Part of the intention of No Child Left Behind’s replacement, the Every Student Succeeds Act, is to better understand how students are performing by collecting and separating data for different student subgroups.

The legislation, which is expected to pass today after being signed by President Obama, is receiving praise from The Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) for provisions that will identify military students to understand how they are performing.

"Today, nearly two million military-connected children and youth (birth through age 23) live with perpetual challenges presented by frequent moves, parental deployments, and a host of life transitions that include reintegration and dealing with profoundly changed parents,” the Coalition said in a statement.

The Coalition estimates that half of military-connected children, or roughly over one million, are in the K-12 public school system.

Until this legislation, however, the Coalition says there has formerly been no way to understand “the academic health of these students,” therefore crippling any efforts to support them if they are struggling to achieve.

"Without the military student identifier, educators and policy leaders have no way of knowing whether these students are faring well, keeping pace, or falling behind. The identifier will provide data to inform both educators and policymakers, enabling them to adjust programs, direct resources and adopt strategies that support these students and their military families,” MCEC’s president and chief executive officer Dr. Mary Keller said in a statement.

Though happy with the ESSA’s military student component, the MCEC also hopes that school-aged students of family in the National Guard and Reserves will be included in the data going forward.

Read more about the Military Child Education Coalition here.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

12/10/2015