Whether they are attending Defense Department schools in Germany, Japan or Fort Bragg, North Carolina, military children in the same grades should be learning the same concepts at the same time, said Thomas Brady, the director of the Department of Defense Education Activity.
Brady is setting a course to adjust the DoDEA instructional system to ensure that curriculum, teachers’ professional development and tests are aligned to the same standards.
That means that if a child transfers from one of the 180 DoDEA schools in Europe, the Pacific or the continental U.S. to another within the system, his or her new class will be “in sync” with the previous class in terms of instruction, he said.
In his six months on the job, Brady has visited more than 100 schools and talked to students, parents, teachers and other staff and administrators. More often than not, he said, he has heard that people are “very satisfied … but that doesn’t make us complacent.”
Brady has been an education administrator, serving in top-level positions in public school districts since he retired from the Army as a colonel in 1997.
He’s been struck by how “remarkably well resourced” DoDEA is by DoD, he said. “It’s a commitment on the part of DoD to educate its children.” He said those in DoDEA for a long time may need to be reminded of how well-resourced the schools are, and he does that by discussing his time in urban public school systems who faced budget challenges. There, the discussion wasn’t about teachers being laid off, but how many teachers would be laid off, for example.
DoDEA adopted the Common Core State Standards for math and literacy in 2012, following in the wake of 46 states. The effort has not been without controversy.
“We’re interested in standards, and we are interested in math, literacy and science standards. We are in the process of doing that,” Brady said. “What most people consider Common Core is part of college- and career-ready [standards], so we’re doing part of it with mathematics and literacy. But that’s only two areas.”
Having an aligned instruction system within DoDEA is particularly important for military children who move often, and Common Core also can make it easier for children when they transition between military and public schools.
In the past, some military parents have said their kids who moved between DoDEA schools often did pick right up where they left off in their studies at their previous schools. But that’s not the case systemwide, Brady said.
“We need to have one system educationally,” he said. “The same child could move from Fort Campbell to Okinawa and be totally in sync. It’s a good step.”
It won’t happen overnight, he cautioned; in fact, it will take about five years. The first step, now in progress, is reorganizing DoDEA headquarters.
Eileen Huck, deputy director of government relations for the National Military Family Association, applauded Brady’s efforts to provide more continuity for military students. “We’re glad Mr. Brady is looking at that and supporting families in transition,” she said.
The Federal Education Association, a union representing DoDEA educators, also supports the effort.
“Consistency across our schools is important,” said Chuck McCarter, FEA president.
“However, it is also important that the professionals in our classrooms retain enough flexibility to be able to respond to the changing needs of their students,” McCarter said.
