Education: DoD education activity - Military Benefits | Marine Corps pay, education, health, housing, moving, MWR - Marine Corps Times

Education: DoD education activity

Schools for children of service members and Defense Department civilians are located on a number of installations worldwide. The Department of Defense Education Activity, or DoDEA, plans, directs, coordinates, and manages pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade education programs for Defense Department dependents who would otherwise not have access to a high-quality, public education. DoDEA schools are located in Europe, the Pacific, the U.S., Cuba, Guam and Puerto Rico. DoDEA also provides support and resources to local school districts throughout the U.S. that serve children of military families.

DoDEA schools are grouped into two systems: the stateside Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools (DDESS) and the overseas Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS). DoDEA schools are fully accredited by U.S. accreditation agencies.

Age requirements

Children must be five years old by Sept. 1 to be eligible to enroll in and attend kindergarten in DoDEA schools. This requirement also affects students in DoDEA’s pre-kindergarten, Sure Start, and first grade programs. A child must be four years old by Sept. 1 to attend pre-kindergarten or Sure Start and six years old by Sept. 1 to attend first grade.

Domestic schools

DoDEA operates 63 DDESS schools, mostly elementary, at 16 installations in seven states, Puerto Rico and Cuba, serving 26,000 students. The schools offer pre-kindergarten through 12th grade for eligible children who live on installations.

Overseas schools

DoDEA operates 81 schools in Europe and serves about 35,000 school-age children of active-duty military and federal civilian employees. DoDEA serves more than 23,000 students in 47 schools across Japan, South Korea, Okinawa and Guam.

DoDEA schools in Europe and the Pacific are free for children of service members and federal civilian employees. Enrollment is guaranteed for “command-sponsored” children, those for whom the active-duty member has official approval to bring overseas at government expense. Children without command sponsorship can enroll for free if space is available.

The DoDEA high school graduation requirement is 26 credits.

Special education programs

DoDEA provides free education to students with disabilities who are entitled to enroll in the military’s overseas and stateside schools. The school system serves children with mild to severe disabilities. Programs are offered for children with learning, physical, communication or emotional impairments.

Preschool services are provided for disabled children as young as 3. Active-duty members must enroll children with disabilities in the Exceptional Family Member Program, which helps ensure the child’s educational and medical needs can be met.

All the services have the EFMP, but organized differently. The Army and Marine Corps have EFMP advocates in installation family centers, while the Navy and Air Force have EFMP programs and special-needs coordinators in their medical treatment facilities.

Contact: Department of Defense Education Activity, 4040 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1635. Overseas schools, (703) 588-3051; Special education office, (703) 588-3148; www.dodea.edu

Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunities for Military Children

Most military children attend schools operated by local education agencies, with varying policies that affect a child’s transition to a new school when moving from state to state. A national effort to address these issues has resulted in more than half of the states adopting this compact in recent years. The compact is designed to smooth out administrative issues involved in moving from one school to another, but it doesn’t address quality of education in any one school. Among other things, states that have signed on to the compact:

• Allow students to enter the same grade level in the receiving state as they left in the sending state, regardless of age.

• Require local school districts to either waive specific course work needed for graduation if similar work has been completed in another school district or provide reasonable justification for denial.

• Presume that students who qualified for education courses such as honors, International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement and vocational at their previous school will be qualified in the receiving school and should be placed, at least initially, in those courses if they are offered. The receiving school can do evaluations later to ensure that the student is properly placed.

A commission of member-state representatives is developing materials for families and educators to help provide families with a road map of how best to advocate for their children. States will have councils to address the issues, and the councils will have family liaisons that military families can contact. This will be an avenue for families who have not been able to get a transition issue resolved by a school counselor or by the school liaison officer in their command.

Military Child Education Coalition

Parents, students and educators can find a wealth of information about specific state requirements and other military children’s education issues at this group’s Web site, www.militarychild.org

The MCEC looks at everything that affects education or other opportunities for military children from birth through postsecondary school — from emotional challenges related to school transitions or the deployment of a parent, to differences in state policies that make it difficult to transfer from one school to another.

All military services, along with many school districts that educate large numbers of military children, participate in the coalition. Its focus on partnerships encourages such flexible practices as helping a student meet graduation requirements when transferring late in a high school career.

MCEC’s SchoolQuest, at www.School Quest.org, is an online tool for families on the move who want to learn about future schools that may fit the needs of their children. It uses a database compiled by researchers to present resources, contact information and transition advice about the school districts and schools that serve the selected military community.

SAT/ACT preparatory programs

Military families can get a free SAT or ACT preparatory program through a donation by professional football players who are part of the Victory Sports Group. Visit www.militaryhomefront.dod.mil; click on “Free SAT/ACT Prep Materials.”