Closing Poverty-Based Excellence Gaps: Supports for Gifted Students From Low-Income Households as Correlates of Academic Achievement

Abstract

Previous studies on poverty within the gifted population have shown that economically vulnerable gifted students are underrepresented in gifted programs. Moreover, the majority of published studies on this topic were conducted in Western cultures. We explored the psychological, cognitive, academic, social, and environmental supports for economically vulnerable students in the Arab culture. The sample consisted of 142 male and female students who were randomly selected from 10 middle schools in rural areas in Egypt. To assess the supports of gifted students, researchers developed a self-report questionnaire. Grade point average was used as an indicator of academic achievement. Results from cluster analysis showed that there were three profiles for low-income gifted students. Multiple regression analysis indicated that environmental, social, and psychological supports explained 44% of the variance in academic achievement. Environmental supports played the most effective role in predicting students’ academic achievement, followed by social and psychological supports.