Enhancing learning outcomes: Profiling young gifted and non-gifted readers' comparative beliefs, perceptions, expectations and achievement outcomes

Abstract

The present study is significant in its comparative focus on student self-beliefs that predict achievement for a group of gifted and non-gifted elementary school students. The achievement self-beliefs of young gifted versus non-gifted readers that might differentially predict reading achievement outcomes were initially examined. Gifted and non-gifted student perceptions of their teacher’s support of, and expectations for them, in reading were also compared. Participants included 275 Year 3-8 (Grade 2-7) gifted students (reading 2 or more years above their chronological age), and 1413 non-gifted Year 3-8 (Grade 2-7) students within 12 New Zealand schools. Standardised reading data were collected at the beginning and towards the end of the year and students completed a questionnaire related to their self-beliefs. Only those 4 subscales related to student self-concept and motivation in reading were selected for analysis as these were the factors of interest in the current study. Gifted students demonstrated higher levels of self-concept in reading, whereas non-gifted students perceived that their teachers’ expectations for them were too high, more so than gifted students. The more that non-gifted students perceived that their teachers’ expectations for them were too high, the lower was their reading score at the end-of the year. Conversely, when students perceived to a lesser degree that their teachers’ expectations were too high, their end-of-year reading achievement scores were higher. Results also highlighted that the stronger were gifted students’ personal expectations, the lower were their achievement scores at the end of the year, and the opposite. There was a trend for gifted students to perceive greater levels of teacher personal support for their learning than non-gifted. While beginning of the year achievement, and student gender, age and ethnicity did not predict end of year achievement for gifted readers, student self-concept, and student perceptions of both teacher support and high teacher personal expectations were all significant predictors of end-of-year achievement. The implications of key findings are considered in terms of maximising teacher connectivity with young gifted and non-gifted readers, with the ultimate aim of further enhancing student learning outcomes.