Achievement and self-concept in diverse populations of gifted middle school students

The purpose of this study was to identify differences in achievement and self-concept, and the relationship between these two constructs in related areas, among ethnically diverse sixth grade students identified by their school divisions as gifted. Scores from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, a standardized test of achievement, and self-concept scores from the Self-description Questionnaire II, were compared using analysis of variance and Bonferroni post hoc procedures. The achievement scores in basic skill areas were correlated with the corresponding domains of academic self-concept.; The achievement scores in reading, language expression and usage, mathematic problem solving and data interpretation and mathematic concepts and estimation for the Caucasian group were significantly above those of the African American and Hispanic groups (p < .016) in all areas. The African American group scored significantly above the Hispanic group in reading, language expression and usage and mathematic problem solving and data interpretation (p < .016). There were no significant differences in any of the domains of self-concept.; For the Caucasian group there was a significant correlation between achievement and self-concept in all four areas (p < .01). There were significant correlations between math self-concept and mathematic problem solving and data interpretation (p < .05) and math self-concept and mathematic concepts and estimation (p < .01) for the Hispanic group, but no correlations in language expression and usage or reading for this group. There were no significant correlations for the African American group.; This study suggests that African American and Hispanic sixth grade students identified as gifted have a lower level of basic skill proficiency than their Caucasian counterparts as measured by a standardized test of achievement. There appeared to be no significant differences in self-concept in general or specific academic domains.; Caucasian gifted students demonstrated subject-specific correlations between academic self-concept and achievement in all areas. For Hispanic students correlations existed only in mathematics. For African American students no correlations were apparent.; This study suggests that there are differences based on ethnicity among sixth grade students identified as gifted. These data add to a limited body of quantitative research findings on the subject and may have implications for academic planning and interventions.