What Can We Learn About Student Mobility From the Army?
A Forum — Friday, July 12, 2002
In 1997, an Army education team began collecting anecdotal experiences about the transition experiences of teen students of Army personnel to help senior leaders better understand the effects of mobility on the lives of these young people. Based upon the team’s findings, the Army partnered with the Military Child Education Coalition, a non-profit organization, to conduct an intensive two-year qualitative research project into the challenges adolescent children of Army personnel face in transitioning from school to school and to provide recommendations to ease those challenges. Approximately 30,000 students at nine installations who attended civilian schools were included in the study. Results of The Army Secondary Education Transition Study (SETS) led school officials who participated in the study to develop guiding principles for assisting transitioning students of military personnel.
Mrs. Patricia K. Shinseki, wife of Army Chief of Staff Shinseki, indicated that SETS found that students are constantly moving and changing schools. As a result, students find it difficult to make friends, adjust to different grading and graduation requirements, and adapt to different cultural situations. To help ease the transitions, the Army has adjusted its policy to accommodate the soldier’s family so that if a soldier has a child in the senior year of high school, the soldier can request to stay in the area until the student graduates. The Army has also added school liaison officers to help students adjust to their new school.
Pamela K. Tomlinson, Deputy Director, U.S. Army Child and Youth Services, described a number of problems for students who transition, including making new friends and getting academic records transferred and interpreted by the administration at the new school. Records can be difficult to interpret because course titles may vary and curricula and textbooks may be very different from school to school. School calendars and schedules also vary greatly from school to school, and students who move in mid-year from block schedules to a semester schedules faced challenges of being ahead or behind other students. Students identified as gifted and talented in one school may not be considered gifted and talented in a new school, and graduation requirements are not consistent across schools. Tomlinson said it is important to provide predictability for parents and students and to develop some standards regarding grades, graduation requirements, etc.
As the study data emerged, it became evident to the participating school superintendents, local school board officials, and installation commanders that an Action Plan should be developed to address these transition issues within the nine communities. The Army facilitated the process that allowed these senior leaders (the “SETS Partners”) to develop a MOA to which their local school districts could become signatories. This MOA, now signed by 93 school districts, is the framework for establishing reciprocal practices among school systems that now agree to:
- Improve the timely transfer of records;
- Ease transition during the first two weeks of enrollment;
- Foster access to extracurricular activities;
- Lessen the impact of moves, so that families move during the summer or not during senior year;
- Communicate variations in school calendars and schedules;
- Share information concerning graduation requirements;
- Continue child-centered partnerships between installation and supporting school system; and
- Provide services for postsecondary study.
The Army has also implemented a number of systemic outreach initiatives to help SETS MOA partners improve their transfer policies, including providing transition specialists to facilitate the review and improvement of transfer policies and practicies, developing a base commander’s guide to transfer policies, involving the partners (civilian and military) in a policy advisory role, involving youth, and crating pilot school transition support centers. One specific tool that has been developed is the academic passport, a transportable guide to help guide parents on how their children should be performing at each grade level and common expectations for high school graduation. Online courses are also being developed to allow students to catch up if they are behind after a transfer.
Q: Are there any dropout issues for the mobile students?
A: The graduation rate for this mobile population of students is 95%, and the percentage of students who go on to postsecondary education is 83%.
Q: Is there any research on whether Army personnel have had to turn down a command position so that their children can stay in a stable place?
A: There has not been any data collected, but a rule was recently enforced that allows an officer to turn down one command position without prejudice, often due to family concerns, but still allowing them to be eligible for command positions at a later date.
The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) is a non-profit, nonpartisan professional development organization that bridges youth policy, practice and research for professionals working on youth policy issues at the national, state and local levels.
AYPF’s events and policy reports are made possible by the support of a consortium of philanthropic foundations: Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, Ford Motor Company Fund, General Electric Fund, William T. Grant Foundation, George Gund Foundation, Walter S. Johnson Foundation, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Charles S. Mott Foundation,Wallace Reader’s Digest Funds, Surdna Foundation and others.