Investigating Underachievement in Gifted African American Males

The Achievement Gap among students of various races has been a national issue for well over a decade, creating a platform for discussion, interventions, program development, and research. This book looks at achievement through a gifted lens. Identified African American males classified as gifted, according to state adopted standards, who were in the same schools, in the same classes, with the same teachers as their white counterparts, were performing at lower levels. This book delves into the myriad of factors influencing underachievement: individual, societal, family, and school. However, this research focused on school factors and involved six African American middle school males who had attended a gifted magnet school for five to seven years and had been identified as underachievers the entirely of their school careers. The boys were given a battery of tests and inventories to measure school influences, and an action inquiry group of teachers was established to develop interventions to interrupt the cycle of underachievement. This book explains the results of the study and the recommendations for further studies in the field of underachieving gifted African American males.