Let DeKalb school march to success

The resistance to a military-style public high school in DeKalb County surprises me. No one will be forced to enroll in the DeKalb Marine Corps Institute when it opens in the fall as a magnet school, and similar academies elsewhere have waiting lists.

Given the clamor for public school choice, the institute should be treated as another option. There are kids who could flourish under a more disciplined approach to education.

“One size does not fit all. For the mom who believes her child is capable of going to college but lacks discipline, this is a choice,” says DeKalb Superintendent Crawford Lewis.

Slated to open in August, the unique school will focus on math and science and eventually house 650 students who will take 15 college credit hours in their senior year. It will be led by both a principal from the academic side and a commandant from the Marines. Chicago pioneered the military academies and now has a Marine Military Academy, a Naval Academy, and three Army academies, and plans to open Air Force Academy High School in the fall.

As leader of the Chicago schools, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan encouraged an array of school models. In a Chicago Tribune op-ed piece, Duncan wrote: “We have 125 high schools in Chicago. Just five of them are military academies. The students who attend the academies are there by choice. These schools offer students a quality learning option that is in high demand, and the learning takes place in an environment distinguished by discipline, focus and leadership — skills that all people need to thrive in college or work.”

Chicago’s military academies feature the same college prep curriculum and impose the same graduation standards as other high schools. While classes were taught by certified teachers, the schools are led by both principals and commandants. Students — called cadets — enlist in the Junior ROTC, wear uniforms and practice drills.

Despite allegations that the schools are a recruitment ploy, most Chicago students don’t join the military after graduation. When Chicago surveyed its graduating JROTC students in both military and non-military high schools in 2007, only 7 percent reported considering a career in the military. Most planned to attend college.

Evidence shows that applying military training models to education works for some kids. For example, an ongoing evaluation of the National Guard Youth Challenge Program, which works with teens 16 to 18 who have dropped out of high school and are unemployed, has found the approach highly effective in getting kids back in school and into college.

There’s also been great success in a pilot program under way at Fort Jackson. Designed to help soldiers who lack high school diplomas, the Army Preparatory School has amassed an impressive record — 99 percent of the 400 soldiers who have attended the pilot have earned a General Educational Development credential. Nationally, only 72 percent of students in GED programs earn the high-school-equivalency certificate.

Those who fear Department of Defense meddling in education might be reassured if they visited schools operated by the military. At first glance, children of military personnel attending Department of Defense schools on bases overseas and here at home would seem an unlikely group to achieve. Thirty-five percent move each year, 50 percent qualify for reduced lunches, signifying low family income, and most have parents with only high school educations. Yet these children outscore most of their peers in the rigorous National Assessment of Educational Progress tests and have a 97 percent high school graduation rate.

In an evaluation of the military-base schools by Vanderbilt University, researchers concluded, “Department of Defense schools simultaneously ‘do the right things’ and ‘do things right.’ “

If the DeKalb Marine Institute follows suit, students in the county can only benefit.