1

Motivational Factors for the Success of
High ability- Low Income Students

Geoﬀrey Gagnon
School of Education,
Thompson Rivers University Kamloops, B.C.

March 19, 2023

Final submission of the Capstone project submitted to Thompson Rivers University in
partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Education.

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Abstract
Throughout my educational career, I have been surrounded by gifted students who
obviously belonged in higher learning, however I recall knowing and meeting many gifted
students in my elementary and high school years who simply dropped out before they could
fulfil their academic potential. It was during a road trip with a friend that he and I began
discussing another mutual friend who had come from poverty but went to university to
become a lawyer and then a judge. I then considered my father, who also came from a low
income household and was the first from our family to attend post-secondary education. I
began to wonder what it was that gave these people the resilience to finish their postsecondary education. This paper will explore the literature on education pioneers and then
discern what it is that they believe helped give them the resources and confidence to
continue with higher education. By looking at the resources, programs and other factors
that worked for these students, I hope to determine the main factors involved in creating
academic success in Education Pioneers from low income households. I believe this study
will enable teachers from all levels to help create a system wherein students from low
socioeconomic households can feel supported and achieve their academic goals as they
move through the stages of education to the highest levels.
Key Words: gifted, high-ability, low income, First Generation Students (FGS), low socioeconomic status

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Table of Contents
Chapter One: Introduction…………………………………………………………………4
The Genesis of the Idea………………………………………………………………………4
Presenting the Argument……………………………………………………………………7
Overview of Paper……………………………………………………………………………..9
Chapter Two: Literature Review….……………………………………………………10
The Research……………………………………………………………………………………10
Definition of the terms:
Gifted or High Ability Students………………………………………………..10
First Generation Students (FGS)………………………………………………12
Retention of Low Socioeconomic Status Students………………………………13
Excellence Gaps…………………………………………………………………………..…..14
Programs in Place…………………………………………………………………………….15
Summary………………………………………………………………………………………….17
Chapter Three: The Application……………..…………………………………………18
Application………………………………………………………………………………………18
Who needs this research……………………………………………………………………20
An increasing poverty gap………………………………………………………………….23
Summary………………………………………………………………………………………….25
Chapter Four: Conclusion…………………………………………………………………26
Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………26
Implications…………………………………………………………………………………….27
References……………………………………………………………………..……………….29

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Chapter One: Introduction
In this paper I explain my interest in the topic of my Capstone paper by first
reviewing the genesis of the idea for the paper, next I explain how I began my research into
the topic of high ability low Socio Economic Status (SES), First Generation Students (FGS)
and the facilitating factors for their educational success. Finally, I will illustrate my claim
that there is a lack of research into the factors for academic success in high ability low SES,
First Generation Students (FGS).
The Genesis of the Idea
A number of years I was on a road trip with a friend and we drove through a small
village where there was a road named after a mutual friend’s family. This road led to a tiny
dirt floor shack, in which our friend had grown up. The size of the shack and the look of the
building made it obvious to us that our friend, who is now a judge, had grown up in poverty.
This moment reminded me of my father as I recalled visiting the shack he grew up in in
small town Ontario, where an uninsulated plywood wall closed in the porch to allow them to
have another bedroom for my father and two of his brothers. It is not unusual for people to
have grown up in poverty, but what was unusual about both of these cases is that they both
went on to become successful FGS’s and then move on to post-graduate work, with my
father earning a Masters of Education, and my friend graduating from law school and
becoming a judge. Both of them are exceptionally intelligent people, but if intelligence were
the only factor to their educational success, then many of the other exceptional minds I
have met in my life and in my career would have moved on to post-secondary success as
well. There have to be other contributing factors to the retention of these high ability low
SES students, that allow them to achieve post-secondary success. There are many proven

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connections between education and higher Socioeconomic status (Wamba, 2012), and so in
order to allow opportunities for people to move out of poverty, we must provide supports to
help those high ability, low-SES students move through the education system; however,
without further study into what the stakeholders believe helped them, educators and policy
makers are making educated guesses at best.
I had been teaching at schools in low-income areas for several years and after
thinking about these two cases, I began to wonder, what I could do in my classroom to help
facilitate the progression through the levels of education for my students? Previous to this
moment in time I had not considered returning to school to achieve a Master’s Degree, but
it was then that I finally had a question to answer for myself, and decided to enroll in the
Master’s program.
Throughout the Master’s program I had an opportunity to delve deeper into
pedagogy, and what I learned gave me a firm background of understanding of why my own
approach to teaching works. Without getting into too much description about my own
teaching philosophy, I developed a program wherein students are put in positions to solve
problems daily, think outside the box, take risks and work as part of a team. Using these four
ideals as pillars for my curriculum delivery, I found I am able to engage students quite easily
as I allow them to show their learning according to their own sensibilities and intelligences.
As I read more literature on the subject of pedagogy, I found evidence that my approach is
sound. When I took the course on diversity, what came even more into focus was the fact
that the world views education as a panacea for bringing people out of poverty and even
more prevalent is the intergenerational transmission of poverty (ITP), which shows that
people who grow up in poverty are more likely to end up in poverty and that the best way to

6
mitigate this connection is to educate the parents (Duarte et al., 2017). We can see the path
to closing the poverty gap is through education, but there is not enough research into how
to make it easier for a high ability, low income child to achieve continued academic success
through each level of education.
I began to research the idea by focusing on three areas: One, what are gifted or high
ability students and First Generation Students? Two, what are the factors that influence the
retention of low-income students? And three, what programs supporting Low Income highability students are already in place? To begin with I restricted my search to studies done
within the past five years, however I soon found I needed to expand the constraints of my
search because of a lack of current research in the area. Second, there are studies such as
Bailey’s 2006 study, which looked at factors for early reading success for low SES students,
but they did not examine high school or post-secondary success factors. Duarte’s 2017 study
of FGS looked at how to best prepare students for graduation, from a primary source
perspective, however the sample size of this study was only six students, which also
illustrates my point that there needs to be further research into this field.
Finally, Wyner et al. (2009) examined and compared university graduation rates
between low (Socio-Economic Status) SES students and higher SES students, and one by
Renbarger and Long (2019) which focuses on supports for students feeling overwhelmed,
either personally or academically, during Post-Secondary schooling. However, these studies
do not involve education pioneers as primary sources, by taking their views on the subject
into account. Therefore I conclude that there is a lack of research regarding what high
ability, low SES, First Generation students view as the main factors that contributed to their
academic success.

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Presenting the Argument
In this paper I argue that there is not enough research into the area of the facilitating
factors for educational success for high ability, low-SES, FG Students. Determining a usable
measure for success can be diﬃcult and although I am going to use the term success, I
realize that success can look very diﬀerent for each person; however, in this case, I focus my
research on high ability low-SES graduates of university or college to determine if there are
any studies into which factors they believed were most important in motivating them as
students. According to Renbarger and Long (2019) “Success in college could relate to
students’ ability to attend, stay, and finish their postsecondary education.” Their 2019 study
focused on supports for students feeling overwhelmed either personally or academically
during post-secondary schooling, and determined the measures needed to support these
students involved providing access to academic support and counselling. “In elementary and
high school, lower-income students neither maintain their status as high achievers nor rise
into the ranks of high achievers as frequently as higher-income students” (Wyner et al.
2009). In their 2009 study, Wyner et al. examined the university graduation rates between
low SES students and higher SES students and their research shows a drop oﬀ in school
success for low SES, high ability students compared to their counterparts; however, what the
research is failing to explore is the similarities in positive experiences that allowed students
to have the resilience to graduate.
I believe that more study involving a survey of questions for graduates of university
or college who were low-SES throughout their educational journey, is required. Studying and
then focusing on the motivational factors for these students to find similarities in their
experiences would benefit educators at every level as the data collected would enable

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educators to understand how to target the needs specifically determined to be important by
the main stakeholders. In my search of the literature, I found a lack of research into the
topics involving classroom engagement, school supports, home supports, community
involvement, and personal financial experiences for high-ability, low SES students. I believe
it is important to begin research in this area because finding similarities in experience or
inspiration can help inform best practice and allow policy-makers, administrators, and
educators to better understand how they can facilitate student development on the whole
and specifically for gifted low-SES students. Research has shown that the dropout rate
comes from two major areas, loss of interest and the ability to cope (Vantassel-Baska, 2017),
however, as yet there has been little research into what students believe helped them the
most.
Perusing the research I found that high ability low-SES students fall out in the years
of transition between elementary and high-school, or between high school and university
(Renbarger & Long 2019), but there is not enough research on best practice to help facilitate
this process for these students. Gibbons and Borders (2010) did explore what six FGS’s
thought future students would need to know to help prepare them for college, however the
sample size in this study is only six, which is too small to determine any major trends. The
gap in the research is in looking at the personal experiences that have contributed to overall
educational success for high ability, low SES students, as well as the supports received and
which ones they felt worked for them as they transitioned between academic levels. Looking
into the motivational factors for successful gifted students will, I believe, help inform
policymakers, administrators, and classroom teachers about best-practice to help facilitate

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student transition to higher academic levels which is relevant to all teachers, especially those
teaching in low-SES status schools.
Overview of Paper
After this introductory chapter, the next chapter is my review of the literature
regarding the development and retention of high-ability, low SES students and what they
believe helped facilitate their educational success. In the third chapter I will be looking at
the importance of education, especially higher education as it allows people to move out of
the poverty cycle and show the importance of the information that is currently missing.
Finally in the last chapter, I will summarize my findings and review the larger implications of
ignoring this particular area of study.

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Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
In this chapter I begin by explaining my research process, followed by a definition of
the terms I will be using in the chapter. Next I outline the research on retention of high
ability low-SES students and the Excellence gap that exists between them and high SES
students. Finally I explore the programs in place that support low SES and high ability
students, where it becomes evident there is a lack of research in this area.
The Research
My original intention was to stay with research papers published in the past 5 years,
however, I found as I expanded the scope of my understanding, that there were relevant and
necessary articles that were older, and so I expanded my criteria to allow for older relevant
research. Using ERIC, my search began with Gifted + Low income as well as First
Generation Students (FGS). Through this initial search, I was able to navigate to other
relevant studies using the reference list. Through my reading, I determined I needed to
focus my research on three areas: 1. What are gifted or high ability students and what are
First Generation Students? 2. What are the factors that influence the retention of lowincome students? and 3. What programs supporting low-income high-ability students are
already in place? Reviewing the literature on these three aspects exposed the need for data
involving the views on which supports high ability low-SES graduates saw as most important
in their development as students.
Definition of the Terms: Gifted or High Ability Students
“Gifted students are generally considered to include those with above average ability
in an academic field such as language arts, mathematics, and science. These students can
also include those with exceptional intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership skills

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(National Association for Gifted Children [NAGC], n.d.-a). High ability students have been
defined as students who are able to consistently perform well on standardized tests and
maintain a high grade point average (Briggs, Reis, & Sullivan, 2008, as cited by Hodges et al.,
2017) as well as performing at a level higher than one would expect for their peer group
(Burney & Beilke 2008). However, it was revealed in a blind study done by Elhoweris in
2008, wherein teachers were asked to recommend students for gifted programs from two
similar cohorts whose only diﬀerence was that one was labeled as high-income and the other
low-income, that teachers were more likely to refer a student to the gifted program when
they were from a high-SES than from a lower-SES. (Elhoweris, 2008). If however, like
Hodges et al. (2017) suggested, “students from low-income families who scored at or above
the 75th percentile in achievement tests were geographically and demographically similar to
students from non-low-income families who scored at or above the 95th percentile” (Hodges
et al., 2017) then there need to be other standards by which to measure someone as gifted or
high-ability when they come from less privileged circumstances. To illuminate the potential
of low-income students, there must be other ways to allow students to show their potential.
One study that showed potential was of 6th-grade students from two schools and
looked at the potential of Problem Based Learning (PBL), which allows students to learn
through inquiry-based exploration while the teacher guides students rather than
disseminating information, (Gallagher & Gallagher, 2013, p.125) showed potential for finding
high-ability students. “Findings suggest that a well-designed, engaging curriculum such as
Problem Based Learning (PBL) can create a learning context that encourages more students
to reveal academic potential” (Gallagher & Gallagher, 2013, p.125). However, more study
needs to be done in this area because the limitation of PBL so far is the inability to establish

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with certainty whether these students are gifted (Gallagher & Gallagher, 2013). Morgan
(2020) argued for Universal screening for gifted students, but the article does not speak to
the diﬀerentiated process by which a low SES student may need to be examined to
determine if they are on the gifted scale. It becomes clear that there is a need to re-examine
our criteria for what constitutes a high-ability student because even when high-ability or
gifted students are properly identified, “in elementary and high school, lower-income
students neither maintain their status as high achievers nor rise into the ranks of high
achievers as frequently as higher-income students” (Wyner et al. 2009, p. 5) This incites an
inquiry into how to help lower-SES students maintain their status as high achievers
throughout the entirety of their educational careers?
First Generation Students
First Generation Students (FGS) can be defined as students whose parents or
guardians do not have a bachelor’s degree. This group on the whole is shown to be less likely
to enroll in university than their peers whose parent or guardian do have a bachelor’s degree
(Brookover et al, 2022). In a study of FGS it is shown that they are also less likely to finish
their degrees than their counterparts who have a parent or guardian with a degree, even
when controlling for family income, academic preparation, and ethnicity (Gibbons &
Borders, 2010; Whitley et al., 2018). According to scholars, FGS generally are minorities,
women, immigrants, parents, low income, and above the age of 24. The question however,
about how to facilitate the education process for those high ability students as they make
the transition to university or college remains. Moreover, in looking at the challenges of
coming from a low SES household combined with the diﬃculties of being an FGS, it

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becomes evident that there is a need for more study to determine how to best help these
students achieve continued academic success.
Retention of Low Socio-Economic status students
Over the past 50 years, there has been a significant increase in the achievement gap
between high-SES students and low-SES students (Chmielewski, 2017).
The level of income does not adequately capture all of the diﬀerences
between those who have resources and those who do not. The length of time
the family has been in poverty, other family assets such as home-ownership or
a college savings account, and the poverty level of the family when the child
was younger than age 5 all influence achievement preparation and
performance (Rothstein, 2004 as cited by Burney & Beilke 2008, p. 180).
In their long term study, Burney and Beilke (2008) reflect the idea that there are
many factors influencing poverty. The study, which involved students who were guaranteed
their educations would be paid for if they were accepted to university, showed that even
with that support, “poverty proved to be a burden simply too heavy to shoulder for most.
The sobering conclusion was that money, in and of itself, cannot cure the ills of poverty, nor
does money alone define the condition of poverty” (Burney & Beilke 2008, p. 181).
Roska and Kinsey (2018) examined the importance of family support for educational
success in college by looking at emotional and financial supports and how they facilitated
low-income student success in college; however, they did not explore any strategies for how
to support those students whose family is unable, or unwilling to support them in their
educational development nor does it explore how to support high-ability students in
elementary or high school. Bilodeau and Meissner (2016) showed the eﬀectiveness of
combined academic and personal counselling for retention of at risk University students. In
their study, they examined students who were emotionally overwhelmed, academically
overwhelmed, or both academically and emotionally overwhelmed, and placed them in

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tutoring or counselling as needed (Bilodeau & Meissner 2016). However, this study did not
examine the eﬀectiveness of this program for gifted low-income students. The gap continues
to grow between high ability, low-income students and high ability higher-income students
because even when a lower-income student has been identified as high potential, research
has shown that “in elementary and high school, lower-income students neither maintain
their status as high achievers nor rise into the ranks of high achievers as frequently as
higher-income students” (Wyner et al., 2009, p. 5). If this is the case, then exploring the
factors that enable high-ability low-income students to maintain their status through high
school and university is imperative. Frazier et al. (2021) determined one of the contributing
factors inhibiting high-ability, low SES students is the presence of bullying in their school
environment, however the study did not look at which experiences mitigated their
education journey.
Excellence Gaps
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation developed a method to look at what they call the
Excellence Gap (Plucker et al., 2018), the diﬀerence in the achievement of high ability lowSES students and that of high ability high SES students, and they have found that the gap is
increasing as the Socioeconomic Gap in our society continues to grow. They looked closely
at all of the States to determine the support levels of high ability or Gifted students. “States
are more likely to have policies that support excellence overall, rather than those that
support the closing of excellence gaps” (Plucker et al, 2018, p 29). Literature has shown
there is a direct link between poverty and literacy (Wamba, 2012) and “… available research
evidence in this area shows that poverty is the biggest single indicator of underachievement”
(Demie, 2021, p. 98). Moreover, it is even more likely that there will be Intergenerational

15
Transference of Poverty (ITP) for students whose parents do not have a university or college
degree (Duarte et al., 2017). In order to help close this excellence gap, it is important to look
for input directly from those who came from low SES backgrounds and have successfully
navigated the education system.
Programs in Place
In their review of the literature on the constraints that poverty places upon highability students, Burney and Beilke (2008) concluded that more information is needed
about each student exhibiting high achievement to determine if they are living in a lowincome household so that they can be provided “long term consistent support from caring
committed persons” (Burney & Beilke, 2008, p.305). One program, the Integrated
Curriculum Model (ICM) is a “comprehensive and cohesive curricular framework which
employs good curricular design, considers features of the disciplines under study and is
diﬀerentiated for gifted learners” (VanTassel-Baska & Wood ,2009, p. 346). This program
focuses on 3 areas: 1. Emphasizing advanced content knowledge that frames disciplines of
study. 2. Providing higher-order thinking and processing and 3. Organizing learning
experiences around major issues, themes, and ideas that define understanding of a discipline
and provide connections across disciplines (VanTassel-Baska & Wood 2009). In a six year
study on the development and implementation of the ICM, the authors looked at the
eﬀectiveness of this approach in heterogeneous and in homogeneous settings and it has
been shown that forming instructional groups of gifted students for implementation of the
ICM curriculum is the most eﬀective and eﬃcient way to deliver the ICM (VanTassel-Baska
& Wood, 2009). However, this study does not diﬀerentiate for, or keep track of, low-income
students and does not address the specific special needs that high-ability low-income

16
students in the program may have, nor does it speak specifically about retention of the lowSES students in their program.
Inclusion in a gifted program for low-SES students is shown to provide
opportunities, however, even after 3 years in a gifted program, low SES students still lacked a
sense of belonging (VanTassel-Baska, 2017). Having students involved in out-of-school
enrichment programs was seen to help with this sense of belonging (Hodges et al, 2017).
These “out-of-school enrichment program formats include summer camps, Saturday
programs, and after-school activities. Out-of-school programs such as these may be short in
duration, but they can improve student target outcomes dramatically (Makel et al., 2012, as
cited by Hodges et al., 2017). Renbarger and Long (2019) closely examined 16 studies and the
interventions available to support college success for low-SES students including financial
support, access to information on diﬀerent institutions, and the positive eﬀect of dual credit
programs on graduation rates of low-income college students and they determined that
more study was needed because “there are few reviews on what works for serving highpotential, low-income students”(Renbarger & Long, 2019, p. 178).
Those who have studied high ability or gifted student achievement have noted the
need to focus more closely on how to help low SES students. “Although some states have
impressive outcomes for their high-performing students, no state can claim impressive
performance outcomes for students from low- income backgrounds.” (Plucker et al, 2018)
Few programs exist specifically with high ability, low SES students as the focus. There
remains a need to examine more closely exactly what high ability low-SES students as
stakeholders, believe helped facilitate their education success in order to help close this
Excellence gap.

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Summary
The topic of high ability, low SES, First Generation Students has not had enough
intensive study. The literature I reviewed looked at how to help low SES students in
Elementary school, and showed that there is a drop oﬀ in achievement levels of low SES
students as they move up through education levels. The literature shows that even though
education is extremely important in helping great the poverty cycle, there are still many
prohibitive factors for high ability, low SES students, especially when they are FGS. This
literature review provides evidence that the motivating factors for high ability, low SES
FGS’s have not been suﬃciently studied and that more study in this area is needed.
Chapter three begins by exploring the implications and pitfalls inherent in ignoring
the problem of how to help High Ability, low SES, First Generation students as society
attempts to close both the poverty gap and excellence gap through education. After it looks
the implications for educators at all levels of the education process and how information
such as this is important. Finally, the chapter will illustrate why having more information on
how to help high ability, low SES students matters to students, educators and society.

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Chapter Three: The Application
This chapter explores how research in this area is important to the closing of both
the Excellence Gap and the Poverty gap, as well as showing how a lack of research and
understanding of high ability, low-SES students is detrimental Canadians. I start by
explaining the major areas of drop oﬀ for these students, and discuss the dangers of these
high dropout rates for high ability, low-SES, FGS’s and I explore why the world has
determined that higher education is important in closing the poverty gap. Next I illustrate
the problems with a continuing increase in both the Poverty and Excellence gaps as well as
how low SES students are susceptible to the Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty
(ITP). I bring this information together to help explain why a lack information on how to
help these students, from the perspective of successful FG students is so important and
should matter to both educators and policy makers worldwide as we move forward.
Application
The research that has been done does show that there are two major areas of drop
oﬀ for high ability, low SES students. First, when they make the transition from elementary
to high school, and then again when they move into university or college (Burney & Beilke,
2008). There is however no research on how to help these students maintain their high
achievement status through each education level from the perspective of successful FGS.
“In elementary and high school, lower-income students neither maintain their status as high
achievers nor rise into the ranks of high achievers as frequently as higher-income
students” (Wyner et al., 2009, p. 5). Creating a strategy to facilitate development from the
perspective of high achieving low SES students is especially prevalent for FGS, as they
attempt to make their way through the myriad of choices and pitfalls presented to a new

19
university or college student without the guidance of someone who has been there before
(Duarte et al., 2017). Knowing these facts it seems apparent that there needs to be
exploration in the area of how to facilitate the process of moving through higher education
for high ability, low-SES students because education has been shown to be imperative for
closing both the Excellence Gap and the Poverty Gap (Duarte et al., 2017).
In my career as an educator, I have had positions at schools in every socio economic
demographic, and I have found that there is often a disconnect between the feelings of selfeﬃcacy between the higher SES students and the low SES students. When low SES students
are faced with an intellectual problem, often they will shut down, not trusting they are able
to think through their problem, however in their home lives they solve problems extremely
well. I had a grade four student one year early in my career, who on a Wednesday, informed
me that her mom had driven her dad to work. I asked where he worked, she said a town that
was a three day drive away. When I explored further, it came to light that her mom had left
on Sunday night to make the drive north with her father, leaving their ten year old daughter
to take care of her three younger siblings until mom returned. If this child had not told me
that her mom was away, there is not a person in our school who would have known they
were living without an adult in the house, because this child was taking care of all of them.
They were fed supper each night, they were clean, and at school on time with lunches each
day their mother was away because she took care of them all. This is the same child who felt
she was not a good student because she had trouble figuring out a math problem she was
seeing for the first time. The high intelligence she showed in caring for the family,
immediately made me realize that this student is definitely a high ability student and so,
after this episode, I began to raise the bar of expectation for, not just this student, but for

20
the entire class. I had grossly underestimated the abilities of children of that age, and if not
for this episode, I might never have realized that this child was high ability.
In the high SES schools I have taught in, there is a definitive diﬀerence in the
perception of abilities of the students compared to those in low SES areas. In my higher SES
demographic classes, I have been more likely to see children whose academic abilities are
quite high, who are able to solve intellectual problems quite well, are able to answer read and
respond to questions about what they have read and show depth of understanding of
academic topics. However, when I give these same children tasks involving independent
thinking and work arounds to accomplish tasks, such as using available recycled materials to
build a simple machine, or think of an original idea that will make a job easier, I will often
find these same students who have been showing high ability traits in pure academic areas,
frozen in indecision, unable to start. As Hodges (2006) mentions in their study, there needs
to be more ways to identify those students who are high ability, especially when they are low
SES; furthermore, there needs to be more research into how to help these low SES students
maintain their high ability status as they climb their way through the education process.
Who Needs This Research
In their 2021 paper, Sharp determined that the education department for teachers
needed to foster FGS and low SES students to a higher self-eﬃcacy through feedback,
experiences and exemplars. This study determined that utilizing the same scale to evaluate
low SES students was perpetuating the increase we have seen in the Excellence gap. It
becomes evident that there need to be other ways to support these students as well as new
ways to determine a measure of success for high ability, low SES, First Generation Students
until they are able to close this Excellence gap. If I had only viewed my exceptional grade

21
four student with an academic, intellectual lens, I may never have seen her potential, which
illustrates my point that educators need to find more ways to determine high abilities, and
develop more ways to support those high ability low SES students.
In order to help answer this question, it is important that educators begin to look at
how high ability, low SES, FG students viewed education for themselves through the entire
process. By starting with their thoughts on early academic development, it can be
determined which early interventions and supports may be necessary in order to facilitate
the process of moving up through the education system. As research shows, high ability, low
SES students do not maintain their status as high ability as easily as they move through
education levels (Burney & Beilke, 2008), and so it becomes imperative to begin looking at
all of the stages of academia for these students to help determine which experiences or
interventions helped them to understand or realize their own academic potential. It is, I
believe, important for high ability, low SES students to highlight the moment, or moments,
when they realized they were high ability students and that they may be able to expect more
from themselves when it comes to their academic goals. By reviewing their early education
years, I believe it will be possible to help illustrate moments when students realized their
own potential was beyond what they had believed previously. Moreover, once these
moments have been shared, it will be possible for early educators to help recreate those
moments for their students on a more regular basis.
One of the major drop oﬀ areas in achievement for high ability, low SES students is
in their transition to high school (Burney & Beilke, 2008). There are few studies that show
how to support high ability students, though there are studies such as Frazier et al. (2021)
that show which factors are prohibitive for student development in high school. Bullying

22
and feeling disconnected have been shown to be major inhibiting factors for students
maintaining, or moving up to high ability status (Frazier et al., 2021), and so it becomes
evident that school culture can play a large role for these students.
In my experience, educators do their best to help create inclusive, supportive school
environments where students are able to thrive to the best of their ability, however there are
still areas where schools fall short, especially when it comes to supporting high ability, low
SES students. Morgan (2020) focused on how Universal screening for high ability students
may help to close the gap in gifted education by allowing access to gifted education to more
students, especially those in low SES households, however if we are to believe the research
from VanTassel-Baska (2017), then even when students are placed in a gifted program, they
still experience a disconnection from their peers, and they lack a sense of belonging within
the group. By examining the beliefs of high ability, low SES, FG students about what they
feel were the most important factors that allowed them to complete their education, it will
be possible to more specifically target those areas of most eﬃcacy, and move the focus away
from areas like gifted education programs, that may have garnered attention previously, but
have been shown to be less eﬀective in creating self-eﬃcacy in low SES students because of
the disconnections spoken of by VanTassel-Baska in his 2017 study of gifted programs.
If, as Duarte (2017) suggests, education is the best way for those in poverty to break
out of the poverty cycle, then is it imperative that the education system is able to provide
what people in poverty need so they are able to navigate their way through to higher
education. Without a clear picture about what it is that high ability, low income, FG
students believe helped them, it is impossible to predict the needs of the next generation of
FGS’s, making their journey out of the poverty cycle even more diﬃcult.

23
An Increasing Poverty Gap
Literature has revealed that those who grow up in poverty are more likely to be in
poverty as adults (Duarte et al., 2017); moreover, it has been shown that the best way for
someone to climb out of poverty is through education (Whitley et al., 2018). However, the
journey through the education system to graduation from university or college for someone
who is from a low income background is one that is fraught with diﬃculties. The likelihood
that someone will attend higher education when their parents have not earned a Bachelor’s
degree is extremely low. The focus on education worldwide has increased as more people
attempt to move out of poverty into a middle class lifestyle, but the factors involved for
many FGS’s however are prohibitive. Navigating the rigours of university or college without
any foreknowledge of what to expect, or how to do things those things they need to do to
be a student such as register for classes (Duarte et al., 2017) proves to be so diﬃcult for
many that they drop out soon after arriving on campus, perpetuating the poverty cycle.
The potential of these high ability students, to this point in time, has not been
reached. The continued high rate of drop out for high ability students from low SES
backgrounds shows just how diﬃcult it is to move out of the grip of poverty. There is
currently a system wherein those whose parents have achieved a Bachelor’s degree are more
likely to achieve a Bachelor’s degree as well, and those whose parents do not have any higher
education are more likely to drop out of college or university, or even decline to enroll. This
system perpetuates the poverty cycle and as yet there are no answers about how to fix it. In
looking at the experiences of successful high ability, low income FGS’s, it will be possible to
learn more about how educators at all levels can facilitate the academic development of
more low SES students.

24
A comparison of the typical achievement of a low SES student to that of a high SES
student, indicates that across the board low SES students score at the 36th percentile for
reading compared to the 68th percentile for high SES students (Isenberg et al., 2022), and
the numbers for math achievement are similar. However as research has shown, students
from low SES who score at or above the 75th percentile, are equal to higher SES students
who score at the 95th percentile (Hodges et al., 2017), which means that educators must
begin to consider students from low SES households who consistently score in the midseventies as being high ability. The problem still persists however, that even when a student
from a low SES family is able to show high ability, there are many challenges and inhibitors
that will continue to block their progress. Further study involving those students who were
able to successfully navigate their way to academic success would only serve to help policy
makers at all levels be able to create programs and supports that contribute to the success of
these high ability low income students.
Policies and procedures need to be developed at all levels of the education process to
help those in poverty gain access to university or college, otherwise the poverty gap will
continue to widen, and we will see even more inequity in our society. Education is seen as
the answer to the poverty crisis, a way to level the field for all, however the diﬃculties and
challenges faced by low income students are much wider and more complex than a simple
lack of money (Burney & Beilke, 2008). More research into these high ability low SES
successful graduates will help information about how to mitigate their circumstances
emerge. These circumstances create situations where they may feel unsupported or alone in
their journey, which can create an easy path to dropping out. Finding ways to support high
ability, low income students that have been endorsed by similar students who have

25
successfully completed a Bachelor’s degree could influence the education system in many
positive ways, from early education, to high school, then through university and beyond.
Creating more university and college graduates will help to mitigate ITP (Castañeda &
Aldaz-Carroll, 1999) and create a society of educated people, whose children are also more
likely to be university or college graduates. This illustrates why it is imperative that this
valuable resource of high ability, low income, FG students is studied to help create a world
filled with people who through higher education are able to climb out of poverty.
Summary
In summary, this chapter applies the current research to analyze the gap in the
literature on facilitating the education process for high ability, low SES, students as they
attempt to become successful First Generation Students (FGS). I looked at how diﬃcult it
is for low SES students to reach or maintain high ability status, as they move through the
education system. The studies available on high ability, low SES students show the
importance of higher education in moving out of the poverty cycle, but they also show how
easy it is for low SES students to fall out of high achievement because of factors larger than
simple poverty. When we consider the repercussions of having higher education be so
diﬃcult for high ability, low SES, FGS’s to navigate, it is easy to determine that more
primary source study is needed in order to facilitate their journey to graduation and help to
close the poverty gap worldwide. In my final chapter, I will summarize the previous chapters
and discuss the implications of my argument.

26

Chapter Four: Conclusion
In this paper, I argue that there is a lack of primary source research into the best
ways to facilitate educational success in high ability, low SES, FG students as they make
their way through the education system. This lack of research is contributing to the growth
in both the excellence gap, and the poverty gap in Canada and the need for more research
into this area is imperative so that educators are able to understand which supports and
strategies work best in helping low SES students achieve and maintain high ability status as
they make their way through the education system.
Summary
In the first chapter of this paper I explain how my interest in the subject of how to
help high ability, low SES students was piqued. I then explain how I began my research into
this topic, by examining first what constitutes a gifted or high ability students, as well as
what makes someone a First Generation Student. Next I looked at the factors that influence
the retention of high ability, low SES students as they make their way through the education
system, and then I examined the programs that are already in place to support these
students. Finally, I make my claim that there is a lack of research into how to facilitate the
education process for high ability low-SES students, especially from the perspective of
successful students from the same background.
In the second chapter I review the current literature on the subject, beginning with
defining the terms high ability, and First Generation students, as well as examining the
excellence gap and its link to the poverty gap. I then looked at the strategies currently in use
to support high ability, low SES students as they progress through the education system

27
where it was revealed that the drop oﬀ rate occurs at two moments in the education
process, when students move from elementary to high school and then again when they
start university or college, however it was also revealed that there is simply not enough
research into this area.
In the third chapter I examine the connection between the poverty gap and
education and bring to light the inherent problems a lack of support for high ability, low
SES students can create. I show the connection between poverty and education and how
education is viewed as a way to break the poverty cycle, which reveals that even though this
belief is rampant, there is still little research on how to facilitate the education process for
high ability, low SES students as they attempt to break out of the poverty cycle. This
chapter ties together my claim that there is not enough research into how to help high
ability, low SES students as well as explains the dangers of allowing these students to drop
oﬀ in performance, or drop out of university or college.
My research shows the dangers of ignoring this research by illuminating how a lack of
education is connected to poverty and to the Intergenerational Transference of Poverty.
Continuing to work with the status quo will only continue to perpetuate the expanding
poverty gap, because it has come clear that high ability students from low SES backgrounds
need diﬀerent supports to help them navigate the education system through to a Bachelor’s
degree. What also becomes evident is that there is not enough research from the
perspective of successful high ability, low SES students to create any semblance of a
template as yet for supporting them through academia.

28
Implications
This paper reveals how diﬃcult the journey through education is for high ability, low
SES students as well as illuminating a need for more research into the most eﬀective
strategies to help these students. Research shows that early recognition of high ability, low
SES students is important in order to set up supports to facilitate their progress through
elementary school and set them up to be prepared for high school. Next, there needs to be
more research into which experiences, programs or supports they successful FGS’s believe
helped them the most as they made their way through to graduation from university or
college.
Research in this paper indicates that finding new ways to ease the education process
for high ability, low SES students must become a priority in the education system.
Education has never been considered more important than it is now, and a continued gap in
the research when it comes to helping to decrease the dropout rate for high ability, low SES
students will only perpetuate the poverty cycle. My paper has illuminated not only the lack
of, but also the need for, research into this area of study. By seeking to understand what
successful high ability, low SES students believe were mitigating factors in their educational
journey, educators at all levels will be able to provide meaningful supports for these students
so they are more able to break out of the poverty cycle.

29

30
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