{"id":224171,"date":"2025-06-23T08:17:36","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T12:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/?p=224171"},"modified":"2025-06-23T08:17:42","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T12:17:42","slug":"most-gifted-students-feel-supported-but-1-in-3-feel-stigmatized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/?p=224171","title":{"rendered":"Most Gifted Students Feel Supported, But 1 in 3 Feel Stigmatized"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gifted students<\/strong> are often placed in separate classes under different expectations. And while some experience school just like any other kid, a recent study<\/a> from the University of Georgia found some gifted students face challenges their peers don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About one in three gifted students said they struggled to connect with others and didn\u2019t feel like they belonged in the new study. Some felt isolated because they were labeled as gifted while others believed teachers and fellow students treated them differently because they were gifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was surprising that only about one-third of the gifted students reported feeling some sort of stigma related to their giftedness,\u201d said lead author Shannon Carter, a recent graduate from UGA\u2019s Mary Frances Early College of Education<\/a> and an eighth grade science teacher. \u201cI really thought that would be a higher number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe anticipated that more students might report struggles, but it was good to know that most of them were just like their non-gifted peers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being \u2018gifted\u2019 may mean higher expectations, more work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The researchers surveyed 748 middle and high school students from a large school district in the southeastern U.S. for the study. More than 250 were part of their school\u2019s gifted program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most gifted and non-gifted students reported similar school experiences, such as getting along with their peers and feeling engaged with their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, that wasn\u2019t always the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

For any student, we have to see them as a whole person.\u201d \u2014Shannon Carter, College of Education<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Students identified as gifted often excel in their classes and have access to unique opportunities and greater independence. But with those benefits often come higher expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had parents say, \u2018I don\u2019t want my kid tested because I don\u2019t want them challenged. I don\u2019t want them to feel pressure,\u201d Carter said. \u201cFor some of the students, they feel that \u2018If I\u2019m in these classes, I have to perform.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This mindset may be frightening for kids, Carter said, as they may think they will have to do more work and their assignments will be judged more harshly. These concerns can be common, but with the right support, many students thrive in gifted programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emotional, social needs should be a focus for teachers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Difficulties with mental health or making friends aren\u2019t exclusive to gifted students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, about 42% of students reported feeling sad or hopeless, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One in three said they experienced poor mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And though not every gifted student feels stigmatized and not every student experiences mental health challenges, teachers should be trained to know what to do if issues arise, the researchers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor any student, we have to see them as a whole person,\u201d Carter said. \u201cAnd if we\u2019re only meeting their academic needs, but we overlook the social and emotional, then we can be failing our students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study<\/a> was published in Psychology in the Schools and co-authored by Ayse Hilal Avci and Sakhavat Mammadov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gifted students are often placed in separate classes under different expectations. And while some experience school just like any other kid, a recent study from the University of Georgia found some gifted students face challenges their peers don\u2019t. About one in three gifted students said they struggled to connect with others and didn\u2019t feel like they belonged in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":948,"featured_media":29020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11783],"tags":[18301,18302,8777],"class_list":["post-224171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-gifted","tag-gifted-students","tag-uga","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/948"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=224171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=224171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=224171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=224171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}