Giving Compass' Take:

• Under ESSA, the Military Student Identifier can track whether or not students with military parents have attended school or not and can understand how well they are performing. 

• How can military parents become involved in the process of helping educators figure out their child's needs? 

• Read more about the education struggles of military children. 

There is at least a 50 percent chance that children in military families are starting at yet another new school this year. Military families regularly get new duty station orders and must begin — again — the process of moving to a new community, house, and school. Usually, these moves happen with very little warning for families or the schools their children will be attending.

Beyond these well-known and high-frequency military family transitions, what do we know about the educational experiences, outcomes, or postsecondary readiness of military-connected students? What works best in helping these children succeed?

With the new Military Student Identifier required by the Every Student Succeeds Act, educators, families, administrators, and policymakers can better understand whether these students and the schools they attend are succeeding — and why. It also will help inform military families about which schools may be the best fit for their children’s needs.

Under ESSA, every state and district must collect and report assessment data on students with a parent who is active duty in the Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy, Coast Guard, or full-time National Guard. Assessment data is obviously not new; what is different is that the data will be tied to this specific subgroup, which should provide teachers, administrators, schools, and families with a clearer understanding of how these students are performing and any potential supports needed.

Our new report by the Lexington Institute and Collaborative for Student Success, Getting School Districts Ready for the Military Student Identifier, identifies a number of essential practices for meeting the needs of military-connected students and effectively using the MSI under ESSA.

Read the full article about Military Student Identifier by Doug Mesecar and Don Soifer at The 74