When army schools are the envy of the whole country

It may be the Department of Defense that runs the best schools in the United States

(Fort Moore, Ga.) Amy Dilmar, a Georgia high school principal, is well aware of the many crises threatening American education. Learning losses that have accumulated during the coronavirus pandemic. Racial and economic inequality, which has only gotten worse. The widening gap between the highest and lowest performing students.

But she doesn’t see much of that at her school in Fort Moore.

Students who solve algebra equations and polish essays at Faith Middle School attend one of the highest-performing school systems in the country.

This system is not run by a local school board or charter school network, but by the United States Department of Defense.

With about 66,000 students, more than Boston or Seattle public schools, Pentagon schools for the children of military and civilian employees are quietly achieving results most educators can only dream of.

On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal exam considered the best metric for comparing states and large districts, Department of Defense schools performed better than all others in math and reading last year and managed to avoid losses attributable to the pandemic.

Their schools achieved the nation’s best results for black and Hispanic students, whose eighth-grade reading scores exceeded national averages for white students.

Eighth-grade students whose parents had only a high school diploma—suggesting lower family incomes, on average—performed as well in reading as students overall of the country whose parents have post-secondary diplomas.

An example

Schools reopened relatively quickly during the pandemic, but last year’s results were no accident.

While U.S. student achievement in general has stagnated over the past decade, military schools have made gains on national tests since 2013. And even though the nation’s lowest-performing students — in the 25^e bottom percentile – fell behind, the Department of Defense’s lowest-performing students improved in math by fourth grade and reading by eighth grade.

“If Department of Defense schools were a state, we would all go there to figure out what’s going on,” said Martin West, a Harvard education professor and national review board member.

However, these schools are not without problems.

Despite their good performance, black and Hispanic students on average fare worse than their white peers in Department of Defense schools, although the gap is smaller than in many states. The Pentagon has also faced scrutiny for its handling of student misconduct in its schools – including cases of sexual assault.

But as educators across the country desperately try to address delays attributable to the pandemic, the Department of Defense’s academic results show what is possible, even for students facing personal challenges. Military families move frequently and sometimes face economic instability.

How are the soldiers doing? Largely by running a school system that is insulated from the many problems plaguing American education.

Department of Defense schools are well-funded, socioeconomically and racially integrated, and have a centralized structure that is not subject to the whims of school boards or mayors.

There are about 50 American schools for children who live on military bases and more than 100 international schools for students whose parents are stationed abroad, from Belgium to Bahrain.

Ahead ?

Fort Moore, a major military base formerly known as Fort Benning, spans 182,000 acres on the Georgia-Alabama border. Around 1,900 students attend the base school every day, while their parents train in shooting and parachuting.

The schools – four elementary schools and one middle school – look a lot like regular public schools. The students arrive in yellow buses. Classrooms are decorated with colored pencil drawings and maps of the United States. The sidewalk in front of Faith Middle School is painted with bear claws, in reference to the school’s mascot.

But there are key differences.

For starters, families have access to housing and health care through the military, and at least one parent has a job.

“Meeting as many of these basic needs as possible helps create an environment conducive to learning,” said Jessica Thorne, principal of EA White Elementary School, which has about 350 students.

Its teachers are also well paid, thanks to the Pentagon budget which allocates US$3 billion to its schools each year, far more than school districts of comparable size. Although much of that money goes to the complex logistics of international schools, the Department of Defense estimates it spends about $25,000 per student, as much as top-spending states like New York, and well more than states like Arizona, where per-pupil spending is about $10,000 a year.

“I doubled my income,” said Heather Ryan, a teacher at EA White Elementary School. At the start of her career in Florida, she earned US$31,900; after being transferred to the army, she earned US$65,000. With more years of experience, she now earns US$88,000.

Competitive salaries, adapted to the level of training and experience, help retain teachers at a time when many of them are leaving the profession. At EA White Elementary School, teachers typically have between 10 and 15 years of experience, according to M^me Thorne.

“Fundamental Things”

Prudence Carter, a sociologist at Brown University who studies educational inequality, says the Department of Defense’s findings show what can happen when all students benefit from the resources of a typical child in the United States. middle class: housing, health care, food, quality teachers.

Military life comes with its own hierarchies, with base salaries ranging from US$25,000 for an entry-level soldier to salaries in the six figures for experienced officers. At Fort Moore, high-ranking officers live in white stucco houses, while enlisted soldiers live in modest duplexes. About a third of base students receive free or reduced-price lunch.

But the schools are more socioeconomically and racially integrated than many others in the United States. The children of young soldiers follow the same courses as the children of lieutenant-colonels. They play in the same sports leagues after school.

This situation reflects a history dating back to 1948, when President Harry S. Truman ordered the military to desegregate its forces. In the years that followed, the military established integrated schools, primarily in the South, while local public schools remained segregated.

Today, Department of Defense schools are 42 percent white, 24 percent Hispanic, 10 percent black, 6 percent Asian and 15 percent multiracial.

“The military is not perfect, there is still racism in the military,” said Leslie Hinkson, a former Georgetown University sociologist who studied integration in Department of Defense schools. “But what’s distinctive,” she added, “is this access to resources in a way that’s not racial.” »

Military precision

Nationally, school district boundaries are often drawn along class and racial lines, creating glaring disparities in resources. In 2021, nearly 40% of black and Hispanic public school students attended a high-poverty school – a rate three to five times higher than that of Asian and white students.

Department of Defense schools are not immune to other conflicts, including debates over race, gender and identity.

But schools are inherently less political – major decisions are made at the headquarters level – and therefore less tumultuous.

A concrete example: a school overhaul which began in 2015 and which has not changed since.

Defense officials attribute the recent increase in test scores in part to this overhaul, which was intended to raise the level of rigor expected of students.

These changes bear similarities to the Common Core, a politically difficult reform movement that aimed to align standards across states, with students required to read more nonfiction texts and delve deeper into math concepts.

But unlike Common Core, which was implemented haphazardly across the country, the Defense Department’s plan was orchestrated with military precision.

Officials described a methodical rollout, one subject at a time. New curriculum. Teacher training. Global coordination, so that a fifth grader at Fort Moore learns the same thing as a fifth grader in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

It took six years to complete these changes, longer than the average tenure of a public school principal.

Logistics planning, including a predictable budget, “is not very sexy,” but it is one of the keys to success, said Thomas M. Brady, the Department of Defense’s director of schools since 2014.

This article was first published in the New York Times.