Click to download the Partnership Awards Booklet

OUTSTANDING COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP AWARD – K-12
Cannon Air Force Base, Clovis Municipal Schools & Clovis Community:
Caring, Competent & Committed Partnership – New Mexico

EXEMPLARY COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP AWARD – K-12
Breaking the Code towards Strengthening Positive Outcomes for the Norfolk Military Community – Virginia

EXEMPLARY COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP AWARD – K-12
Columbus Air Force Base, The Military & School Partnership of Columbus and Lowndes County - Mississippi

RECOGNIZED COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP AWARD – K-12
Alamogordo Public Schools and Holloman Air Force Base – New Mexico

RECOGNIZED COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP AWARD – K-12
GEAR UP 2 LEAD STEM - Missouri

OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL PROJECT/INITIATIVE
PARTNERSHIP AWARD – K-12
Norfolk Collegiate Lower School-2019 Month of the Military Child and Purple Star Celebration - Virginia

RECOGNIZED INDIVIDUAL PROJECT/INITIATIVE
PARTNERSHIP AWARD – K-12
Sustainable Environment Month - Texas

Listen to Ms. Kim Joiner and Jaren #KnowYourMil Podcast

with S2S Student Leaders

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Listen to Inspiring Young People to Get a Post-Secondary Education Podcast

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Listen to Growing Character: Lessons from West Point and the Army with Dr. Matthews and Dr. Callina Podcast

Special Enrichment Session
Documentary & Discussion

Watch the Trailer! Special Screening: Won't You Be My Neighbor? Featuring Facilitated Discussion and Hands-On Application Activities Following the screening, join your fellow viewers for a facilitated discussion highlighting how all of us can apply the lessons we’ve learned from Fred Rogers to put children’s social emotional learning in the forefront. Discussion Facilitators Stephen J. Cozza, MD View Bio Ellen DeVoe, MSW, Ph.D. View Bio James Markert View Bio

Listen to Leveraging Military Family Strengths Podcast

Listen to The Well-Being of Military Families Podcast

Listen to Exploring Convoys of Social Support with Dr. Rich Lerner and Dr. Stephen Cozza Podcast

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Listen to the College Board Podcast

Listen to Promoting Healing after Disasters & Violence Podcast

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In this workshop, participants examine an effective, collaborative mathematics classroom through the Pre-AP Algebra 1 Framework, areas of focus, and shared instructional principles. Teachers build models that let students access critical content through close observation and analysis, higher-order questioning, evidence-based writing, academic conversation, and mathematical argumentation. Participants learn how to plan for and implement observation and analysis, collaborative group structures, and higher-order questions that promote academic conversations in their daily instruction. 

Objectives:

• Explore connections between a safe, collaborative, inquiry-focused mathematics classroom and Pre-AP content areas of focus and shared instructional principles.
• Develop a plan that implements Pre-AP shared instructional principles to foster mathematical mindsets.

Click here to view the session flier

Click to Download the Session Slide Deck

Brief Description:
This session will highlight the innovative KIBO robotics program used in the Norfolk (VA) Public Schools that integrates computer science with other disciplines for children, PreK-2.  Participants will examine hands-on the basics of coding/programming, engineering, and robotics using the engaging KIBO curriculum.

Objectives

• Identify the professional development strategies to promote coding and computational thinking in early childhood education.
• Explore the KIBO student curriculum and the teacher-preparation professional development curriculum.
• Experience first-hand how the KIBO system works and is integrated into pre-K through second grade curriculum.

Brief Description:
This session will highlight the innovative KIBO robotics program used in the Norfolk (VA) Public Schools that integrates computer science with other disciplines for children, PreK-2.  Participants will examine hands-on the basics of coding/programming, engineering, and robotics using the engaging KIBO curriculum.

Objectives

• Identify the professional development strategies to promote coding and computational thinking in early childhood education.
• Explore the KIBO student curriculum and the teacher-preparation professional development curriculum.
• Experience first-hand how the KIBO system works and is integrated into pre-K through second grade curriculum.

Click to Download the Session Slide Deck

Brief Description:
When does normal worry become anxiety in young children?  And, then what do we do?  This workshop explores the medical, psychological and academic implications of childhood anxiety and then guides you to collaboratively develop an information platform for sharing this knowledge with military, parent and educator groups.

Objectives:

• Gather expert information about childhood anxiety from medical, psychological and educational professionals.
• Begin the development of an Infographic and Dialogue Guide for parents, educators and related service professionals.
• Explore opportunities and methods for utilizing the Infographic & Dialogue tools to assist military parent, educator and related service professional groups.

Click here to view session flier

Brief Description:
Expert panelists will describe the unique strengths and challenges faced by military children as their families transition to civilian life.  These presenters will highlight findings from recent research that focuses on support of these veteran children and will +explore model programs that serve the behavioral health needs of Veteran children and families.  Presenters will include NCTSN collaborators and others. 

Objectives:

• Highlight the uniqueness of the veteran child/family populations (unique strengths and unique challenges, such as culture, secondary traumatization and intergenerational transmission of trauma).
• Present model programs serving the behavioral health needs of veteran children and families.
• Present findings from a national survey of VA and community providers to help support the needs of veterans’ children.
• Describe recent efforts to increase knowledge of the gaps in understanding around the short- and long-term needs of veteran families and children.

Brief Description:
Explore the characteristics of Social-Emotional Learning and various programming models.  Discover how application of SEL in K-12 curriculum benefits our military children and youth through their transitions and family separations.

Objectives:

• Identify characteristics of social-emotional learning
• Analyze different programming in social-emotional learning and differentiate between programs that support military children
• Develop a framework for social-emotional learning programming in personal practice

Click to Download the Session Slide Deck

Brief Description:
Depression in adolescents and teens seems to have reached epidemic proportions. Gather medical, psychological and academic information from experts about youth depression.  Then, join with other participants in developing an information platform for sharing this knowledge with military, parent, educator and related service professional groups.

Objectives:

• Gather expert information about depression in youth from medical, psychological and educational professionals
• Begin the development of an Infographic and Dialogue Guide for parents, educators and related service professionals.
• Explore opportunities and methods for utilizing the Infographic & Dialogue tools to assist military parent, educator and related service professional groups.

This session joins two leading researchers and a panel of military-connected youth for an important conversation about experiences during their family's military service. Most significantly the discussion will highlight how growing up as a military-connected child relates to each student's current strengths, hopes and aspirations.    

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Leveraging Military Family Strengths

Childhood anxiety and pervasive depression in youth are concerns for educators and parents alike.  A panel of experts who work with military-connected children will share diagnostic and treatment information, along with the beginnings of Information Guides that can be shared among parent, military and educator groups.

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5 Actions for Exceptional Parents with Dr. Paul Ban

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A Village of Hope with Dr. Eric Flake and his daughter Kelsey

In 2006, the Council of State Governments’ (CSG) National Center for Interstate Compacts (NCIC), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense, national associations, federal and state officials, State Departments’ of Education, and school administrators drafted the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. The Compact provides for the uniform treatment of military children transferring between school districts and states by addressing key educational transition such as: eligibility, enrollment, placement and graduation. The Commission, composed of fifty member states and the District of Columbia, work in concert to help ease the transitions of military children as they transfer interstate between public and Department of Defense schools.  In this introductory session, learn how the Compact works, state structure and implementation, rules and regulations, and how the Compact supports military students. 

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Military Interstate Children's Compact Commission (MIC3)

Strong Families Strong Forces is a family-centered parenting program developed to support military families with very young children through all phases of the deployment lifecycle. In the post-9/11 era, approximately 2.8 million service members have experienced wartime deployment and nearly half are parents (RAND 2018). Children under age 6 are the largest age group (40%) and are dependent upon parents and caregivers to provide a secure base for growth and well-being in the early years of rapid developmental progression. Prolonged parent-child separation, including military-related family separations, strains the family system and presents unique challenges for very young children. Key principles of the Strong Families program, including the application of reflective practice, a stance of cultural humility, use of military-specific developmental guidance, and consideration of the phase of deployment, will be discussed. The potential implications of early childhood experiences of parental deployment for practitioners and educators will be addressed.

A 2017 research blueprint, commissioned by the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, and conducted by the RAND Corporation, revealed that no published studies exist exploring the impact of caregiving on the children of military caregivers. Despite this, we understand that the family dynamic is markedly different where one parent is injured, and the other a caregiver. In July of 2018, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and the National Military Family Association partnered with support from Wounded Warrior Project to host a convening to understand the key issues facing the children of military caregivers today, and to develop a plan for collecting further information and advancing support for these hidden heroes.

In early 2019, EDF and NFMA unveiled the report from that event and launched an exploratory study to further understand the needs of these children. This session will walk through the recommendations of the report and share preliminary findings that will continue to shape our collective understanding of the needs and challenges of our nation’s military caregivers and their children.

Electronic Health Records (EHR) have become indispensable for the safe practice of modern medicine, and this is especially true for the Military Health System, where beneficiaries frequently move, receive care from both government and civilian providers, and have access to a very robust benefit.  This discussion will explore the current and future uses of EHRs in the Military Health System and highlight the safe guards in place to protect patient privacy.  While the uses of EHR bring many benefits, there are also some risks specific to the Military Health System.  Specifically addressed in the session will be  recently voiced concerns about the use of the military medical records of military children to inform decisions about whether those children meet accessions standards for entry into active duty military service. In addition to ethical concerns and a probable added burden to military children (in comparison to their civilian counterparts whose medical records are often not available for review), the discussion will explore possible untoward consequences of such practices, including stigmatization or the reluctance of military parents to seek required mental health services for their children. Lastly, discussion will highlight how the population of American youth is increasingly diagnosed with mental health conditions and have received treatment. This reality will make fewer and fewer children eligible for service based upon current accessions standards.

“Support military families! Support military kids!” -It’s a rallying call we all here often, and you are here because you care about and want to support military kids…. But what does “support our kids” actually mean?  This conversation will outline four major military life events, discuss emerging trends impacting each event, and illustrate how they affect military kids. It will offer actionable solutions for parents, teachers, administrators, and state policy-makers to help alleviate unnecessary burdens on military families and help the set the conditions for military students to thrive.

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Blue Star Families 

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Military Family Advisory Network

The barriers to health and wellbeing, the search for acceptance, and the path to empowerment that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth experience, in general, are well documented. The unique experiences of youth who are both military-connected and LGBTQ, however, are under-researched. This session poses hypotheses related to this intersection and explores perspectives on the landscape of resources and how to best support young people and their families. 

Are those Impact Aid forms Important?  Why should I fill them out?  Come to this session to find out the answers to these questions and more. We will discuss the purpose of Impact Aid and the problem it is intended to address.  Public school districts educate more than 80 percent of military-connected children.  The leaders of these districts take their jobs seriously and are proud to support the mission of their neighboring installations.

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Impact Aid

For over a decade, Sesame Street for Military Families (SS4MF) has worked to support children and families through the challenges of relocations, deployments, and transitions. While helping families navigate times of separation and change, we have found that these unique experiences can lead to another big challenge – bullying. Moving to a new neighborhood and building new friendships requires a lot of resilience and courage. When children face bullying behaviors from peers – whether physical aggression, name-calling, or exclusion – they need support from trusted adults to help recognize and handle bullying. Join us for a practical look at how we can intervene when we recognize that a child is experiencing bullying, and how we can prevent bullying behaviors by helping children learn to express their emotions differently.  Come join us for an interactive session with free Sesame resources and some extra surprised and giveaways you won’t want to miss!

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Sesame Street for Military Families: Recognizing and Preventing Bullying

Military-connected students often face the realities of acclimating to new schools, acquiring new relationships and coping with parental deployments while maintaining academic expectations. The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) through their Partnership Grant Program partners with U.S. public schools to support school environments that are supportive transition experiences and encourage education continuity  In this distinguished lecture, DoDEA grantees will showcase age-appropriate, evidence-based best practices in transition support to K-12 military-connected students. Grantees will describe their transition support goals, model, services and impact of their implementation model on students and their community.  The lecture will conclude with dialogue between grantees and attendees regarding the importance of transition support on student impact.

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DoDEA Programs

In this interactive session, committee members will facilitate roundtable discussions around study topics and recommendations. Participants will have an opportunity to pose questions to committee members to reflect on the report themes and delve into what the recommendations mean for the DoD. The session will be conducted in three rounds, with 15 minutes during each round. During each round participants sit in on a table topic of interest to them. 

Click here to view the infographic