Foundations and Assessment of Education/Edition 1/Foundations Table of Contents/Chapter 5/5.7.2

MOBILITY AND THE IMPACT ON THE MILITARY CHILD

LEARNING TARGETS

• the challenges that military children face
• ways to help the transition
• legislation that is currently being examined to enact reciprocal agreements between different school districts

Q. Who packed up all their belongings and moved far away on a ship called Mayflower? A. The Sheltons. And the Mayflower is not a ship; it’s a moving van.

General Henry Shelton shared that quote from his son who was responding to a question asked by his elementary teacher at a speech to educators in October, 1998. General Shelton and his family moved 26 times in his 36 year Army career.

BACKGROUND

Mobility has become a way of life in today's society. It is a rare occurrence for a child to attend school from kindergarten to graduation in the same hometown. Military families move every two to three years depending on branch of service and the job that the active-duty parent has. The typical Navy officer, who is in aviation, has children that were born in either Norfolk, VA or Lemoore, CA. They have lived overseas at least once, and attended schools on both coasts.

Children of the military have unique opportunities that their peers don't. They are able to live in or near places that are usually just read about in American and World History textbooks. They are able to interact with people from other countries and cultures. They gain a global perspective that many of today's youth don't have(Keller and Decoteau 2000).

Along with these advantages are disadvantages, coming into a new school in the middle of the year, missing tryouts for sports teams or drama productions, playing catch up with a new curriculum or adjusting to one that is not as challenging as the previous school. Along with those challenges is the fact that usually after a move the active duty family member will deploy for anytime from 6 months to one year. Just as understanding the challenges faced by these children will aid in promoting their social and emotional resiliency and academic progress, indifference will have a detrimental effect.

CHALLENGES

Mobility is a fact of life for many American families. Not only does it affect individuals, but also the institutions that serve them. How well a school accommodates the mobile student has much to do with how the student fares (Keller 2000). This issue is usually presented in terms of academic performance but social and emotional factors are also in play.

Current educational standards assume a stable population. Every state has a different requirement for state history, if you are in Texas in 9th grade, you'll take Texas History, if you live in Washington State, you take Pacific Northwest History. And every state has their own standardized tests for each class. However if you are a military child and move from Texas to Washington in your junior year, you still have to take Pacific Northwest History, because of the state requirement.

The other challenges faced by the mobile military child include not only differences in curriculum, but also grading system differences, for example, Chesapeake Public Schools use a seven point scale instead of the standard ten point scale. There are also credit variances due to different schedule types, i.e. block schedules versus seven class all year. Also states have different requirements for graduation.

Lauren Gipson, guidance counselor, at Hickory High School says that it is difficult when a student transfers from a year long schedule to a 4x4 block schedule. A lot of the options are dependent on when the student transfers. If they come in during the first semester the student will be placed in a class they can catch up in, also available are instructional labs to help them get caught up in certain subjects. Unfortunately, if a student transfers in during the second semester the school places them in classes that they had been taking already and they lose three credits.

The school will accept credits transferred from the other school. However as state tests are not yet reciprocal a student will have to take SOLs for any courses already completed.

Jessica Ruddick, an English teacher at Hickory High School in Chesapeake, says that in an ideal situation she tries to provide supplemental material so that a new student is challenged and not bored. For example, if the class is studying Shakespeare, she will assign a different play than the one the class is reading. If a student is behind she will work with them one on one to get them caught up to the rest of the class. The student has to take some initiative as well as they have to work at a fast pace to catch up with the rest of the class. Ideally, teachers should always strive to customize the curriculum to suit every student's needs, not just transferring students.

Of course, that is not always possible due to the demands on a teacher with thirty students in a class. When a student is behind they have to get them up to speed. Ms. Ruddick usually gives the student material to work on and then consults with them to make sure everything is clear and answers any questions that the student has. If a student is ahead she is able to give them other material that would be a challenge, but sometimes the student opts to do the same material again because it is an easy "A" for them. That is not ideal because they are not learning as much as they could.

Also Honors English in Chesapeake follows the English 12 SOLs, other Virginia schools don't do this.

FACING THE CHALLENGES

In order to address some of the challenges the United States Army Community and Family Support Center asked the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) to conduct a study on the impact of high school transitions for the military connected child. The recommendations they made are divided into three categories:

• Technical and Procedural Categories which addresses issues such as records transfers, school calendars, and schedules.
• Policy, Standards, and Opportunities, which puts some onus on the parents to make sure that they take responsibility, ask questions, and become informed about graduation requirements and state testing. They also address the issues of extracurricular activities, sports teams, clubs.
• Support System, realizing that children, no matter what age, need caring adults and that they are all unique.

The authors of the study made various recommendation in each category. In the first category they stress the importance of communications and the hand carrying of records to the next school so that at least the receiving school has an idea of placement. However, most schools do not consider hand carried records official. MCEC, in conjunction with the Killeen(TX) Independent School District created a virtual student "Larry Longhorn" to test the feasibility of electronic records transfers. It has not been very successful. Mary Keller commented in frustration, "It is amazing. We can move billions of dollars in the banking system around the country, but we have trouble getting Larry from Texas to Missouri."(Keller, 2000).

The recommendations in the second category were to make sure that parents are informed about state requirements, and that academic planning is essential. They also recommend that schools make sure that information about clubs and activities is available year round, not just at the beginning of the school year. It was also a recommendation that schools consider options and opportunities for students to try out for sports teams. Matt Puryear, the athletic director at Grassfield High School, told me that if a student wants to go out for the football team and he has missed the beginning weeks of practice, that as long as he follows VHSL guidelines, i.e. 5 days with no pads, etc. that he is welcome to try out for the team. Teddy Evans, the wrestling coach at Hickory High School, said that if a new student is willing to work hard that he is welcome in the wrestling room and will have an opportunity to challenge and wrestle off for a starting spot.

The recommendations that the study made in the support category are relatively easy to enact for a caring school. They suggest that the school have an organized method for orientation to the campus and follow up. The schools should have a system in place that "checks on" new students while being sensitive that these processes are not further singling out the "new kid".

LEGISLATION

In hopes of eventually easing some of these issues the Council of State Governments (CSG) in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Personnel and Readiness, has drafted an interstate compact that deals with the educational transition issues of children of military personnel(Interstate Compact on Education Opportunity for Military Children). The Compact deals with issues such as graduation requirements, transfer of records, immunizations, age of enrollment and course completion. This compact will activate once ten states have adopted it. It came in front of the Virginia State Legislature in the last legislative session, but it stalled in the Senate(The Virginian-Pilot, 11 October 2008). The compact must be passed by ten states before its language takes effect. The compact is currently in front of the Washington State Legislature (http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/military/2009/01/21/supporters_of_education_compact_find_all). The Senate version faced no opposition and they are currently looking at the legal impacts of giving an outside organization part of their K-12 authority

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

In its 2009 session the Virginia General Assembly has passed HB1727, otherwise known as the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. The bill was sent to Governor Kaine 9 March 2009. http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?091+sum+HB1727 As of this date the compact has been passed by ten states and is now active. http://www.csg.org/programs/ncic/EducatingMilitaryChildrenCompact.aspx

RESOURCES AND CONCLUSION

Not all of the burden of easing a transition should be placed on the schools. Parents also bear some responsibility. The Military Child Education Coalition based in Harker Heights, TX offers resources for military parents and children in keeping up to date records of classes taken and has different publications available. Their website is http://www.militarychild.org

The life of a military child is filled with new adventures and interesting places to live, but there are also challenges involved with every new journey. Caring educators and parents that want the best for their children can help in easing the journey through the military child's school career.

References

Blum, Robert W., Schools Told to Help Mobile Military Children Feel at Home. Education Week (October, 2005).

Council for State Governments. Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, accessed 1 February 2009 from http://www.csg.org/programs/ncic/EducatingMilitaryChildrenCompact.aspx

Keller, Mary M. & Decoteau, Glynn T. (2000) The Military Child Mobility and Education. Phi Delta Kappa Fastbacks no. 463 7-37.

Secondary Education Transition Study, accessed 1 February from http://www.mcec.org.

Wyatt, Kristen. States Consider Pact easing School Strain on Military Families. Education Week (March 12, 2008).

QUESTIONS

1. The Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children takes effect after being ratified by how many states?

• a) five
• b) fourteen
• c) twenty-five
• d) ten

2. The Military Child Education Coalition provides resources for

• a) college students
• b) general public
• c) military parents and their children
• d) people interested in a military career

3. As a teacher you have a student join your class in the middle of the year. Do you

• a) hope that his adjustment goes smoothly, you do have 30 kids in your class
• b) obviously check on his progress after the first six weeks of school
• c) make a point of introducing him as the "new kid" on the first day of class
• d) assign a student as a sponsor to show him around and introduce him

4. Parents and teachers can help ease a transition by

• a) contacting the new school before a move
• b) arranging to hand carry records from the old school
• c) talking to the guidance office to make sure that all credits transfer
• d) all of the above.

ANSWERS

1. D 2. C 3. D 4. D

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