March Toward Excellence: School Success and Minority Student Achievement in Department of Defense Schools

A Forum — April 26, 2002

Schools operated by the U.S. Department of Defense to educate the children of service men and women may hold the key to closing the achievement gap between white and minority students in the nation’s public schools, according to a new study conducted by a research team at Vanderbilt University. The study, March Toward Excellence, was commissioned by the National Education Goals Panel and cites 1998 data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), widely known as the nation’s report card. The NAEP results showed that African American and Hispanic students enrolled in Department of Defense (DoD) schools in the United States and abroad ranked No. 1 and No. 2 among African Americans and Hispanic students in the nation on reading and writing tests.

Taffy Corrigan, Assistant Associate Director of Education, Department of Defense Education Activities (DoDEA), provided an overview of the DoD schools. DoD operates 224 elementary and secondary schools (155 are overseas and 69 are in the United States) that enroll about 112,000 students. Of the students, 50% are white, 20% are African American, 9% Hispanic, 15% Bi/Multi Racial, and 6% Asian. DoDEA engages in a strategic planning process every five years to govern the actions of its schools. The last plan (1995-2000) focused on student achievement in reading, writing, and math; parental involvement; and developing structures for continuous improvement. The current plan (2001-2006) focuses on reaching the highest levels of student achievement; providing academic safety nets; improved management systems; supporting a high performing workforce; and partnerships. The greatest challenges faced by the DoD schools include a high student mobility rate (35%); maintaining a focus on professional development, materials, and qualified teachers when the schools are scattered around the globe; separation stress as parents leave for duty; isolation due to geographic location; and very small schools.

Corrigan described major successes as strong partnerships with parents and other military personnel in creating mentoring and tutoring programs; a large number of highly qualified teachers; focused professional development programs that include a systemic focus on the strategic plan as well as meeting the unique needs of local schools; a community strategic plan created with input from everyone on the base; a strong curricular framework; and high expectations for student achievement with supportive interventions as needed.

Claire Smrekar, Associate Professor and Debra Owens, Policy Analyst of Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, summarized the findings from their year-long study, March Toward Excellence, of how DoD schools have achieved high levels of student learning. Students in both the domestic and overseas DoDEA schools scored at or near the top of all states in reading and writing on the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress. Students who are white, African-American and Hispanic each scored well compared to their counterparts in other states. The researchers also reported that the gap between the performance of white students and that of African-American or Hispanic students was narrower than this gap in the 50 states.

The study reports that the success of the DoD schools rests on a combination of in-school and out-of-school factors:

• Centralized direction-setting balanced with local decision-making. DoDEA’s management strategy merges effective leadership at the topmost levels (e.g. establishing system-wide curriculum standards) with school- and district-level discretion in determining day-to-day operations such as instructional practices and personnel decisions.
• Policy coherence, structural alignment, and efficient flow of data. DoD schools reflect a strong and consistent alignment of curricular goals, instructional strategies, teacher supports, and performance assessment results. This is particularly evident in the area of writing, a subject area identified by DoDEA as a curriculum priority and educational concern over 20 years ago.
• Sufficient financial resources. DoDEA provides a high level of support in terms of district and school staffing, instructional materials, facilities, and technology. The level of support for teachers is generous and well-recognized throughout the system.
• Staff development is linked to each school’s pattern of student performance. It is tailored teacher by teacher, carefully structured to enhance a teacher’s identified deficiencies and sustained over time.
• Small schools. DoD schools tend to be small, leading to robust levels of trust, familiarity, and a strong sense of community.
• Academic focus and high expectations for all. High expectations for all students are manifested in the use of elevated standards, teachers’ sense of personal accountability, and a proactive approach to educating a highly transient population. DoD schools do not generally group students by academic ability. Educational programs are provided that target lower-achieving students for in-school tutoring and homework assistance after school.
• Continuity of care for children. DoD schools are linked to an array of nationally recognized pre-school programs and after-school youth centers. This “continuity of care” commitment is evidenced by the high level of investment in these top-ranked programs in terms of staffing, training, and facilities.
• Corporate commitment to public education. DoD schools reflect an elevated “corporate commitment” from the U.S. military that is both material and symbolic. This commitment includes an expectation of parent involvement in school- and home-based activities (e.g. soldiers are instructed that their “place of duty” is at their child’s school on parent-teacher conference days and are relieved of work responsibilities to volunteer at school each month).

Comments from the audience focused on the culture of the military that creates a very supportive and safe environment for families and especially children on each base; that provides equitable resources to all schools; that values and respects diversity; that supports and values ongoing education and training for everyone; and that provides consistent and long-term planning and leadership to the schools.

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