Psychologists claim that a major relocation is one of the most stressful events to the human psyche, something most military families know all too well. After all, military families relocate on an average of once every three years, sometimes to another state, sometimes to the other side of the world.
What makes these moves so stressful? Well, let’s start with the basics: uncertainty over the future, leaving friends and family, packing up all your earthly goods, finding a new house, settling into a new job, making new friends and, most important of all, getting the kids settled in their new environment as quickly as possible.
Military families with children have the additional burden of maintaining the educational career of their children while moving every year or two. This is no easy feat in light of today’s ever-changing and controversial educational environment.
A high quality education for their children is at the top of the list for most military parents, and the schools operated by the Department of Defense (DOD), both in the United States and overseas, are among the best in the nation. Standardized tests bear this out year after year. For families that live on the military installation and whose children are able to attend these schools (which generally are limited to elementary and middle school), this is a great comfort.
However, according to DOD officials, roughly two-thirds of all military families live off-post in the civilian community. They must attend the local public schools, as do most children who live on the military installation once they begin high school.
Finding the Right School
Several basic issues are frequently confronted by military parents when they move to a new community, including location of schooling, quality of education, alternatives to traditional education and securing services for children with special needs.
It is rare for military families to have the luxury of visiting a location to research housing and schools before the actual relocation. Frequently, families arrive at a new location and have a limited amount of time to secure housing. The ability to evaluate school quality at this stage is usually limited.
Without question, housing usually determines which school their children attend, and the single most important determinant in housing selection is, of course, income.
Finding affordable housing, in turn, defines or limits the choices of school locations. It is still common practice for school districts to have community or neighborhood schools, and families in a specified zoned area must attend the local neighborhood school or choose a private school.
The exceptions, of course, would be the centralized location of middle schools and high schools, as well as mandatory busing in some districts. Mandatory busing can be found in districts that are required by court order to attain a specific racial ratio within a given school.
Quality of education is always a concern for military families. However, they must place their trust in the state and county to provide adequate and appropriate educational instruction, as well as take care of any special student needs.
In today’s educational environment, the government is finally responding to declining educational performance and demanding improvement. In some states, standards have been set and mandates have been made for accountability in education. Many states have instituted a statewide achievement test with defined outcome standards and specific consequences for schools with substandard performance.
This movement toward accountability provides some assurance to parents that appropriate educational instruction is occurring in all classrooms within a given school district. If a school falls below the state-mandated standards, extra attention is given to bring the school within the expected norms.
For a family moving into a new school, this should bring some peace of mind. If the school’s rating was within the mandated standards, the family knows that the quality of education is excellent. If the rating of the school fell below the mandated standards, the family can be assured that the district and the state have established a timetable to bring the school within the scope of the mandated standards. Watchful eyes will be upon the school for improved performance.
Alternatives to Public Schools
For families concerned with questionable or inadequate public education, independent or private schools can offer an alternative.
Private schools have traditionally been linked to “quality education” because of the history they have in our American society. Families seek out and pay for small class sizes, individualized instruction, accelerated curriculum, and gifted and talented programs that these institutions offer.
Some private schools can also provide religious education, which is attractive for families wanting a strong moral foundation outside of the family structure. Unfortunately, very few military families have the luxury of pursuing elementary, middle or high school education from an independent or private institution.
The primary prohibitive factor is cost. Tuition at private institutions can run into tens of thousands of dollars, which closes that option for many military families.
Still another alternative to public education is home schooling. This concept has seen rapid growth within the past decade and continues to increase in popularity. It is believed that families have turned to this method of educating their children out of frustration and disillusionment with the public school system.
Tolerating classroom management problems and student behavior issues in public schools has reached a threshold with many parents. With nowhere else to turn, many parents have chosen to simply “do it themselves.”
In fact, home schooling has become so common that some public school districts allow home-schooled students to participate in district activities, such as sports, band, drama, clubs and field trips.
States establish guidelines for parents who choose home schooling, and regulations are usually strictly enforced. Advisers or counselors are assigned to home-schooled students. Exams are monitored and grade-level benchmarks must be met. A lot of pressure is placed on the parents to fulfill the requirements of home schooling, and the decision to home school should not be taken lightly.
Children With Special Needs
Parents of children with special needs face additional challenges.
With each move comes the task of locating the appropriate facility that best serves the needs of special children. Sometimes this involves moving from one district that has full service programs to another district that has very minimal services. There is no guarantee of equal dispensation between states, or even school districts within a state.
Military physicians frequently can assist parents with some of the necessary paperwork and medical evaluations required for enrollment in a new system. There is no question, however, that this process is much more complicated than typical student transfers.
Uprooting an entire family to relocate to a new location may seem like an involuntary trauma imposed on military families; yet thousands of families go through the process each year.
The negatives associated with the frequent upheavals of the military life are well known: no stability, disturbance of the educational process, interference with social relationships, to name a few.
Are there any pros? Educators consistently see the benefits that this lifestyle has on children. Because of the multiple situations and experiences that military children encounter, they normally have sharply developed social skills, adaptability, proficiency, and well-developed self-efficacy and self-reliance.
Invaluable knowledge comes from the diverse opportunities presented to military children that is quite different from children growing up in one location with little change occurring. On balance, however, children of military families are very fortunate to receive the diverse education, both formal and informal, that comes with the “transient” life.
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