Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums GT Research ideas for research project?

No, it is a charitable donation. Public schools are by definition charitable; most private schools are organized as 501(c)(3)s, so contributions are deductible as charitable contributions.

Tax credits reduce tax dollar for dollar, and you don't see many of those. Tax deductions reduce *income* dollar for dollar (although with C-corporations, which most very large businesses are, there are more restrictive limits than with other forms of business), so save 10-45 cents on the dollar in tax, depending on the size of the business and whether there's state tax involved.

In our area, almost all of the schools are teamed up with a "Partner in Education" or two - local businesses that donate products and services in exchange for modest publicity. And all of the sports teams and quite a few of the non-sports clubs fundraise either by soliciting businesses for cash, or by soliciting them for product that's resold for cash.

The deduction is never worth it in and of itself, because you spend $1 in costs to save at most 45 cents in tax. So the value of the deduction is that it allows you to spend a net 55 cents, rather than $1, to get your quantum of advertising. And really, you get that same deduction for giving advertising dollars to a for-profit group.

For self-employeds providing services, because the provision of services involves no out of pocket costs, there's no deduction for the time component. You still have to expend money in order to get the tax break, which many people feel is unfair, but which really just puts all businesses on the same footing.

Thanks Alexsmom. I guess if it was that easy the schools wouldn't be having the budget problems to start with.

Oh, I didn't mean to be discouraging! Most businesses are happy to support the school, and an advertising deduction is as good or better than a charitable deduction for businesses. (For individuals, you need it to be a charitable deduction.)

In my area, the big issue with finding outside funding sources is avoiding stepping on anyone's toes. If Big Corporation X normally supports Activity Y, and you solicit them for Activity Z, Y is going to be ticked off. Or if Corporation X normally provides school supplies for Low Income School W, I wouldn't want them to stop doing that in order to sponsor chess club for my kid's Middle Class School V, you know?

I have found that if someone is enthusiastic about an activity, and is willing to contribute significant time, funding tends to get found, one way or another.

That's the truth. Persistence overcomes resistance.
Oh, I was looking some more at texas tag and somehow ended up finding the Jarviz act which is the only federal fund for research into the best practice for gifted education, and these guys are the only recipients of that grant money.
http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/
I didn't see any great ideas for your project yet. I'm sure there's gotta be something useful there. I did notice they promote a CBT program
http://www.renzullilearning.com/default.aspx
Which I know nothing about. I only found this site in the short time since my last post. But I like their slogan, "No child left bored." LoL

Thanks for your insights! What you're saying makes sense... BUT... I'm still hopeful that it *could* work...

First, there is a paid resident expert -- the teacher/mentor/professor. Now, I realize in a lot of online courses, the prof is all but MIA, but it doesn't have to be set up that way. I also realize that a prof can have a strange effect on the conversation -- bending it so students conform to what they think the prof wants to hear, BUT if instructors had some background information on how to interact in the online environment, *perhaps* it would have a more stimulating and less delitorious effect.

Second, I've taken a number of courses online for my doctoral program. And we have VERY vibrant discussions. Of course, not everyone participates equally, but enough people do participate to make it worthwhile. There are some factors at play there: we are all professionals, we're all relatively smart and hard working (the ones that weren't just didn't pan out), and we get to know each other (ok, we have an unfair advantage in that we get to know each other in the real world, too, but they piggy back off each other). Courses with Masters level students tend to be much more of a mixed bag -- some people with great insights, some people who's postings pain me. I suppose that's the way most online courses are. BUT ... if you have something online for HG+ kids -- either electives or early college -- then it seems like you'd end up with a lot of opinionated people, many who are experts at whatever level we're talking about, and you COULD end up with a good online community, yes?

In your PhD courses, though, everyone knows enough to be an expert of sorts. There's no one posting "How do you do Question 1?" followed immediately by that same person posting "How do you do Question 2?", right? In my experience with undergrad classes, about 85% of the posting volume is that sort of thing. (I had a bunch of classes with a message board component.)

You also need multiple experts, because the conversation between experts is the interesting part. And because nobody ever knows everything, so the disagreement between experts is really the interesting part. With only one expert, particularly an expert with grading power, the expert tends to become God, which isn't good for the expert or the group.

If you picked a topic that the participants had some personal interest in (as opposed to "I need to fill gen ed requirements" or "I need this for my major" or "I needed another elective and this one looked easy"), didn't artificially limit the participant pool, and didn't grade, I think you'd end up with a good online community - but I don't think you could call it "college." I don't doubt that the participants would learn a great deal, though.

I agree with what you're saying about multiple experts and I understand and cringe about what you're saying re how-do-you Qs, Perhaps I'm wrong in thinking so, but I believe the students could be sufficiently knowledgable (and with different areas of expertise) to make the conversation interesting. You're right -- might not work for gen ed requirements... but then again, I've seen posts from college freshmen that were decent, and got some back-and-forth. The point of --- whatever this thing for HG+ (or at least very high achieving and interested) kids turns out to be -- wouldn't be to have a vibrant online community... It would be to have a good learning experience that was conviniently accessible despite geographic considerations, and I think part of that package is having discussion with other students -- in the class setting and out. So the question is, given the very valid limitations, could there be meaningful back-and-forth?

I think it'd be fantastic if there was an early online college -- one that looked unlike most online colleges. One with student clubs, projects, chances for independent study and small-group learning, maybe even summer opportunities where at least some of the kids could get together and meet, etc. It could draw on kids from all over the world. But, of course, setting up a college is a huge pain. Is there an interest/need for something like this? Or would it be better to have something altogether different that catered to kids doing middle and high school work? It could provide credit, if the students/parents were interested, or it could be purely extracurricular. (Hmm... at some age, kids talking to each other becomes problematic... in which case, it might as well just be some sort of computerized module or a one-on-one tutorial/mentorship kind of thing...)

Clay, are you familiar with the Gifted Haven forum (http://www.giftedhaven.net/forum/index.php)? Something like that, but with seeded (rather than user-defined) topics?

Thanks. What a great site. I'm thinking of something more formal than seeded topics -- something with an "expert" to help facilitate learning and/or the creation of some product based on the application of learning -- BUT this does seem to indicate that a small group of self-selected young individuals can have worthwhile discussions. And, when the time comes, it'll be a good place to do some sort of informal focus group to see what people's needs and wants are. So, thanks again.

Jojo -- Sorry to hijack your thread!!!

Excellent idea, jojo! Students would probably enjoy participating in an after school club that allows them to explore their area of interest.