Educational Placement for Talented Students

ABSTRACT This study centered on the influence of proper assessment and educational placement in empowering the gifted and talented students in a selected school in (Ibadan North east Local Government). The focus population for this study encompasses headmaster, assistance headmaster, teaching and non-teaching staffs of selected gifted and talented school in Ibadan North east Local Government). Stratified random sampling techniques was adopt in selecting the teaching and non-teaching staff with the use of questionnaire for data collection. The instrument used in data collection in this study was questionnaire and simple percentage for the analysis of data. The findings derived from this study shows that, proper assessment and educational placement of the gifted and talented in empowering the gifted and talented students in Nigeria. Its impacts on the life of the gifted and talented cannot be overemphasized. It is therefore necessary for parents, teachers and school administrator to look for the most suitable assessment and educational placement for the gifted and talented students, if effective empowering will take place.

CHAPTER ONE
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

What does it mean to be Gifted/Talented?
Identification of the gifted and talented can pose a problem to teachers and education professionals because they are not a homogeneous group. The typical picture of the highly able child is of a hard-working pupil who diligently completes work, and is perhaps known as the class “swot” or “brain box”. In reality the picture is much more complex than that. Alongside the gifted achievers are those who - despite their gifts and talents - persistently underachieve due to boredom, lack of interest, or crippling perfectionism; young children who are cognitively advanced enough to play games with complex rule structures and yet not socially mature enough to deal with the frustration that occurs when their peers cannot grasp the game; children whose giftedness may be