I think that the major reason that these kids (most of whom get moved around frequently) do so well is that they all come from families where at least one parent has a decent, stable job, and stable housing. It’s not that a job and housing fix the problem - it’s that the family is led by one or two people who seek out and go to a job, and are able and motivated to provide housing for their families. That automatically screens out all the kids who come from households led by adults unable to function, unable or unwilling to hold a job, unable or unwilling to arrange secure housing for their children. These households are led by adults who care enough about their children to get up and provide the basic necessities for them. They probably also, by extension, care that their children attend school, behave, and do their work.
Or maybe it is due to hard work and discipline.
Most likely both…
The nearly 1000 commenters who are alumni/teachers/ parents at such schools seem pretty clear that the expectations for student conduct and accountability account for most of the difference.
By international standards, many US public schools have truly egregious student behavior from some disruptive students which go unaddressed.
Interested to see this. Thanks for sharing! When I was a kid growing up overseas, the DoD schools were the least rigorous in most locations that had other alternatives for ex-pats. Many people opted for British schools or the French Lycee system instead.
With that said, the DoD schools have what those other systems have - a common curriculum so that families can move from one location to another without disruption to their kids’ schooling. That brings a certain rigor and accountability to the system that is lacking in the system at large, where every district sets ot own standards.
It would be interesting to hear from teachers how their interactions with parents differ (if they do) from other public schools. Do you think teachers are bettered supported by parents? I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that they were more likely to expect their kids to be compliant in the classroom.
They’re talking about this on the service academy forum, too, but I think it’s alarming when the state of proficiency of any eighth grader is only 55% (and goes down from there). And that’s the best we’re doing? I don’t think anyone deserves kudos here.
As someone who lives in a state where our public schools have been unconstitutionally underfunded for going on two generations, I don’t think the major problem with our public schools is that parents don’t care enough. I think it’s more likely that the answer lies in the fact (mentioned in the article) that DOD schools are well funded, unlike the schools in my (and many other) states.
I talk to parents every day who care deeply about their children’s education but are stymied by the persistent lack of resources provided to our schools. It’s hard to express just how hostile my state legislature is to the very concept of public education, let alone to the teachers and other professionals in the schools. Basically, it’s a miracle our schools are doing as well as they are, given that they’ve been under an unrelenting attack for as long as I’ve had children in public school.
What’s notable about the chart is that DoD schools are doing better than some schools which are far better funded, like DC. NJ and Mass have very strong school funding too, but their performance has really collapsed recently. What happened there in the last 10 years?
Another interesting fact mentioned was that teacher pay is far better in the DOD schools than in many of the states where military bases are located. In FL, the DOD teacher nearly doubled her income teaching in the DOD school vs the public school.
In NJ, much of the funding comes from property taxes, so there are districts that are exceptionally well funded and ones that are very poorly funded. The average for the state looks great, but it depends on where you live. My guess - (not my first guess today!) - is that the worst performance is coming from those undercut districts. The DoD doesn’t have any of those. On the flip side, it’s amazing that without that that they’re not doing better!
But the demographics of the DoD schools more closely resembles that of the overall state, not that of wealthy high funding districts.
I’ll admit, I know next to nothing about how schools in NJ and MA are funded, except what little I remember from my childhood in NJ. Are schools there still mostly funded by property taxes in each town? And if so, I wonder if studies have been done to analyze any correlation between NAEP scores and the relative wealth of the families/towns of students in each scoring band?
As far as performance changes in the last ten years, I honestly don’t know. I can think of a few reasons why pass rates may have dropped, but they’d be based on pure speculation rather than fact.
Math scores dropped from 55 to 35 proficient in Mass, 49 to 33 in NJ in those 10 years. I would guess that neither state changed school funding mechanisms, decreased funding, or had a huge increase in poor students during that decade?
But if you are a really a Choate mom please recognize the challenges public schools face.
She really is
Why would I not recognize this? It is because of my firsthand experience and understanding of the underfunded public schools our son attended K-8 that we made the decision we did for high school. And, yes, I am aware of the privilege our son was afforded, but I vote and pay (not enough) taxes and support our public schools every way I can for every child who attends them now and in the future.
No, but they had the pandemic. Of course evrryone did, but it was another thing that disproportionately hurt kids who didn’t have tech, access to internet, or a place to use both. Unlikely to have been the case for “army brats”.
Well, every state had the pandemic, but didnt experience losses like Mass and NJ.
I rather doubt that Mass and NJ, two of our richest states, had more kids without internet access than anywhere else. Besides, the data shows a drop from 2013-years before the pandemic.
That makes a huge difference for families that have to move often or are displaced. But just try to bring up a common curriculum and see how that goes…
DOD schools are better funded and not reliant on property taxes. That’s the point. When you look at states as a whole, the stats are bolstered by the highly funded schools.
If you take a data point from 2022 and one in 2013, you do not know what year the drop occurred.
Much of the funding issue is that each year schools have to do more while most of those mandates are unfunded. Add in costs (transportation, benefits, out of school placements, even paper and plowing) that increase faster than school budgets do and we are constantly doing more with less.