In its attempt to develop as complete a picture as possible of gifted students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, The University of Georgia has encouraged related research studies. One such study, designed to discover what economically disadvantaged gifted children know about memory and memory processes, is being conducted by Karne Lambie, through The Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Georgia. Knowledge about memory is termed “metamemory.” Metamemory processes are important because they reflect the executive functions of the memory system that are used to regulate and control many aspects of intelligent behavior.

Two groups of students will be involved in this study. One group will consist of 40 economically disadvantaged children in grades 1, 2, 4, and 5 who have been identified for gifted program services using the Research-Based Assessment Plan being tested at The University of Georgia. The other group will consist of 40 students in grades 1, 2, 4, and 5 who have been identified for gifted program services according to the standard criteria used in Georgia. This criteria requires at least a 130 IQ determined by aptitude and/or achievement test performance. A metamemory interview instrument developed in 1975 by Kreutzer, Leonard, and Flavell will be used to collect data from the sample population. Contact The University of Georgia for further information.

Ability Puerto Rican High School Students: Perceptions of Their Life Experiences Puerto Rican students are often described as underachievers. Although several studies have been conducted in the area of underachievement, there has not been any research focusing on high ability and/or gifted Puerto Rican students who are underachieving in school. This study will examine the self-environment. It will investigate the views that Puerto Rican high ability underachievers hold of their life experiences as related to family/culture, school/classroom, community/society, and personality and how these experiences contribute to their actual academic status. A naturalistic, qualitative, and phenomenological approach, including participant observation fieldwork, ethnographic interviewing, document review, and case studies will be the main strategies used to gather data. Finally, patterns of interactions among factors underlying the students’ underachievement will be assessed.

Very little current research is available on the number of students in schools who are not achieving to their potential. Estimates have varied from a very high percentage to a very low percentage. The researchers are conducting a national survey of 12,000 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students who have been identified as gifted and talented to assess student and teacher perceptions of academic performance. The responses will be analyzed for achievement patterns by grade, subject area, and gender. Seventy-two Collaborative School Districts from the NRC/GT are involved in the study.

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