The Military Child Education Coalition has received a $150,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve the likelihood that military-connected children are college and career ready. With both organizations striving to ensure young people reach their full potential, the partnership reflects a shared goal of providing all students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed beyond high school—in college, career, and life.

In keeping with its mission to ensure educational opportunities for the nation’s nearly 2 million military-connected children, the Military Child Education Coalition will advocate for clear and consistent educational standards across all 50 states. Frequently referred to as Common Core Standards, adoption and implementation of standards in core subject areas such as math, science, reading-language arts, and social studies will benefit all students.

According to Dr. Mary M. Keller, President and CEO of Military Child Education Coalition, Common Core Standards (CCS) are especially beneficial to military-connected children who move three times more frequently than their civilian classmates or experience the turbulence of separation from a parent. These children, with parents serving in the Active Duty, National Guard or Reserve forces, have unique challenges related to the continuity of their learning progress.

“Common Core Standards (CCS) are essential for military-connected students because they increase the predictability and continuity of our highly mobile students’ academic experiences,” explains Dr. Keller. Though frequent school moves can have an adverse impact on student progress in all content areas, the Military Child Education Coalition research and experience clearly substantiates mathematics as the area of highest need and advocacy campaigns will reflect that focus.

This significant effort is paramount in providing needed support to children whose parents support our nation. There are approximately 1.2 million school-aged military-connected children in the U.S. Approximately 80% of these students attend public school and the remaining attend Department of Defense Dependent Schools in Europe and the Pacific, private and parochial schools or are home-schooled.

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