Dive Brief:
- In an op-ed published on FOXNews.com, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer writes military families have a consistent need for good educational standards and public schools.
- That's because, Brewer writes, military families move, on average, every year and a half to two years.
- Because of discrepancies between schools, the children of military families might find they are either behind or ahead of classmates each time they switch schools, a problem that has led to the formation of a group called Military Families for High Standards.
Dive Insight:
The need for consistent standards is important for all children, but a consistent national standard is particularly important for children in military families, who may find themselves trying to learn at schools in different parts of the country, sometimes in the same school year.
Former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stressed a need to level the playing field for military families, whose children are constantly changing schools. Research has shown constant changes to schools can have a negative impact on mental health for students.
It isn't just children of military families who are adversely affected by constant change in educational standards and policies. University of North Dakota Chancellor Dr. Mark R. Hagerott recently told Education Dive the constant changing of policies with each new political leader is damaging to students. "You could throw away an android, pick up an iPhone, that didn’t work, dump it and try new stuff. But it’s not like that with human beings," he said. "Is that how you want to treat [the education of] young people?" Constant change is "fine in a hedgefund culture," he said, "but you’re talking about someone's kids and their families."