The Military Child Education Coalition® (MCEC®) is a 501(c)(3) global, nonprofit organization focused exclusively on the well-being and needs of America’s two million military-connected children, specifically in the areas of academic opportunity and excellence, school transition support, and developmental needs. Our goal is to ensure that every military-connected child grows and thrives through good and challenging times so that they are college, work place, and ultimately, life-ready.

The MCEC Vision:To serve as a model of positive leadership and advocacy for ensuring quality educational opportunities for all military children.

The MCEC Mission:To ensure quality educational experiences for all military children affected by mobility, family separation, and transition.

ABOUT THE MILITARY CHILD EDUCATION COALITION (MCEC)The MCEC founders planned our organizational concept in 1996 at the home of General Tom Schwartz who was then the commander of III Corps and Fort Hood. In 1997 we launched MCEC through founding memberships of Fort Hood and the Killeen Independent School District. In 1998 we officially incorporated as a nonprofit, education-focused organization. In 2001 the Army became our first service branch member, and they continue their membership with the MCEC. Our coalition membership now includes all components of the military services including the Coast Guard, Veterans, school systems around the world, students, parents, organizations and corporations, and individuals. With over half of the U.S. military force strength in the Reserve Components, the MCEC attention has deliberately and thoughtfully encompassed the unique needs of the children and youth whose parents serve in the National Guard and Reserve.

The MCEC is the only organization nationwide that focuses exclusively and persistently on the needs of the military-connected child. We have learned through extensive research and work with military families what “right” looks and feels like for students, their families, school districts, and military and community support systems. We use our depth of knowledge to build structures for sustainable support for children from birth through age 23 in their education-related transitions as well as during deployment and reintegration. As both an awareness-building and a service organization, we span the globe in our delivery of services and support through our programs for students, parents, educators, and other child-serving professionals and through our research, partnerships, resources, and array of high quality, accredited professional development.

The organization collaborates consistently with the military, educators, and community members and with leaders at the federal, state, and local levels to improve educational opportunities for military-connected students. In addition to the Departments of Defense and Education, we work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gallup Corporation, Bob Woodruff Foundation, Sesame Workshop, ZERO TO THREE, Pre-K Now, National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI), Tutor.com, United through Reading,

TODAY, OVER TWO MILLION MILITARY-CONNECTED CHILDREN live with

perpetual challenges presented by frequent moves, parental and sibling deployments, and

a host of life transitions that include reintegration and dealing with profoundly changed

parents. The well-being of these children depends heavily on a network of supportive adults

who are trained to identify early signs of emotional or physical challenge.

The Military Child Education Coalition exists to serve these children from birth into adulthood.

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Leader to Leader, Data Quality Campaign, Great Schools, America’s Promise, USAA Foundation and the USAA Education Foundation, the Association of the United States Army, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, the National Parents and Teachers Association (PTA), the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), and a number of universities as well as the military academies of the four services.

The Military Child Education Coalition is an active member of the White House Joining Forces initiative, led by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden. Our efforts with Joining Forces include our special relationships with the National PTA, AACTE, and NMSI.

HOW THE MCEC WORKS

The MCEC conducts research and provides contracted services through our grants and donor-sponsored initiatives. Of significance is the range of activities these programs and services represent. Organizational funds are provided through an active membership base, private donations, and contracts and grants from federal, state, and local governments/agencies and foundation sources.

Over the past decade and a half, the Military Child Education Coalition has successfully delivered student, parent, and professional development programs and services for the Department of Defense, and all of the military services as well as their supporting installations, state and local education agencies. These are ongoing efforts.

The work of the MCEC makes a difference. Through our strategic initiatives we help provide quality educational opportunities, as well as build awareness of both the challenges and strengths of military-connected children and youth. Our research has identified issues surrounding school transitions, deployment, and academic implications. Several studies focus specifically on issues related to military-connected students with special needs. We take seriously our commitment to research – this is the basis upon which we have built our knowledge and capacity to deliver programs.

OUR PROGRAMS AND SERVICES The MCEC capacity to deliver real-time, relevant programs and services that meet the needs of students, parents, and professionals is unparalleled. These high quality programs are standards-based and focus on local communities and institutions. The MCEC programs and services are used daily in school districts and in trainings throughout military-connected communities. These services include student and parent programs; professional development; trainings and events; technology, resources and publications; and support.

Examples of the MCEC Programs, Services, and Professional Development

The MCEC Student Programs: Student 2 Student (S2S) and Junior Student 2 Student (JS2S) – Civilian and military-connected students establish and sustain peer-based programs in their schools to support mobile children as they transition to and from the school. Currently over 300 high schools operate S2S programs and 280 middle schools have JS2S programs.

Early Literacy Efforts (ELE): Assists those caring for young children by developing a child’s literacy skills and fostering a love for learning. Includes a number of helpful resource books and materials.

The MCEC Parent Program: Parent to Parent – Empowers parents to be their child’s strongest advocate on educational and social issues. The program trains a team of parents from installation areas to bring the MCEC Parent Workshops to their local communities to help spread this important message. Over 125,000 military-connected family members have been trained through the MCEC Parent to Parent program.

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Military Student Transition Consultant (MSTC): The MSTC program provides eight school districts serving high popu-lations of military-connected children and youth with a highly qualified Transition Consultant to assist families with transition issues. MSTCs serve as first responders to military-connected families, facilitating and enhancing transition and deployment support functions for local school districts. The consultant augments the services provided by the instal-lation-based School Liaison Officers (SLOs), which maximizes the expert services available through the installation (the SLO) and provides a professional advocate inside the school environment.

The MCEC Accredited Professional Development Programs (over 20,000 professionals trained):• Transition Counselors Institute Phase I (TCI-I) and Transition Counselors Institute Phase II (TCI-II) – Prepare school

guidance professionals and other educators to recognize and address the unique, and sometimes challenging, transitions of the military-connected child in pre-Kindergarten through high school. TCI consists of two phases and is an accredited, graduate level, two-day professional development institute.

• Supporting Children of the National Guard and Reserves Institute (GRI) – Provides community members with the knowledge needed to raise community awareness about the issues faced by children of activated National Guard and Reserve forces.

• Living in the New Normal: Helping Military-Connected Children Thrive through Good and Challenging Times Institute (LINN-I) – A two-day, graduate level institute outlining specific community resources, deployment information, and practical strategies for encouraging resilience in all children. Educators and community professionals create a unique plan for implementing resilience skills and local resources.

• Living in the New Normal: Helping Military-Connected Children Thrive through Good and Challenging Times Practicum (LINN-P) – This one-day session provides parents, childcare practitioners, educators, family readiness group leaders, and other concerned adults with the knowledge and tools to develop resilient children who will be better able to meet the challenges of deployment and separation.

• Special Education Leaders Institute Phase I (SELI-I) and Special Education Leaders Institute Phase II (SELI-II) – Promotes awareness of the amplified transition challenges for children with special needs and trains professional educators and the military in response options and processes. The SELI is an accredited, graduate level, two-day professional development institute that includes rich, practical resources. SELI consists of two phases.

• Health Professionals Institute (HPI) – The MCEC Health Professionals Institute is a multi-faceted program for health professionals to build ongoing cycles of support, assessment, and program development for military-connected students. This enables health professionals to also educate their peers about how best to care for our nation’s military-connected children and youth.

The MCEC Awareness and Training Events:• The MCEC National Training Seminar – An annual event since 1999, the National Training Seminar assembles military

leaders, educators, parents, students, and community members from around the world. It focuses on sharing knowledge, professional development and training.

• Living in the New Normal: Helping Military-Connected Children Thrive through Good and Challenging Times Public Engagement (LINN-PE) – A day-long session that invites state and community leaders to collaborate in identifying their capabilities, synchronizing their resources, and planning homefront responses to support children during times of uncertainty due to deployments, transitions, and other challenges.

• Special Needs Symposia: Supporting Children with Unique Learning Needs – Challenges leaders in every field to consider appropriate and sustainable responses for military children who learn differently.

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The MCEC Technology, Resources, Publications, and Support:• Comprehensive Website: www.MilitaryChild.org – A valuable resource for students, parents, educators, community

members, caring individuals, members, and military leadership.

• On the Move Magazine – The MCEC award-winning magazine is published twice yearly featuring articles on current issues and topics of interest to anyone involved with military-connected children.

• Ask Aunt Peggie – Aunt Peggie, a former school teacher and administrator, responds to questions submitted online. Her responses are thoroughly researched and current. A link is located on the MCEC websites.

• SchoolQuest: www.SchoolQuest.org – Designed for military students, their families, and the professionals who support them, SchoolQuest is well-suited to anyone who is “questing” for information about schools, college and workplace readiness and transition. The site facilitates the search for new schools and centralized resources.

THE MCEC RESEARCH-INFORMED WORK

The MCEC has many years of successful experience with major projects involving school transition and deployments, and their academic implications for all military-connected school-age children. We conducted ground-breaking research for the U.S. Army with the Secondary Education Transition Study (SETS) in 2001. This study pointed out many of the barriers that military-connected children encounter. From this study there has been a growth of support for military-connected students; over 400 school districts have signed the SETS Memorandum of Agreement in support of military children. The SETS findings, and the resulting Guiding Principles, provided the foundation for the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, which currently 43 states have enacted.

Since the 2001 Secondary Education Transition Study, the MCEC has continued to do research in support of military-connected children. The following are examples of our major projects:

• Education of the Military Child—21st Century (EMC-21 2009 – 2012) – The U.S. Army contracted MCEC to conduct a mixed method research project in 11 Local Education Authorities to look at school transitions, barriers to gifted programs, effects of multiple deployments on a child’s education, and a scan of the home schooling community. This study involved 900 interviews of teachers, administrators, parents, and 5th-12th grade students.

• U.S. Pacific Command Transition Study (2003-2004) – The MCEC was contracted to conduct quantitative and qualitative research and develop a research-based template to provide an actionable structure for the improvement of transitions for military students in and out of the Hawaii public schools.

• What Transitioning Military Families with Children who have Special Needs Currently Experience, Phase I (June 2005) – Initial phase to conduct an understanding of how the Army serves families with children who have special needs.

• Pre-K for Military Families: Honoring Service, Educating Children, PreK Now and the Pew Foundation (July 2007) – This policy research resulted in a report recommending that state policymakers consider the unique social, emotional, and educational challenges of the military lifestyle by providing young children with access to high-quality public school pre-kindergarten.

• What Transitioning Military Families with Children who have Special Needs Currently Experience Phase II (July 2009) – This work focused on the areas of communication and continuity of care to support children during school and PCS transitions.

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The MCEC Current Research Projects:• Math Power Standards – With the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the MCEC is conducting

research leading to the creation of tools centered around the Common Core Standards and the development of “math power standards.” Proficiency in these standards will enable military children to transition between states without losing essential skills and concepts.

The MCEC has been a committed partner in conducting research, identifying and prioritizing needs, coordinating and delivering solutions, and establishing partnerships to provide the network of support to address the educational transition needs of military families since our establishment in 1998. In addition to school districts, parents, veterans and communities, we work with U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard and the Office of the Secretary of Defense every day advocating and supporting military-connected education transition efforts. We have worked to help build comprehensive support programs and networks and we are dedicated to continuing that effort and expanding our ability to deliver innovative services, solutions, and people to meet mission objectives.

“Military Child Education Coalition®,” “MCEC®” and associated trademarks and design elements are owned by the Military Child Education Coalition. © 2012 Military Child Education Coalition. All Rights Reserved

909 Mountain Lion CircleHarker Heights, Texas 76548

(254) 953-1923www.MilitaryChild.org

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