DODEA Pacific ready for another great year!

More than 22,000 students are beginning the 2019-2020 School Year in Department of the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools in the Pacific Region.

The DoDEA Pacific Region, headquartered in Okinawa, Japan, has 45 schools in three districts located in Japan, Korea and the U.S. Territory of Guam.

DoDEA schools educate children of our Nation’s Servicemembers and the civilians who support them in eleven nations, seven states and two territories. Overall, the DoDEA school system operates 164 schools serving more than 73,000 students in the United States, Europe and the Pacific through a worldwide network of 8 school districts and approximately 11,000 full-time employees.

The DoDEA Pacific 2019-2020 School Year begins Monday, August 26. The Pacific Regional School Calendar can be found at: https://bit.ly/2z8SgDL

Visit individual school websites for more detailed school calendars.

College & Career Ready
The DoDEA vision of Excellence in Education for Every Student, Every Day, Everywhere, continues to be possible through the on-going implementation of the College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) along with the DoDEA Comprehensive Assessment System (DoDEA-CAS).  DoDEA recently completed its second-year administration of the summative assessments, posting gains in literacy and mathematics in the first possible year of comparative measurement for the criterion-referenced examinations.

More than 50,000 military-connected students from grades three through high school completed the course-specific assessments, 99.7% of which were completed online, providing DoDEA educators vital information to support student achievement.

The summative assessments, aligned to DoDEA’s rigorous CCRS curriculum, measure students’ skills, progress and mastery of a subject rather than their performance relative to other test takers. The assessment focuses on problem-solving, critical evaluation and higher-order thinking skills – the kind of skills students need to succeed in school and in the workplace.

In literacy, students demonstrated a 4.8% increase, from 48.3% to 53.1% of students meeting or exceeding standards.

In mathematics, students improved on last year’s baseline by 2%, from 40.6% to 42.6% of students meeting or exceeding standards.

These results reinforce other testing outcomes, like the National Assessment for Educational Progress, that show DoDEA is continuing an upward trajectory as it is in the final stages of implementing College and Career Readiness Standards.

The increases in student performance, distributed across student demographics and throughout DoDEA’s 164 schools worldwide, compare favorably to similar state school systems and indicate quicker growth in student literacy – a key element in student success.

For more information on DoDEA’s Summative Assessment, Comprehensive Assessment System or College and Career Readiness standards, visit our website at www.dodea.edu.

 

Tips for supporting your child’s education

Supporting a child’s education is one of your most important responsibilities. By cultivating a love of learning and knowledge at a young age, you can set up your child for success. Here are some strategies to help you build a foundation of learning for your child.

Nurture learning at home 
Learning doesn’t stop when the school day ends. A child absorbs as much or more at home and through his or her experiences as through a textbook.

Try some of these tips to encourage learning at home:

- Keep to a routine. Make homework part of the routine by sticking to the same spot and time of day. Make sure your child has a quiet place to study.
- Monitor homework. Check your child’s homework every night, not just to see whether it’s done, but also for quality. Help your child carve out chunks of time to tackle larger projects.
- Praise your child’s efforts. Children learn best by positive reinforcement. Whenever you have an opportunity, praise your child for a job well done.
- Encourage learning at home. If your child is interested in insects, buy an ant farm. Talk about something in the news or a book he or she just read. Fostering full-time learning is one of the best ways you can equip your children for life after graduation and future success.

Relationship with school
Your relationship with the school will demonstrate to your child and the school’s staff the importance you attach to education. Even if you relocate often or are temporarily deployed, there are ways you can build a relationship with the school and your child’s teachers to help your child perform as well as possible:
- Meet the teacher. Allowing your child’s teacher to put a face with your name is a great way to show your investment in your child’s education.
- Attend events. Being present at back-to-school nights, school board meetings, open houses and school fairs can help both you and your child feel more connected to the school.
- Volunteer. There are dozens of ways to give your time to your child’s school, so it’s just a matter of finding a way to volunteer that suits your schedule.
- Join the parent/teacher group. Attending PTA/PTO meetings can be a great way to stay in the loop about what’s happening at the school and how you can get involved.

Tap into resources
Providing the best possible education for your child is not a one-person job. Be sure to tap into the support and resources of your military community.

- Home-schooling resources are found on your installation, such as school liaison officers; child, youth, and teen programs; and activities through your installation’s Department of Defense Education Activity school.

Give your child the best chance for success. Foster an appreciation for learning — it can help your child meet his or her potential and develop life skills that extend far beyond the classroom.

– Source: militaryonesource.mil

 

Free education consultants

Whether you are considering going back to school, your 5-year-old is starting kindergarten, or your 20-year-old is heading back to college, an education consultant at Military OneSource can ease back-to-school transitions. These free and confidential one-on-one sessions with a professional knowledgeable about education resources can give both your child and you a shot of confidence.

How can they help you?
Consultants look into education options for you, refer you to education services that best meet your needs and connect you to a wide variety of resources. They can answer your questions and provide information about services and benefits.

You can arrange a consultation for help with:
- Referrals to in-home tutors and tutoring centers in your area
- Public and private school information if your family is moving
- Choosing a college based on your desired degree or specific request
- Sources for financial aid and scholarships
- Profiles on specific colleges and their credentials
- Finding military-friendly schools and institutions that allow you to transfer previous college credits
- Help getting your credentials converted and diplomas translated to meet specific state or country requirements
- Contact information to help eligible military spouses find tuition assistance for certification through the MyCAA Scholarship
- Information on the SAT and ACT test preparation programs.

Who is eligible?
An education consultant can help eligible service members and family members. For example, they can help you with information about colleges and financial aid for yourself – and they can help find a tutor in the area for your child.

Connect with a Military OneSource education consultant to access the information and resources you need to meet your education goals.

Set up your consultation by calling Military OneSource at 800-342-9647. 

– Source: militaryonesource.mil

 

DoDEA Pacific Student Enrollment
Current enrollment for each DoDEA Pacific school district and region can be found at https://www.dodea.edu/datacenter/enrollment_display.cfm.

 

DoDEA Pacific Region Leadership

About DoDEA
DoDEA plans, directs, coordinates and manages Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade education programs for school-aged children of Department of Defense personnel who would not otherwise have access to a high-quality education. DoDEA schools are located in Europe, the Pacific, Western and Southwest Asia, Cuba, the United States, Guam and Puerto Rico.

 

Get your child the right start with Sure Start

Sure Start is a Department of Defense Education Activity program for command-sponsored children stationed at overseas installations. If you’re a qualifying military family, it could be a great fit for your child. The program provides:

- Education services
- Lunch and snack provisions
- Health and nutrition services
- Social and parent-involvement services
- Dental, medical and developmental screenings

Sure Start: Is your child eligible?
Sure Start assists qualified preschool-age military children living overseas. To qualify, your child needs to turn 4 years old by Sept. 1 of the current school year. Your child also must meet one of these requirements:
- Lives in a single-parent household
- Had a low birth weight
- Has a severely disabled older sibling
- Lives in a home with four or more kids close in age

An eligible child also must have at least one parent who meets one of these criteria:

- Ranks between E-1 and E-4 or rates the civilian equivalent. Exceptions may be made, but these kids are given priority.
- Did not graduate from high school
- Was a teenager when the child was born
- Speaks anything but English as their primary language
- Is on a remote assignment or temporary duty for at least three months

Sure Start or Head Start?
Sure Start is built on the same foundation as Head Start but fits better into the Department of Defense Education Activity culture and regulations.

Both Head Start and Sure Start:

- Use a four-tiered delivery system: education, health and nutrition, social services and mandatory parent involvement
- Run medical, dental and developmental screenings for students and provide follow-up assessments if needed
- Provide no-cost, nutritious lunches and snacks
- Encourage family involvement
- Cater to students’ ages, individual needs and cultures in environment, curriculum, materials, routines and daily activities
- Follow a full-day program

How is Sure Start different from Head Start?

- The Department of Defense Education Activity oversees the Sure Start program.
- Sure Start considers a military sponsor’s rank its first priority for enrollment, while Head Start uses income to determine eligibility.
- Sure Start does not use a child’s disability status to determine eligibility, while Head Start reserves at least 10 percent of slots in each classroom for children with disabilities.
- Parent involvement in Sure Start is mandatory.
- Sure Start staffs two adults for every 18 to 20 students. Local or state licensing boards determine Head Start’s staff-to-child ratios.
- Sure Start staff work with Department of Defense Education Activity special education staff to determine the best placement and services for a child.
- Sure Start programs follow the Department of Defense Education Activity’s Pre-K Foundational Standards curriculum. Head Start chooses curriculum at the local level.
If you think your preschooler may be a good fit for the Sure Start program, contact your school liaison, your installation’s elementary school or your Military and Family Support Center. 

– Source: militaryonesource.mil

 

Plan ahead with Choices360

DoDEA’s Choices360 is a systemic career and academic online planning tool that will enable students in grades 7-12 have access to high quality learning experiences around exploring, planning, and preparing for life after high school. Choices360 is a one-stop shop for college and career resources that will allow students to Make A Plan - Own Their Future.

This program is a comprehensive career and academic online planning tool that will help students prepare for life after high school. DoDEA school counselors will implement Choices360 to help students in grades 7-12 to engage in rigorous course planning, understand the college application process, explore college and career options.  DoDEA Choices 360 is found at www.dodea.edu/choices360/.