The Military Child Education Coalition is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, world-wide organization that identifies the challenges that face the highly mobile military child, increases awareness of these challenges in military and educational communities
and initiates and implements programs to meet the challenges. MCEC's goal is to level the educational playing field for military children wherever they are located around the world and to serve as a model for all highly mobile children.

Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) # 10261

Military Child Education Coalition Web Site:
www.militarychild.org

State-by-State Education Resource Center Web Site: www.militarychild.org/URC.asp

SchoolQuest, a powerful MCEC web tool that allows parents and children to match needs with their new schools: www.schoolquest.org

The Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC™) is pleased to join the military community and the entire nation in celebrating April as the "Month of the Military Child." In 1986, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger recognized the importance of military-connected children and their role in military families when he established April as "Month of the Military Child" in a Defense Department commemoration. The MCEC™ is proud to serve the needs of military-connected children and to take time this month to recognize their many sacrifices and contributions. 

In special honor of "Month of the Military Child," MCEC™ has distributed posters to schools, military communities and organizations all around the world. Some examples of ways that the MCEC™ is further honoring the military-connected child can be found below.

The MCEC™ was pleased to join its partners Sesame Workshop, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and the New York State Office of Mental Health (NYSOMH) in recently announcing new research demonstrating the positive impact the Talk, Listen, Connect program has had on military-connected families across the country. Since August 2006, more than 400,000 of the free, educational kits have been distributed to help families and caregivers cope with the process of deployment. Wal-Mart also announced plans to make the kits even more widely through its Web site.

Read Press Release

The MCEC™ is pleased to announce the selection of 16 outstanding youth leaders to the first-ever Frances Hesselbein Student Leadership Program. The selected students will travel from across the globe to participate in a week-long training session at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. Inspired by its namesake, Frances Hesselbein, the Frances Hesselbein Student Leadership program will provide a forum in which to explore the topics of leadership, citizenship and character, and provide participants with the tools and resources to apply what they have learned to their school communities. Participants will be coached by the West Point cadets, themselves, and will hear from a variety of inspirational leaders. The Frances Hesselbein Student Leadership Program will take place April 16-20, 2007.

Read Press Release

Click here for more information on the Student 2 Student™ initiative.

• Elmo visited The Today Show in February to promote childhood literacy by announcing the distribution of 10,000 books to military-connected children across the country. Co-host Matt Lauer highlighted the MCEC™’s role in the program. The MCEC™ was pleased to partner with Random House, Inc. and Sesame Workshop to further this important cause.
  
  Watch the MCEC™ on The Today Show!
  
  
• Courtney Potts, one of MCEC's™ Student 2 Student (S2S)™ leaders, was recently interviewed on National Public Radio's (NPR) "Here and Now" program. The show, entitled "When Parents Go to War," features interviews with Courtney and Dr. Angela Huebner of Virginia Tech University. Courtney spoke eloquently of her personal experience dealing with deployment and the ways in which S2S™ has helped her cope. Courtney is a prime example of the resiliency, strength and determination found in supported military-connected children.
  
  Click here to listen to the program in its entirety.
  
  
• The MCEC's™ leadership in helping military families cope with deployment was also highlighted in a recent article in the Austin American-Statesman. The article discussed the MCEC™ bringing awareness to "the new normal" for military-connected children in a time of war; particularly, the illness, injury, or death of a parent. Living in the New Normal: Supporting Children Through Trauma and Loss™ is MCEC's™ most recent effort to ensure families, educators and concerned adults have the tools and resources to help them support military-connected children in these circumstances.

Zero to Three®, a national non-profit devoted to supporting infants, toddlers and their families, and the MCEC's™ Tell Me A Story™, an initiative designed to support military-connected children through literature, have joined forces in an effort to support our youngest military-connected children. A series of special Tell Me A Story™ events will focus on families with children between the ages of birth and four. The series will kick-off with a reading at Fort Hood, Texas in May. Tell Me A Story™ will host 14 more events at military stations across the country before November.

Tell Me A Story: Making Connections and Finding Support through Literature™ (TMAS™) is designed to empower military children by using literature and their own stories in a way that fosters: skills for resilience, strong peer and parent connections, a sense of pride and accomplishment, and a caring community. The event, delivered by trained facilitators, includes the showcased reading of a selected book, content related discussion, and child centric activities. Each family attending receives a copy of the featured book and supplemental materials. To participate in a TMAS™ event in your area contact MCEC at (254) 953-1923.

Aunt Peggie, an expert researcher for the MCEC™, serves as a trusted resource for families and educators around the world, and has answered thousands of e-mails over the years. She is a former military-connected child who attended nine schools by grade 12. Her 34 years of experience in school administration and the classroom have made her a fountain of information on all things military and education. 

1. We are scheduled to transfer to a new base this summer. How do we locate the best school for our children?

2. My father is active duty military. Are there any scholarships that I qualify for because I am a military dependent?

3. My daughter's birthday is after the required September 1 qualification date for kindergarten at her new school. She qualified in our home state and I don't want her to fall behind when we go back home. What can I do?

4. We are scheduled to move in January and I understand the new state's schools administer the state assessment in February. Will our children in third and fifth grade be expected to take state level tests in their new school?

5. Our son is in the Gifted and Talented program in his current school, but we will be moving soon to a new state. I have already called his new school and I was told that I must complete all these forms for screening and that he will have to be tested again! The testing is not scheduled until after school begins and this means he will miss at least two months in the correct classes. What can I do?

For the answers to these questions, visit "Ask Aunt Peggie" today! 

Still have questions? Email "Aunt Peggie" at pwatson@military.org.

• Fall 2006
• Winter 2007