational outcomes. If parents are involved in their child’s education and show they care, school readiness and even likelihood of college completion increase (Hanushek, 1997). Over the past 4 decades, taking inflation out of the equation, public spending of money on education has increased by 128% (Lips, 2008). However, the achievement of these students has remained stagnant. Families, on the other hand, have seen a decline in the number of children growing up in households with their biological parents. In 1960, 88% of children lived with two parents, but, by 2016, that number dropped to 69% (Amato, 2005). It is estimated that one child in two will spend some part of his or her childhood in a single-parent home (Bumpass & Sweet, 1989).

Here are some more statistics about the effects of home life on students’ education (Kim, 2008):

» First-graders whose mothers were married when they were born are less likely to engage in disruptive behavior with peers and teachers than those whose mothers were single or cohabiting at the time of their birth.

» Children aged 3 to 12 who live in intact families have higher average math scores than peers whose mothers live in cohabiting relationships.

» Children aged 7 to 10 who live in continuously intact families tend to score higher on reading tests than peers who have lived in other family structures.

» Children aged 6 to 11 who live in intact families tend to be more engaged in their schoolwork than peers in other family structures.

» Middle school and high school students who experience a parental divorce tend to suffer declines in their grade point averages and are more likely to fail a course one year later compared to peers of married parents. (pp. 4–5)

Given the importance of home life on the education of a child, there are several things that can inhibit a child from doing his best in school and thus lead to underachievement.

As much as teachers would like to believe that every parent wants the best education possible for his or her child, the harsh reality is that this is not always the case. There are a variety of reasons that a parent does not value his or her child getting an education. Sometimes it comes from the fact that, as children, the parents did not receive a quality education. They see school as a place of bad memories, where they might have been bullied, disciplined, disrespected, or ridiculed. They come to view school as a bad place, and this reflects in the way their child sees school as well.

Then, there are those parents who wish to provide their child with a quality education but do not have the resources to tap into this value. They either lack the social capital, money, or access to good schools that would provide a quality education. It is our nation’s worst-kept secret that the performance of students on achievement tests and the socioeconomic status of a school community usually go hand in hand. Students who come from an affluent school system more often than not score better than students from an urban or rural school with a lower socioeconomic status.

There are other parents who do not know how to get involved in their child’s education. This can happen in households where English is a second language. Because the parents do not speak fluent English, they often feel inadequate when it comes to school due to the language barrier, cultural differences, or their own lack of education. This creates the perception that these parents do not care because they do not come to school events or attend parent-teacher conferences. The reality might be that they are not made to feel culturally welcome, so they avoid such events. Traditional methods of communicating with parents—mail, phone, or e-mail—might not be the best way to communicate with them. Also, the traditional times we plan for school events and parent-teacher conferences, in the evenings or right after school, might not work with parents’ schedules. Schools need to consider that, when it appears a parent does not care, the problem may be that the environment the school has created is not conducive for these parents to be involved. Alternatives need to be considered, such as conducting home visits, arranging for parent-teacher conferences at a more convenient place for parents, such as a meeting room at an apartment complex where many of the students live, or holding meetings in the morning or the middle of the day.

You cannot make parents value education, but you can help them see the value for their child and the opportunities an education will provide for them.

As much as teachers want parents to be involved in their child’s education, there is such a thing as being too involved. Involvement is definitely good. Students whose parents are more willing to help them with school are more likely to have higher levels of academic achievement and psychosocial development with lower levels of deviant behavior and psychological problems than peers whose parents are not as highly responsive (Fletcher, Steinberg, & Sellers, 1999). Parents who are too involved, however, can cause problems. These helicopter parents are so involved that they do not provide their children the space needed to learn. In The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids (Robbins, 2006), one of the profiled students is nicknamed “AP Frank.” As a junior and senior he is enrolled in all AP classes at the insistence of his mother, who has really high expectations for him, even managing his time to the point of abuse. His parent is so involved that he cannot wait to go to college the next year just so he can get away from her iron fist and have a social life.

If a parent pushes a student too hard, the student might rebel in the only way that might seem available to him: doing poorly in school. Parents should certainly have high expectations for their gifted child. Otherwise, some students might just stay in their comfort zone and not learn much. There is, however, a balance between setting high standards and putting undue pressure on a child. How does a parent maintain this balance? According to psychologist Peggy Tsatsoulis (2002–2017), you can share the following tips with parents:

1. Self-reflect: Ask yourself why it is important for you to push your child. Make sure the answer is the honest one, not the one that makes you look the best. Determine where your child is academically and where you want him or her to be. Seek advice on what this looks like from teachers and family friends. Sometimes your expectation might be unrealistic. We all want our children to be the best, but sometimes they are capable of only so much.

2. Practice acceptance: Know your child and what he or she is capable of, and adjust your expectations. For example, B’s may be acceptable in math because you know your student often struggles with the concepts and formulas.

3. Have regular conversations with your child: These do not need to be a formal family meeting. Talk to your child in the car on the way to picking up a pizza or while going for a walk together. Ask him or her what he or she needs from you and if he or she feels you put too much pressure on him or her. He or she will likely give you honest feedback.

4. Pay attention: Look at what is going on right in front of you. Actions can speak louder than words. If your child is saying everything is all right, but you notice changes in his or her behavior, this might be reason to take notice. Pay attention to eating and sleeping habits, the kinds of friends he or she hangs out with, as well as the consistency in his or her grades.

5. Speak with your child’s teachers and/or counselor: Your child’s teachers are the best source for getting information. Besides yourself, they are the adult your child is spending the most time with. When you do communicate, ask the teacher how you can be supportive to the academic process. Ask the teacher how much help he expects for you to give your child on homework. Counselors are another resource available to you. They have tools and tips to help you be a support system to your child.

There are various home dynamics that can lead to underachievement (see Table 6). There are things a teacher can control concerning the education of his students, and things that are completely out of his hands. He can control the discipline in his classroom, the expectations he sets for his students, and the dedication and passion he shows toward teaching his students. What he cannot control is the home life of the students. Rather than trying to control something not in your control, you need to focus on what you can. Most of the factors in Table 6 are out of your control, but you can be the one thing most of the students are seeking—someone who cares about them.

TABLE 6
Home Dynamics That Lead to Underachievement

*Tends to Cause Episodic* Underachievement**	*Tends to Cause Chronic* Underachievement**
Dysfunction	Economic status
Father-son relationship	Attitude toward school and jobs
Family disruption	Language
Parent discord	Ethnic differences
	Motivation modeling

Note. Adapted from Shelagh Gallagher, personal communication, August 2017. Adapted with permission of the author.

Provide opportunities for students to participate in clubs designed to enrich their learning. If students are coming from a home life where they feel as though they do not belong, these clubs provide a place where they do. These clubs can be held before or after school, depending on what works best with the advisor’s schedule. Some districts actually pay stipends for people who run clubs.

Clubs can come in a variety of forms, such as one that is an extension of the advisor’s passion, something that the advisor is involved in and wants to pass on to students. For example, you might be really into anime, so you start an anime club that meets to view anime movies, read manga, draw or create anime, or play tabletop games, such as shogi, go, and mahjong. Or, if you are really into the environment, you could start an eco club that focuses on ways to help the school and/or the community to be more environmentally sound.

Another option would be to create clubs that may not be your passion, but are something you could competently run and are proven to enrich gifted students, such as chess, creative writing, mock trial, robotics, art, debate, investment, drama, coding, gaming, gardening, etc. These clubs could be as structured or unstructured as you want. For example, chess club could just be a place for students to come together and play chess. All an advisor would have to provide are the boards and pieces. A more involved chess club might teach strategy, learn new techniques, and attend tournaments. The real goal of the club is to provide a place students can go and feel as though they are cared for. Students would also learn a new skill and develop leadership and collaboration skills.

Rather than reinventing the wheel, a third option is using a national program, as they tend to have a rich curriculum of activities and culminating events to do with students. Some of these programs include Model United Nations, Invention Convention/League, Battle of the Books, and MATHCOUNTS. These programs have students from all over the country participating with state and regional competitions.

For example, Destination Imagination (DI) is a global program for grades K–12 that has students pick a challenge. They register nationally and receive a passport number and materials for that challenge. The students must then create a skit that demonstrates the elements of the challenge as well as specific skills. There are various challenges to choose from—technical, scientific, engineering, fine arts, improvisation, outreach—each with a different theme. All challenges require students to be creative in the manner in which they solve their challenge as well as prepare and perform their skit. After preparing for several months, teams register with a local affiliate and take part in a regional tournament that pulls teams from the area. The teams that score the best on their challenge then are invited to go to the state competition. From there the best teams go to the global competition held in Knoxville, TN. It does involve some coordination on the part of the teacher or team manager, but the parameters of the challenge, the tournament, the judging, and the awards are all handled by the organization.

Table 7 is a list of some of the major national competitions that teachers can create a club around. Because these organizations have been doing these competitions for years, it would be a matter of connecting with the state or local affiliate, figuring out what exactly is involved with participating, and providing the resources for students to be able to prepare for the competition.

TABLE 7
National Competitions for Student Clubs and Enrichment

Competition	Age Range/Grades	Area of Study
American Mathematics Competitions (http://www.maa.org/math-competitions)	Grades 8–12	Math
America’s Battle of the Books (http://www.battleofthebooks.org)	Grades 3–12	English language arts
Egg Drop Contest	Grades 5–12	Science, engineering
FIRST LEGO League (http://www.firstlegoleague.org)	Ages 9–16	Science, engineering
Future City Competition (http://futurecity.org)	Grades 6–8	Science, technology, engineering, math
Future Problem Solving Program International (http://www.fpspi.org)	Ages 8–18	Logic, global connections
Invention League’s Convention Program (http://www.inventionleague.org)	Grades K–8	Science, engineering
Linguistics Olympiad (http://www.nacloweb.org)	Grades 6–12	English language arts
MATHCOUNTS (https://www.mathcounts.org)	Grades 6–8	Math, reasoning
Math League (http://www.mathleague.com)	Grades 3–6	Math
Math Olympiads (http://www.moems.org)	Grades 4–8	Math
Model United Nations (http://www.unausa.org/global-classrooms-model-un)	High school, some states have junior high	Social studies, global awareness
Odyssey of the Mind (https://www.odysseyofthemind.com)	Grades K–12	Problem solving, creativity
PhysicsBowl (https://www.aapt.org/Programs/PhysicsBowl)	High school	Science
Power of the Pen (http://www.powerofthepen.org)	Grades 7–8	English language arts
NASA Ames Space Settlement Contest (https://settlement.arc.nasa.gov/Contest)	Grades 7–12	Science, technology, engineering, math
National Shakespeare Competition (https://www.esuus.org/esu/programs/shakespeare_competition)	Grades 9–12	English language arts, performing arts
Science Olympiad (https://www.soinc.org)	Grades 6–12	Science
Siemens Competition in Math, Science, & Technology (https://siemenscompetition.discoveryeducation.com)	Grades 9–12	Science, technology, engineering, math
WordMasters Challenge (http://www.wordmasterschallenge.com)	Grades 3–8	English language arts, reasoning

Parents don’t know what they don’t know—especially when it comes to gifted students. Giving them just a little bit of education about working with their gifted child can go a long way. Having a series of parent workshops would allow you to introduce issues prevalent amongst gifted students in a safe place, where instead of being accusatory, it allows parents to arrive at a realization themselves. Hopefully, at this presentation, a discussion will occur where parents are talking about their children and some of the struggles and successes they have encountered. This in itself can be an education, and it is always easier to hear from other parents rather than from a perceived authority figure.

Your parent education sessions could take many forms. Topics you might want to address include:

Although you cannot control a student’s home life, you can seek to teach the parents what a supportive home life would look like. Suggestions you could provide to parents in education sessions include (Siegle, 2006):

» Modeling their own curiosity about the world around them. Parents must demonstrate how curiosity is transformed into action. For example, a question about the number of moons orbiting Saturn might lead to looking up the answer on the Internet or in an encyclopedia.

» Nurturing their children’s curiosity and love of learning through opportunities outside of school that help them explore their interests.

» Letting their children know that they value school and showing them how their school experiences are important now and will prove useful in the future.

» Monitoring their children’s homework, which sends the message that parents value what their children do in school.

» Sharing their children’s interests with the school and working with the school and their children to tie these interests to school projects.

» Talking about their children’s giftedness with them by helping them recognize that they are continually changing and growing and that they have a hand in their own accomplishments and growth.

» Documenting their children’s growth by saving their schoolwork or videotaping them performing various tasks and sharing these items with them later. The children will be impressed with how much progress they have made.

» Helping them understand that challenging situations are opportunities to acquire or improve skills and that encountering difficulty does not mean that they are not intelligent.

» Helping children recognize the part that effort has played in their growth by complimenting them with specific examples. A general compliment, such as “Good work,” is not as effective as, “Your studying paid off—now you really know the periodic table.”

» Creating opportunities for their children to interact with role models. Students’ expectations are based on the experiences of their parents and role models.

» Discussing cause-and-effect relationships with their children. In particular, parents can counsel children faced with difficult situations on how to change the environment to fit their needs, how to achieve success by adjusting to the existing environment, or when to let go of a fruitless idea or hopeless situation (para. 2–6).

Another parent-education opportunity is a book study. An excellent resource for this is James Delisle’s Parenting Gifted Kids: Tips for Raising Happy and Successful Children (2006). You could have parents read chapters over the course of a school year, hosting a meeting every few chapters or so, getting together as a group and talking about it. For those parents who are unable to attend, the discussion could either be filmed and put online, or notes could be sent out.

Gifted parents certainly do not want to be preached at or told they are doing something wrong. These parents of gifted children, many who are gifted themselves, like to learn, so teaching some strategies they could use at home would be an effective way to improve students’ home life.

Many students who come from supportive homes do a lot of enrichment as a family. They take trips to the zoo and talk about the various ecosystems, go to the art museum and compare paintings, or attend the science center to learn fun ways to use electricity. Statistics show that children from higher socioeconomic homes tend to participate in these sorts of enrichment activities more often than children from lower socioeconomic households. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers (2008), discussed a study conducted by Karl Alexander at Johns Hopkins University, which discovered what was termed a summer learning gap. Two students from polar opposite socioeconomic households achieved at about the same rate within the school year. Upon returning to school the following year, however, the student from the higher socioeconomic household gained learning over the summer because of the experiences his or her parents provided. Schools could close this gap a little, but each summer it happened again and again, causing the gap to become so large that by the ninth grade there was no closing it. There was a correlation between those students who received these out-of-school learning experiences and those who took college preparatory classes and even those who went on to a 4-year college.

In order to level the playing field a little, arrange to take students on field trips. There are three ways to approach them.

Approach 1: During-school field trip tied to curriculum. A history teacher is beginning a unit on slavery. In order to deepen the level of understanding of the students, he makes arrangements for his students to attend the National Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati, OH, where there are multiple exhibits, films, reenactments, and even an actual cabin that used to house slaves. This experience is beyond anything students could get by reading textbooks for weeks, and it is all in a single day. Not only that, it provides an experience for some students whose parents would not have the resources or time to take them to such a museum. Students are then accountable for what they learn on the field trip because it is part of the curriculum, which is demonstrated in either a project, a reflection, or an assessment.

Approach 2: Weekend or summer field trips. A field trip need not be tied to the school day in order to be meaningful and provide enrichment. Going to an arboretum and experiencing the various types of trees and plants can be enriching even if it is not linked to the curriculum. Or, taking students to an observatory where they can see the stars and planets, as well as learn how scientists study them, might be life altering, as a student leaves there wanting to be an astronomer. Keep in mind, field trips are an experience, and for many students, they are an experience they would normally not have. Being able to offer these sort of field trips on the weekend or during the summer, the time when other children might be experiencing these on their own and jumping ahead of their peers, puts students on equal footing.

Approach 3: Bring the field trip to the students. Field trips can be expensive for a school district. Not only is there the cost to attend, but there is also a cost for busing and finding chaperones, and the emergency medical forms, not to mention the moving of several kids from place to place, can sometimes feel like herding cats. What if you could have all of the benefits of a field trip without actually having to physically go anywhere? There are a couple of alternatives. One of these is that many people and organizations, such as the zoo, science center, performing arts groups, or visiting authors, have outreach programs where they actually come to schools. Rather than trying to transport hundreds of children many miles away, the venue or speaker will come to the school.

Another option is to take virtual field trips. There is amazing technology where students can explore the ancient Pyramid of Giza, go swimming with sharks, or tour the Louvre in Paris. Students use virtual reality goggles that look just like the View-Masters of our childhoods. A classroom set can be purchased for the district and circulated to various teachers. Although they may not be as good as actually going to a destination, these sorts of field trips allow you to cover more distance and see things that even well-to-do families might not be able to experience.

The final option is to have students create a field trip for others. This would involve students creating museum exhibits covering various topics, as seen in Figure 9. The class can go online and study real museum exhibits to see how they look. Once students set up their exhibits, you can invite other classes to come visit the museum, providing a field trip for those in your school.

Figure 9. Sample museum exhibit assignment.

Purpose

You are charged with creating an exhibit in the Egyptian Museum.

You are responsible for a certain aspect of Egyptian culture. You must create a display so that someone coming to the museum could learn everything they could about the aspect of culture. This means you will need an artifact(s) of some sort, whether it be a model, poster, trifold, video reenactment, etc. There need to be labels as well as an exhibit title. Like any good museum, you will need to have a sign that explains the exhibit in detail based on the research you find.

Summary

The theme of this museum is how the river shaped this aspect of culture, so somewhere in the exhibit this will need to be explained.

Recommendation

Your exhibit will be evaluated on three aspects:

• Artifact/Display

• Content of Research

• Professionalism

There is very little you can do to control a student’s home life. But most students from nonsupportive households are looking for someone who cares. That is something you can control. Caring about their academic achievements in the classroom and offering opportunities to belong by supervising a club or providing a field trip, can go a long way in making an impact on the lives of these underachieving students.

If you would like to read more in-depth about one of these strategies or topics, a good resource is Parenting Gifted Kids: Tips for Raising Happy and Successful Children by James Delisle.