Attribution for Academic Successes and Failures of Students Participating and Not Participating in Programs for the Gifted

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in attribution for the academic successes and failures of high school students participating in and not participating in programs for the gifted. Students were administered the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Scale. The findings indicate that students participating in programs for the gifted tend to attribute their successes to their own effort and ability to a greater degree than students not participating in programs for the gifted. Implications for educators are discussed.Amid cries that meeting the educational needs of individual students necessitate special programming for gifted students (Barrington, 1979;Renzulli, 1977;Sanborn, 1979), charges that programs for the gifted are elitist also are heard. Educators must consider the alternatives and decide whether or not to promote programs for gifted students. This decision should be based upon the impact of such programming, both in terms of students' attitudes about achievement and their actual achievements. Since programs for the gifted are often developed to promote independent research skills (Renzulli, 1977), the degree to which gifted students accept responsibility for their achievements compared to other students demands attention. This study compared the causal attributions for academic achievements of students participating in programs for the gifted and students not participating in programs for the gifted.While much research demonstrating relationships between perceived personal control and academic achievement has been con-

Motivational Patterns Related to Gifted Students' Learning of Mathematics, Science and English: An Examination of Gender Differences

“…Their results suggest that the internal barriers might be interrelated and that the group identified with low social self-esteem was the group least conducive to fulfillment of career potential. Kammer (1986) found gifted students in special programs report greater personal responsibility for outcome than non-participants but found no gender difference for attributions in gifted students. On the other hand, Subotnik (1988), in a study of 146 high school winners of the 1983 Westinghouse Science Talent Search, found a much higher proportion of females than males chose dedication to work rather than intelligence or creativity as the most admirable quality.…”

“You Are so Smart!”: The Role of Giftedness, Parental Feedback, and Parents’ Mindsets in Predicting Students’ Mindsets

“…When identified as gifted, children may learn that intelligence is a capacity you either have or do not have, thus contributing to the development of a fixed mind-set. In addition, for those identified as gifted, it might be self-serving to attribute their superior achievement to the fixed quality they happen to possess; indeed, identified gifted students were found to be more inclined to attribute their successes to internal causes (e.g., ability) than nonidentified students with similar ability (Kammer, 1986).…”