IEA at a Glance:
- IEA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We rely on the support of foundations, corporations, and individuals like you to provide our programs and services for bright young minds. To contribute, click here.
- IEA serves highly able, creative children ages 2-18 nationwide. Independent of government funding, IEA has the flexibility to provide customized programs that match individuals’ unique gifts and talents with the most appropriate mentors, schools, and other learning resources to maximize each student’s intellectual and personal development.
- We work with children to identify and foster their individual talents and abilities while supporting the holistic development of the whole person in an environment of compassion.
- IEA is an advocate for all gifted students. Giftedness occurs in every culture and every ethnic and social group, and our participants are diverse with regard to race, culture, socioeconomic background, gender, age, geography, and educational background.
- There is a great deal of misunderstanding when it comes to gifted youth. IEA gives voice to these children, dispelling myths and educating the public on the facts about gifted individuals.
- Since its inception, IEA has directly served more than 12,000 children and their families and has trained more than 1,500 educators.
- These children bring a complexity of thought to home and learning environments that often requires specialized programs and services to meet their unique needs. IEA addresses these needs in three ways:
IEA is a National Leader
- We are experts in the intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual, and physical needs of gifted youths.
- Our Yunasa summer camps received the inaugural National Association for Gifted Children Global Awareness Network’s Annemarie Roeper Award, recognizing a program that “responds to the concerns of gifted and talented children about the future and the world they live in.”
We have over 25 years of experience with record of success.
More than 50% of children who participate in IEA programs return to take part in an IEA program again.
Our Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship is one of the only merit-based, need-blind high school scholarship in the country.
95% of IEA program participants in 2023 were satisfied or extremely satisfied with the program.
PHILOSOPHY
IEA’s philosophy is based on the belief that highly able students require strong academic programs provided by skilled educators, administrators, and business professionals to fully actualize their talents. IEA follows the Optimal Match Philosophy, the basic tenet of which is to match a student’s assessed needs with the optimal educational resources. IEA advances this philosophy as it works with each individual student, school, or school district to seek the best learning strategy for each unique child. IEA crosses traditional educational boundaries by working in public, independent, parochial, and alternative schools. IEA initiatives foster intellectual curiosity, the acquisition of knowledge, confidence, creativity, responsibility, and moral decisiveness.
GOALS
To achieve our mission, IEA will:
- Serve as a catalyst for identifying and implementing the best practices for teaching highly able youth
- Advance public knowledge and understanding of the need to enable and nurture society’s most able-minded students
- Support the needs of highly able youth by training teachers, informing parents, and identifying and soliciting the participation of mentors for exceptionally gifted students
- Create partnerships with individuals, foundations, non-profit organizations, businesses, and universities to support the development of highly able students who will advance society as a whole
- Encourage each gifted student to pursue his or her full intellectual and personal potential and develop respect for individual differences
- Take a leadership role in policy-making for gifted youth throughout the nation
INCLUSION POLICY
IEA is an advocate for all gifted students. Giftedness occurs in every culture and every ethnic and social group, and our participants are diverse. IEA is committed to ensuring that all gifted youth, regardless of cultural background, ethnicity, national origin, race, faith, ideology, income, educational background, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation have the opportunity to reach their full potential with dignity.
As an organization, IEA celebrates differences. We teach tolerance, respect and acceptance for all, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or background. We hope to inspire change in our nation by modeling integrity, respect and understanding. IEA strives to offer a welcoming space for conversation and healing, a space where uniqueness is honored, and discrimination and violence are never tolerated. Click here to learn more.
“UNLESS WE MAKE A COMMITMENT TO SAVING THESE CHILDREN, WE WILL CONTINUE TO LOSE THEM AND WHATEVER UNIQUE BENEFITS THEIR EXISTENCE MIGHT PROVIDE FOR THE HUMAN SPECIES OF WHICH THEY ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART.”
– Stephanie Tolan, IEA Senior Fellow
“IEA PROVIDES A WEALTH OF INFORMATION AND IS THE BEST RESOURCE WE’VE FOUND FOR SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE IN THE GIFTED COMMUNITY.”
– IEA Parent
