Why the Department of Defense’s schools are outperforming the competition

In the first major national assessment of K-12 students since the height of the pandemic, schools dedicated to educating U.S. military-connected children have outperformed most school systems across the nation, despite the impact of the pandemic.

Just-released results from the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress tests show that fourth- and eighth-grade students attending Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools led the nation in scoring on reading and mathematics assessments.

“DoDEA students’ average scale scores ranged from 15 to 23 points higher than all corresponding national average scores and held steady or increased while all national average scores decreased,” the Department of Defense said in a statement.

DoDEA was the only U.S. state or jurisdiction taking the tests to see a score increase for any grade or subject on the first NAEP test administered since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The scores also show progress for Black and Hispanic students in the DoDEA system. DoDEA’s “emphasis on equity in education is reflected in higher scores across their diverse population and achievement gaps that are significantly smaller than the rest of the nation,” said Gilbert Cisneros, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. “I am particularly pleased to see those efforts reflected in Black and Hispanic student groups that are outperforming the nation overall,” he added.

The Department of Defense Education Activity is a federally operated school system that provides pre-kindergarten through grade 12 education for the children of military service members and Department of Defense civilian employees. In 2021, DoDEA operated 160 schools in three regions — U.S. installations in the Americas, Europe and the Pacific.

The success of DoDEA schools is an amazing feat, especially given that military-connected children lead highly disrupted lives. They change schools every two to three years with a parent on active duty. And with a parent (or parents) sometimes deployed doing dangerous work, the children face stressors others do not as they manage schoolwork, home responsibilities and regular transitions in and out of communities.

I wrote earlier this year about the success of DoDEA schools in mitigating the pandemic. The recent NAEP scores underscore that their approach to managing students with highly disrupted K-12 careers can provide insights for weathering something as damaging to student learning as a pandemic.

DoDEA Director Thomas Brady told me that a turning point for the school system came in 2016 when they began implementing college- and career-ready standards starting with mathematics. Also, it made a big investment in teacher and leader development that has continued over the last nine years.

“Our commitment to student achievement and to teacher training and development all combined for positive development in the classroom,” he said.

Jeffrey Noel, DoDEA’s chief of educational research, told me that some of the success can be attributed to an overriding philosophy that guides the use of resources. DoDEA schools focus on limiting excessive bureaucracy — a big problem for many school districts — and instead prioritize efforts that can have the most impact on students.

One was a push for in-person instruction. DoDEA schools shifted to remote learning during early 2020 like most other public school districts. But only months later, by the beginning of the school year in September 2020, DoDEA focused on in-person learning with mitigation measures as many school districts were unable to reopen. By March 2021, 99 percent of DoDEA schools were operating in person and 100 percent by this past fall.

Military-connected kids who attend DoDEA schools are not the typical public school cohort. They have parents with jobs, health care, food and housing; their schools are well-funded and don’t have the same federally imposed requirements. They also operate in a unique system of a shared culture and familiarity between students, parents, teachers, school faculty and base leaders. But they don’t have it easy. 

DoDEA schools are succeeding — and that merits a closer look for lessons that can help school systems struggling to gain back learning losses.

Jim Cowen is executive director of the Collaborative for Student Success, an Alexandria, Va-based non-profit focused on promoting the use of high-quality instructional materials to improve student learning.