%0 Journal Article %T A Comparison of Perceptions of Barriers to Academic Success Among High %A Andrea Dawn Frazier %A Jennifer Riedl Cross %A Mihyeon Kim %A Tracy L. Cross %J Gifted Child Quarterly %@ 1934-9041 %D 2018 %R 10.1177/0016986217738050 %X In 14 focus group interviews, sixth- to eighth-grade high-ability students from high- (n = 36) and low-income (n = 45) families were asked to describe the barriers they perceived to their academic success. Three themes were identified through the qualitative analysis: Constraining Environments, Integration versus Isolation, and Resource Plenty versus Resource Poor. Students in both groups experienced environments not conducive to learning, inhibiting peers, and teachers as a barrier. Students in the low-income group described mayhem in their schools, which interfered significantly with learning. These students were highly integrated in their school community, whereas the students in the high-income group were socially isolated from both peers and teachers. Both groups exhibited issues of poor fit within their schools: autonomy and competence for both, relatedness for students in the high-income group. Attention to these issues will help support these students in achieving their potential %K low income %K special populations/underserved gifted %K high income %K qualitative methodologies %K middle school %K age/developmental stage %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0016986217738050