The “Military Student Identifier” Provision
June 6, 2016
ESSA now requires states to track military children as a “vulnerable subgroup” under the “military student identifier” provision, but The 74 Million reports that many states may be unprepared to comply with the regulation. States must now collect and report on “test scores, attendance and graduation rates” for the more than 1.8 million children “whose parents are U.S. service members as they do with “students who are followed because of their socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, disability, English language proficiency and gender.” However, one advocate found during a meeting with New York state education officials “had no idea this (provision) existed.” Advocates anticipate “being able to show policymakers less anecdotal and “more intentional” data that will lead to better and more efficient services for them, such as targeted academic help and mental health counseling.” Read more here.