Module 2 Topic 2
Identifying Military Students in Schools
One way schools can help is by identifying their military students. Remember, a military-connected student is defined as a student with at least one parent who is a member of the Armed Forces on active duty, including National Guard and Reserve forces, and a student whose parent has recently separated from the military or recently been killed in action.
A parent’s military connection is self-reported and servicemembers often do not identify themselves when enrolling. It is important to work with staff at your school who are the first point of contact for parents to begin asking if families are military connected. Identifying a military connection is not required, and it's important to respect that parents can decline to select a military identifier. We understand and respect their choices.
Questions to ask when enrolling students:
- Have you ever served in the military?
- In which branch did you serve?
- Are you on active duty?
- When did you separate from the military?
These questions should become standard practice and asked of all new families. A service member may present Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders, Separation from the service form (DD-214), or other orders such as retirement or temporary change of duty station (TDY).
When asking parents to self-identify as military or military-connected, the school should take great care in explaining the confidentiality of data reporting. Only numbers are reported, and their military status is never publicly linked to any other identifiable information. Additionally, the school should take time to explain why the data is important to schools, districts, and states.
Important
Having an accurate count of military-connected students is important for the following 3 reasons.
Relationships
Teachers want to connect with their students, and students want teachers who understand them. Research shows students have higher achievement rates and are happier at school when the adults in their lives understand their culture.
Impact Aid
The second reason is that the federal government provides schools and districts with federal dollars for every military student through Impact Aid. LEAs lose local tax dollars because of the military bases in their states. Families that live on base do not pay state property tax, and the federal government doesn't pay property taxes for the base's land, thereby reducing state education funds. Impact Aid serves to offset this.
Impact Aid provides school districts with 400 or more military-connected students, or 3% of the district, with additional funding of $1000.00 per student if the student lives off the military base and $5000.00 per student if the student lives on the military base.
Achievement
Finally, the Every Student Succeeds Act expanded the categories of student success reporting to include military students. By reporting and tracking student academic data, states can ensure they meet the needs of military-connected students in the same way they ensure success for other student populations.
Schools use the data to provide resources to target student needs. Knowing a student's military connection allows schools to provide targeted support services, helps ensure educators at the school are informed of the challenges their military students face, and enhances the learning environment of military students. Additionally, it can help inform policy and program decisions focused on our military-connected students.
Again, the school should take great care in explaining the confidentiality of data reporting, explaining that only numbers are publicly reported and that students' military status is never publicly linked to any other identifiable information.
