The effect of special education grouping on academic self concept of gifted students

The average achievement of a classroom in which gifted students are educated is claimed to influence students' academic self-concept. Marsh and Parker (1984) put forward the big-fish–little-pond effect (BFLPE), whereby equally able students have lower academic self-concepts in high-ability schools than in low-ability schools. In this study BFLPE was investigated among gifted students. The study was conducted with 46 middle school students who participated the Education Programs for Talented Students (EPTS) at Anadolu University in the Spring Semester of 2015. EPTS is an educational program that offers acceleration and enrichment in math and science courses for gifted students. Academic Self-Concept Scale (ASCS) was used to investigate students' academic self-concept in science and math courses of the EPTS and the school before and after they attended the EPTS. Data was analyzed through the use of the mixed design ANOVA. Findings showed that grouping showed no significant effect on academic self-concept of gifted students. That is, the Big-Fish–Little-Pond Effect was not supported in this study. Keywords: Academic self-concept, Big-fish–little-pond effect, Gifted and talented,Grouping, Special education