Military Children Have Academic Challenges Due to Relocation/Emotional Stress: Legislation simplifies formulas/procedures impacting schools

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 10:42:06 -0500

Our focus always seems to be on the military member and seldom talk about the military family (wives and husbands) much less military children.

We need to give some thought here to how military life affects the family.

"Military families and military children are amongst the most transient of populations. It is not uncommon to see kids who have grown up in military families who have been in 5, 7 or 9 different schools by the end of their high school career. There is very high mobility. With high mobility come issues of engagement, disengagement and reengagement."

The moves and extended deployments affect our children and their future is a very important issue. A child may respond by withdrawing.

Parent Question: Why don't you go outside and in the neighborhood and make friends?" Child Answer: "Because if I do, that means I accept this move and I do not". This can be an initial response from a child who is mourning the loss of his/her previous school, friends, family, neighborhood.

It's easy to see how moves can affect behavior and the academics of children.

The Every Student Succeeds Act which was recently passed by the Senate will if signed by the President provide relief and help military children by providing money to districts to support programs which help our children.

Below is an article about the Every Student Succeeds Act. Attached is an additional article about numerous programs available to help support children of military families through their academic career. I felt it is important to merge these two in order for providing as much information and support for military children as I could mange to get into one post.

"Military children will benefit from some provisions that were included in the education bill that is on its way to President Obama's desk for his signature.

The Senate passed the "Every Student Succeeds Act” Wednesday; the House passed it last week.

For the first time, there will be data on students connected to military families that will help military leaders, educators and elected officials understand how such children are performing in school. The data will not allow officials to identify individual students, but will show how military students as a group perform in comparison to others, similar to other identifiers for gender and ethnic groups.

The bill also makes some changes to simplify and speed up federal impact aid payments to public school districts. These districts receive the aid to help ease the financial burdens of lost revenues resulting from having tax-exempt federal property within their districts. The money benefits all students in the schools, not just military children.

“Military families serve our country in so many ways, so I’m proud that our education bill to fix No Child Left Behind takes important steps to better serve military-connected kids,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and a driving force behind the provision for the military student identifier.

“Throughout my work on this bipartisan bill, I’ve fought hard to make sure schools serving high numbers of students from military families get the resources they need, and for the first time the bill will help shed a light on how they are doing in the classroom,” Murray said in a statement.

“We owe it to military families across the country to make sure these students have access to the quality education that will put them on a path toward success.”

The Military Child Education Coalition has long advocated for a military student identifier. There are more than 1 million school-age military-connected students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12, and the vast majority are in public schools. There is no reliable, consistent, school-based data on these students.

“We have an all-volunteer force that has endured more than 14 years of war with frequent and repeated military parent deployments,” said Mary Keller, president and CEO of the Military Child Education Coalition. “We also know military-connected children move three times more often than their peers, creating the opportunity for disruptions, disconnects and gaps in education, in addition to the stress of having parents away from home for long periods of time.”

Without the military student identifier, “educators and policy leaders have no way of knowing whether these students are faring well, keeping pace, or falling behind,” said Keller, in a statement thanking lawmakers for voting for the Every Student Succeeds Act. “The identifier will provide data to inform both educators and policymakers, enabling them to adjust programs, direct resources and adopt strategies that support these students and their military families.”

The identifier requirement applies only to students with a parent who is on active duty in the military. MCEC contends that it should also include those whose parents serve in the National Guard and reserves.

The legislation also simplifies the formulas and procedures for payments of impact aid to school districts.

Among other things, it will help to speed up impact aid payments to these school districts, which depend on this revenue. Education Department officials must make the payments within one year following the end of the fiscal year for which payments were appropriated by Congress. But as the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools notes, little can be done if the Education Department fails to meet the deadline.

“Although I think the timely payments provision does send a message to the department to get their payments out as soon as possible, it puts some responsibility on districts to submit information during audits and reviews in a timely fashion,” said NAFIS spokesman Bryan Jernigan. “And then it tells the department to respond to those district submissions in a timely fashion so any outstanding issues are resolved quickly.”

One new provision would help military districts that see a growth in the number of military-connected children from the end of one school year to the beginning of a new school year in the fall.

If the growth is caused by a Defense Department action and falls within certain parameters, the school district could be paid the extra amount during that school year.

“Otherwise, payments are always based on the count taken the previous fall,” Jernigan said. “This would help a growing district due to (base realignment and closure actions) or some other reason that would send troops to an installation.”"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/12/military-children-education_n_847537.html

Military Children Face Unique Academic Challenges

Michelle Hurley attended 12 different schools in six different states by the time she reached her high school graduation. She shifted between three different schools during her high school years alone

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Dec 10 at 2015 10:43 AM

LTC Stephen F. — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 10:43:50 -0500

That may well be true CPT Private RallyPoint Member
When we were young only military families tended to move a lot. In the past few decades with the upward mobility tendency in many businesses, I have seen very many non-military families moving every two or three years. I have lived within 25 miles of Washington, DC since 1989 so my experience may not be typical.
Frequent school change can leave children at a educational disadvantage unless they homeschool. However many military children, especially those from stable and loving families, tend to rise above their circi=umstances and meet challenges head on.

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 10 at 2015 12:23 PM

Capt Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 12:23:23 -0500

After the military I moved more often than when in. One company gave me 7 assignments in 4 states in 10 years. I believe my my daughter benefited my son dis not. My daughter hated it but was later glad when she went to college. She said it helped her adjust more easily.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 10 at 2015 12:31 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 12:31:03 -0500

Is anyone actually going in and reading the article and seeing the value in having resources for our children? Did you read about SOAR or that the Act mentioned is about funding programs for the children. I somehow think the point of this posting is being missed.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 10 at 2015 12:40 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 12:40:11 -0500

In 2008, the Legislature enacted the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.1 The compact is based on model legislation developed by the Council of State Governments and the United States Department of Defense (DOD). The compact enables member states to uniformly address various educational transition issues faced by children of active-duty military families.2 The compact establishes state and national level governing bodies to administer the compact among member states.3
States may join the compact by enacting a law adopting the compact.4 Thirty-two states, including Florida, are members of the compact.5

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 10 at 2015 12:41 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 12:41:19 -0500

http://www.aasa.org/content.aspx?id=9460

AASA | American Association of School Administrators

November 17, 2009 - In only 18 months, 26 states, including most with large military populations, have passed legislation to join the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, thus covering roughly 70 percent of school-aged children. This is the fastest acceptance of any large-scale interstate compact in history. While the Compact is not exhaustive in its coverage, it does address the key school transition issues...

Response by LTC John Shaw made Dec 10 at 2015 12:42 PM

LTC John Shaw — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 12:42:33 -0500

I am excited to see what is in the legislation. I am going through mobilization now and hope to see counseling and support programs

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 10 at 2015 12:44 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 12:44:24 -0500

http://militaryimpactedschoolsassociation.org/soar

SOAR

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 10 at 2015 2:33 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 14:33:20 -0500

Like most things in children's lives, it is very much a matter of the individual. My son went to 11 schools in K-12 (same school for 11-12) and thrived. I can't imagine him doing nearly as well in a continuous slog through one system.

My younger daughter probably would not have fared as well. She had three elementary schools, but 5-12 was in one system with one set of people (elementary, middle, and high school).

I think the place where I saw best that some children thrive in that environment was the year they were both in the International School in Prague. It was interesting to watch social interaction skills, academic abilities, and world view differences between the "transient" kids (about half) and the permanent ones.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Dec 10 at 2015 3:40 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 15:40:29 -0500

I grew up in a military family and there was sadness associated with it. I have had to say good bye to girlfriends and friends.

Response by Cpl Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 10 at 2015 8:01 PM

Cpl Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 20:01:11 -0500

I wasn't a military brat, but my family moved around a lot. Five different elementary schools in my hometown (Amarillo), one in AR, two in CA, and one in Lamesa, TX.

Three different junior/middle schools and 4 different high schools, between TX, CA and AR; one of those high schools for 2 weeks.

Travel? I've been to 49 of the 50 United States and 9 different countries.

Out of all of that, Texas is home. Relocation stress become normal and by the time I had reached the 10th grade I was pretty good at blending in to avoid the typical FNG confrontations.

Response by MSgt Curtis Ellis made Dec 10 at 2015 9:34 PM

MSgt Curtis Ellis — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 21:34:27 -0500

Both of my sons experienced this, and as frustrated as we were, they did not let that stop them from getting good grades. I do recall both having to attend summer school on more than one occasion. I was extremely happy when they finally graduated, but I wish there was some program in place for them at the time!

Response by SSgt Carrie Foster Campbell made Dec 17 at 2015 12:24 PM

SSgt Carrie Foster Campbell — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 12:24:42 -0500

Has a so called "Army brat", and grant it was 40 years ago and times where different, I disagree with this statement. Most (not all) of the other military kids I went to high school with, ended up going on to college. Even has a adult when I compare my education with my counterparts, I am so surprised to hear the things in HS they didn't learn that I had to. While every child is different, yes there can be issues. I myself had to change schools between my junior and senior year of high school. I may not graduated with the best GPA, but 40 yrs later I am in PAC-12 university taking online classes and actually have better grades than I had in high school. Also last but not least lets not forget the education a child can get by traveling/ moving to different area of the country or even the world, that's an education onto itself

Response by MSgt Jeffrey Glick made Dec 21 at 2015 7:38 AM

MSgt Jeffrey Glick — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 07:38:06 -0500

I have two children one boy and one girl my children adapted very well. I can tell you my son and daughter are both very successful both went or are going to college. Both on scholarships and both to very good schools. I believe that my son has friends still to this day in most of the states we lived and still continues to talk to them all. Same goes for my daughter, all thought she only lived in four states, well really three she only spent 7 days in her first state before we moved. But they both have been huge successes. Just some examples My son was the one of the first sophomores to be allowed to go to college and high school at the same time in the state we lived in. My daughter skipped a grade and they wanted her to skip two but we as parents said no, one was enough. Again I believe it is the parents who have the greatest impact on our children, Get involved with their schools talk to their teachers and listen to your children when they talk and work as a family unit to overcome any difficulties they have together and all will turn out well.

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Jun 11 at 2019 5:57 AM

SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 05:57:52 -0400

The children suffer more than others think, they make a friend where they're at for a brief time, then they're told that they have move to another post hundreds of miles away, that's why in mu opinion these children had a far worse life.