I started my volunteer work as a teenager, when my local group needed participants to join their choir to perform at nursing facilities.  In addition, our high school highly encouraged students to volunteer their time, either at school or within the community, way before schools required students do a minimum of volunteer time during the school year.

Subsequently, my first important job was as an assistant at a Head Start program in the San Fernando Valley.  Project Head Start was a great proponent of parents volunteering and becoming engaged within the educational and neighborhood community, whether the volunteer work took place in one’s home cutting crafting paper; or being a part of a committee that made important decisions for the program or the community.

Ever since, I have been a volunteer at my children’s schools and my community for several years, whether it was getting our neighbors together to start a Neighborhood Watch, or organizing and running the school Book Fair.  I wanted to instill on my children that part of being a productive community member is giving your time, and sharing your knowledge, expertise or special skill; that volunteering is one way of giving back to the community, whether it’s the school community, your neighborhood community, a community struck by disaster or a community that may be distressed or hurting.

It is not surprising that the findings on research about volunteering result in a number of important benefits.

Social Impact:  Volunteering encourages you to make friends and connect with others.  It can help increase your social network and strengthen your ties within your community. You may meet others that share the same interests, hobbies and have the same neighborhood resources.

Physical and Mental Health:  Volunteering has many physical and mental health benefits, including becoming more physically active, feeling less isolated and raising your self-confidence and self-reliance.  It helps counteract the effects of stress, anger and anxiety. This is especially true for volunteers that work with animals.

Job Skills:  You can increase your job skills or advance your career by volunteering at places that will help you acquire those skills or enhance skills you already have. For example, volunteering your time to help fundraise may help improve your skills in communication, marketing and outreach. In addition, some organizations provide workshops or pay for their volunteers to attend seminars or workshops to help improve their knowledge base or particular skills.

There are so many ways to volunteer, some more time-consuming than others, but no matter how much time you volunteer, the benefits are valuable, both to you and the organization. Here are some suggested places that need volunteers:  your local community organization such as your neighborhood council or community art center, hospitals, non-profit organizations, libraries, parent/teacher organizations, schools, churches, animal shelters, crisis centers, to name a few. IEA also needs volunteers in various roles, from office help to attending outreach events.

Also, there are organizations that specifically focus on matching volunteers with organizations.  Two of them are Giving Tuesday and Big Sunday:

Giving Tuesday (today!) is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social collaboration. Giving Tuesday has created a directory to help you find organizations, charities, events and more in your own community.

Big Sunday is an organization that connects people through helping by offering 2,000 ways for people to help out every year.

For more information on how you can help change the life of a gifted child through the gift of volunteer time or a financial contribution, visit our Volunteer and Donate pages.

We did it!  After months of research, analysis, and reporting, we are pleased to share with you the fantastic news that IEA’s programs are officially accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ASC WASC)!  The Commission now recognizes IEA as a Supplementary Educational Program/Center, granting a six-year accreditation status through June 2022.  This accomplishment is a huge source of pride for us.

First of all, WASC is one of only six regional accreditation agencies in the United States.  These agencies are non-profit, non-governmental organizations that determine whether educational institutions fulfill the Commission’s well-defined set of standards regarding performance and operation. Accreditation is a voluntary process that ensures public trust in an educational institution and its ability to deliver high-quality services. Accredited schools and educational centers undergo a cyclical process of self-regulation and self-evaluation, which emphasizes that organizations like IEA consistently fulfill its mission and goals through high-quality, student-centered programming; maintain a qualified and well-trained staff; and regularly evaluate whether it is meeting the needs and expectations of its students.

We are proud of this recognition, but the process of applying for accreditation was no easy feat. We crafted an in-depth self-study report, which involved thoroughly collecting and synthesizing data–lots of it.  Some of it dating back to 1998!  You know–those pre-, mid-, and post-program surveys we always ask you to complete?  We actually review and analyze them in detail, and your evaluations were fundamental in our efforts to demonstrate the impact and effectiveness of our programs.

We also spent a great deal of time reflecting on the past, present, and future of IEA’s programs and the organization as a whole. Among the many aspects of WASC that IEA values the most is the Commission’s philosophy behind its continuous cycle of improvement, which essentially requires us to evaluate our programs, develop strategic plans for improving them, and then modifying our programs to reflect these changes, thereby ensuring that we meet or exceed the standards of quality and expectations of our community.

In addition to a self-study evaluation, we completed a thorough site visit by WASC representatives, which involved an assessment of our offices and classrooms, examination of our programs including curricula and materials, as well as multiple formal and informal meetings with staff members, instructors, parents, and students.

It was a rigorous, but rewarding experience and we are grateful to everyone who helped us throughout the process. Thank you, brilliant instructors and mentors, for going above and beyond the call of duty and sharing your experiences of working with IEA. Thank you, parents and students, for your faithful support and for graciously volunteering your time and your feedback. We would also like to tip our hats to Louise Hindle, who spearheaded the entire accreditation process, pouring countless hours into compiling resources and crafting the final report.  Lastly, we thank WASC for recognizing our work and the value of our efforts.  We are deeply committed to upholding not only the high standards of the Commission, but those of our community as well.  Cheers!

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Also providing music throughout the evening was long-time Academy student Calvin and newly-selected CDB Scholar Sarah, who each played selections of classical repertoire while guests socialized and enjoyed wine and light fare.

The evening was emceed by CDB Parent Rick Rosner, who added humor and insight (as a gifted adult, himself) interspersed throughout testimonials given by IEA program participants, parents and alumni. Delighted chuckles followed 7-year-old Academy student Henry’s declaration, “One of my favorite things is that my Academy teachers are flexible about going off-plan…Sometimes when we go off-plan unexpected questions come up, and we don’t always know the answer.  When we don’t have the answers we all have to work together to figure it out, which is fun!”

Henry’s enthusiasm was echoed by former Academy student and new CDB Scholar Ellie, who stated, “IEA inspired me to take charge of my education… I will be forever grateful to everyone at IEA who showed me that learning is joyful, who inspired me to take charge of it and who have now lit the path ahead by giving me the resources to make it happen.”

CDB Alumni Anna and Kiran also offered perspective by addressing the pressing need for support of gifted education. A recent high school graduate, Kiran is the founder of the nonprofit “Waste No Food” and flew from San Francisco to speak at our event, where he lauded IEA’s ability to encourage and inspire its students. He said, “By supporting IEA, you are supporting the growth of the next generation of thinkers, innovators and leaders. You are supporting a better tomorrow for all of us.”

Guests were able to observe this phenomenon firsthand during an exciting flashlight demonstration overseen by IEA president and co-founder, Betsy Jones, where each individual held up a light representing a percentage of the over 3 million gifted students in the United States and watched as, one by one, the lights went out due to misidentification, lack of resources, depression, and failure to engage and stimulate gifted minds. “In our attempt to raise the basic standards of our schools and leave no child behind, we have forgotten those that are beyond the basics, those that have a voracious desire to learn,” remarked Betsy. “At IEA we have seen that success springs from engaging the energy and the imagination of the mind. At IEA we have removed the ceiling and turned on the lights.”

As the house lights came back on, guests were encouraged to take what they had learned over the course of the evening out into the world and to share on behalf of the children who cannot advocate for themselves. Heartfelt thanks to the many guests who contributed to IEA’s 2015 fundraising efforts and for your continued feedback and support, which helps us continue to serve the gifted community intellectually, spiritually, physically, socially and emotionally.

If you have not yet had the opportunity to donate to IEA or if you would like to make another contribution, we would greatly appreciate your support by clicking here.

It’s that time of year when we rack our minds to recall, imagine, or anticipate the ‘perfect’ gift. Whether that perfect gift is for a holiday party, for Christmas, for Hanukkah – it just is, unrelentingly, ‘that’ time of year.

Trying to answer why we give is perhaps more complicated. We may give because there is an expectation, arguably enforced upon us by the commercial world in which we live and struggle to escape or hide from; we may give because we feel obliged to do so; but most of all, I’d like to think most of us give because we want to demonstrate our love and appreciation towards our family and our community.

Gift giving does not, of course, have to be a physical or monetary gesture. A gift can be an act of altruism and at IEA, there are many acts of altruism performed daily. My fabulous co-workers help each other with everything and anything daily; Academy teachers give their time and energy in so many ways beyond anything written in an IEA Letter of Agreement; our volunteers turn in to the office regularly and assist us with all manner of tasks; and our parents act with enormous help and initiative during class and in between sessions by recommending us and keeping us growing. These manifold acts are both similar to and different from what we might understand as philanthropy but they are, nonetheless, real gifts upon which a small not-for-profit organization depends.

And recent evidence suggests that here in the U.S., despite the near recent global downturn, we are even more compelled to give than ever before; as exemplified by the significant growth in educational not-for-profit organizations. A 2012 report from the Urban Institute states that, ‘over the past 10 years, the number of non-profits registered with the IRS has grown 24%, with educational organizations standing second highest’ in growth, controlling 18% of the market (Blackwood et al 2012: 3). Education’s assets increased from $145.4 billion in 2000 to $300.8 billion by 2010. Add in the 35% in grant-making foundations since 2000, and these all signal significant demand (Blackwood et al 2012: 5).

American society wants to give, American families want educational choice, and mixed together, we are seeing a rapid expansion in what has become known by educational commentators as ‘New Philanthropy’ (Ball 2010) and a concurrent shift in the ways in which society now thinks about education. Within this emerging landscape of ‘giving’, Ball argues that what is now is a more ‘direct relation of “giving” to policy and a more “hands-on” approach to the use of donations.’ This ‘New Philanthropy’, assumes a more proactive role in policy, as well as an expectation to demonstrate, through evidence that ‘good’ work is effective in remedying educational problems. In sum, ‘giving’ in this context is altruistic on a grand scale; it may be politically driven but it is still bound by the drive to improve life chances, because of and sustained by philanthropy’s historical relationship to ‘goodness’ and ‘benevolence’ (Srivastava and Oh, 2010).

With so many choices for whom we may give to – why give to the gifted? Aren’t they already advantaged by their intellectual predispositions? Well, as you may know, gifted children are severely lacking in any direct allocation of resources in our public schools. In the United States, gifted students comprise approximately 6-10% of the total student population, or about three to five million students (National Association of Gifted Children). Extrapolating from the most conservative of these estimates and the most recent census data, this means that there are more than 100,000 high-ability students ages 6 to 17 in Los Angeles County alone.

Like all young people, these children deserve and require nourishment through education, as well as through relationships with accepting peers. To flourish, gifted children often require extra support such as an advanced, intensified, accelerated education (Fosters & Matthews, 2005); access to mentors willing to help grow talents and depth of creativity (Gallagher, 1985); and a learning community comprised of other gifted individuals with whom they can connect (Delisle, 2014).

Gifted youth who do not have access to these forms of support are vulnerable to depression, anxiety, alienation, boredom, frustration, and social-emotional developmental problems (Davidson, 2004). As a result, gifted children are at risk for poor life outcomes. Research demonstrates, for example, that boredom is among the top reasons that young people drop out of school (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2006), while depression is a leading cause of failure in school and in life (Weinberg, Harper et al, Secondary Education and Beyond). Meanwhile, current educational policies focus resources for special needs almost exclusively on remediation for students who are falling behind — failing to support the needs of gifted students (Finn and Sousa, 2014). In the absence of a federal mandate to support highly able young people, it is left up to each state — and often each local school district — to set policy regarding funding for gifted education. However, California is one of 15 states that does not mandate gifted educational services (Davidson Institute). As a result, a growing number of high-ability students in our region and beyond lack access to the support they need to achieve their potential.

Clearly, gifted children need resources and so do their parents: Parents, it is argued, are increasingly appalled by the impact of policy and its by-products of ‘rote learning and teaching to the test’ (Baltodano 2012: 490). Cooper and Sureau (2007) see ‘dissatisfaction’. The latter’s formative study of the home-schooling movement analyzed why more than 1.35 million children in the U.S are now home-schooled, and they identified dissatisfaction with ‘the poor academic performance of students’ as a significant driving force for the significant growth in home-schooling of children (2007:113). But, to make choices and find an alternative as a parent, one depends on resources – human and financial. Parents who are able to provide assistance by themselves in the early years need more once their gifted child’s ‘rage to master’ (Winner, 1996) sets in.

Resources are necessary to nurture the gifts of our children with high potential. Without help, these gifts will remain undeveloped. As Amanda Ripley pointed out in her book, The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got that Way, intellectual ‘boredom is the specter that haunts children from kindergarten to graduation…engaged kids don’t notice you; bored kids do.’ In addition, if you are a gifted, low-income child, the future landscape is even more bleak: Despite scholarships, the differential economic resources available to parents over time forge a divide between the assistance children of middle-upper parents receive as opposed to the less financially privileged.

Long term trends do suggest that gift-giving, ‘New Philanthropy’, is here to stay (Hentschke 2007: 298); but the act of giving to the gifted remains undernourished. IEA, like many other not-for-profit organizations, strives to equitably improve life chances of under-served populations. We know that being gifted is, and should be recognized as, a gift, but gifted children also need gifts to support their future and our country’s future. I’ll be making my donation to IEA as a gift to this future – and I hope you will join me.

About the Institute for Educational Advancement: IEA is an independent, national non-profit organization that matches gifted children with customized educational programs designed to serve their complex intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual, and physical needs.

• Academy provides challenging year-round enrichment classes for 2nd-8th graders focusing on exploration and application of knowledge.
• The Apprenticeship program is a summer residential experience that matches high school students with renowned mentors in fields such as math, science, medicine, and industrial design.
• The Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship awards highly gifted 7th grade applicants with a four-year scholarship to a high school that fits their individual intellectual and personal needs.
• Yunasa and Yunasa West are week-long summer camps uniting highly able middle schoolers and experts in the social and emotional development of gifted children to explore and grow the intellectual, spiritual, emotional, social, and physical aspects of their lives.

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