Whatever else you might have to say about "military brats," you have to admit, they're doing great on standardized tests:
Students of the military’s educational system continue to outpace the U.S. national average on a standardized test that measures their basic skill levels in reading, math, science, social studies and languages. Defense department students, both overseas and in the States, scored better than their public school counterparts in all areas, at all grade levels, test results indicate... [Emphasis mine.]
“That means we have real good kids, real good teachers, and real good family support and that, in addition to some other things, is why we’ve been able to sustain scores above the national average,” said Janet Rope, the administrator for accountability, accreditation, research and evaluation at DODEA, headquartered in Arlington, Va.
Systemwide, 61,236 DODEA students in grades three through 11 took the nationally administered TerraNova exam, Rope said...
In 37 of the 45 subtests, the military students’ scores were 10 to 20 points above the national average, five subtest scores were 21 to 25 points higher, and the remaining three subtest scores were seven to nine points higher, results indicate. Over the past five years, defense schools have streamlined curriculums. Tests like the TerraNova let teachers fine-tune what they teach. Last year, schools focused on reading, while this year, math was the targeted subject.
[deputy director for DDDSE Candace] Ransing added military parents are one of the big reasons for children’s successes. “We only have the kids for six hours of the day,” she said. “I think one of the unique things we have is that since we’re in a military community, it’s a close community. … We see parents consistently who care about how their kids do, and are in the schools [themselves].”
Military families have higher standards for education, and they want these schools to be as focused and efficient as possible. I figure the same left-wing ed school types who hate testing also hate the military (often using militia terms to describe the "old-fashioned" educational techniques that they they dislike), so these results probably won't get much attention in the NEA world.
Posted by kswygert at August 22, 2003 11:13 AM