For Youth & Teens – Benefits

School liaisons are located at each installation and are the main contact for military families, local school systems and installation command for school-related matters pre-K through grade 12. If you’re looking for help with education questions, your installation school liaison can connect you with the support you need.

School liaisons help with transition support before and after a PCS and assist military-connected children with Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children compliance. School liaisons can provide information on school districts and boundaries, assist with transfer of credits and class registration, help locate after-school and extracurricular programs, set up tutoring and youth sponsorship referrals, and help with college, career and military readiness.

They can also connect you to your installation Exceptional Family Member Program and help you navigate your new school district’s special education program.

School liaison support is free of charge and open to all DOD identification card holders, educators who service military-connected students and community partners involved with pre-K-12 education. Learn more about school liaisons, or contact your local school liaison for help with all your educational needs.

The Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children is an agreement among states to help alleviate some of the school transition problems that happen with frequent moves. All 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity, or DODEA, participate to make sure your student graduates on time. The compact helps out in four major areas:

• Enrollment: The compact helps with education records, immunizations, and kindergarten and first grade entrance.
• Placement and attendance: The compact ensures that your children won’t miss appropriate placement in required classes, advanced placement, special education services while awaiting evaluation at their new school and even absences related to deployments.
• Eligibility: The compact makes a smoother transition when it comes to your children’s eligibility whether it’s initial enrollment or participation in extracurricular activities.
• Graduation: The compact ensures that a move won’t affect your high schooler’s graduation.

If you have questions about the Interstate Compact and how it applies to your child, reach out to your local school liaison for assistance.

The DOD MWR Libraries is a great resource to assist your child or teen with educational needs and make learning fun through its expansive, personalized and often interactive resources that reach across all levels of learning. You can connect your student to live online help and tutors, access eLearning tutorials and reading materials, and use practice exams to help prepare your teen for postsecondary education. You’ll find educational resources for all ages, plus plenty of content for hobbies and special interests, including:

• Primary education resources — Your child can access learning resources including NoveList® K-8 Plus, which helps younger readers find books that are just right for their reading level and interests; Gale in Context: Elementary, which introduces elementary students to database searching with resources featuring age-appropriate, curriculum-related content — helpful for independent school projects; and BookFlix® (from Scholastic), a digital literacy resource that pairs classic video storybooks with related nonfiction titles to reinforce early reading skills and cultivates key reading skills, supports reluctant readers and English language learners, and builds fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension.
• Secondary education resources — Numerous resources for your high school student include encyclopedia articles, journals and periodicals, multimedia, primary sources, games and other learning resources that are curriculum aligned and support student research and classroom teaching. Specific programs include Gale in Context: Middle School, a reference resource for grades 6-12 by national and state curriculum standards; Britannica® Annals of American History, offering a rich and varied history of the United States; and Britannica® School Edition, which offers safe, up-to-date and age-appropriate information for primary, middle and high school students.
• Home/leisure content available to children and teens — Help your children access a variety of content that can be explored and enjoyed during downtime. Special interest material includes ArtistWorks for Libraries, which provides patrons with world-class instruction through self-paced video lessons from Grammy Award–winning music and artistic professionals; ComicsPlus® Library Edition, which offers access to all major genres of more than 20,000 comics and graphic novels from more than 100 publishers; and The Great Courses Library Collection, which offers access to hundreds of courses taught by internationally recognized university faculty members from leading institutions of higher learning across the globe.
• DOD MWR Summer Reading Program — Students who keep reading in the summer score higher on achievement tests and score better in academic classes than nonreaders. Children who read for pleasure take these skills beyond the classroom. Encourage reading for the entire family, bridge the summer learning gap, and inspire literacy and lifelong learning by enrolling your children in the DOD MWR Summer Reading Program.

Extenuating circumstances sometimes create challenges for students completing their secondary education. The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program is available to both military-connected teens as well as any teen needing help getting back on track to graduate from high school. The program provides teenagers a chance to teach themselves self-discipline, leadership and responsibility as they work toward a high school diploma or equivalency.

The voluntary 5 ½-month residential program is followed by a year-long mentorship. The program teaches applicable skills including academic excellence, life-coping skills, job skills, leadership and responsible citizenship.

Managing the care and services for a family member with special needs is more manageable with the right support. The goal of the Exceptional Family Member Program is to help your military family member with special needs thrive in military life. EFMP is more than just one program or connection point — it’s the work of three components: identification and enrollment, assignment coordination and family support. The resources, tools and services that are available to support your journey are organized as part of the Military OneSource special needs consultants. Find out how EFMP works across these three parts to ensure the best support and experience for you and your family member. Find installation EFMP family support near you.

Special needs consultants through Military OneSource can point you to benefits that are available for families with special needs. Your consultant can help connect you with information, resources, services and more, including:

• Early intervention and special education
• Education Directory for Children With Special Needs, which helps military families make informed assignment decisions and easier transitions
• Options for when your child graduates from high school
• Exceptional Family Member Program identification and enrollment
• Recreational referrals to specialized summer camps and other extracurricular activities

The mission of the Military Child Education Coalition is to ensure quality educational opportunities for all military- and veteran-connected children affected by mobility, transition and family separation. They offer a variety of programs, such as:

• Student 2 Student programs that train civilian and military high school students to establish peer-based programs in their schools to support children transitioning to new schools
• Parenting resources, webinars and podcasts that teach parents to be strong advocates for their children on educational and social issues
• The Frances Hesselbein Student Leadership Program that identifies exceptional young people through their participation in the Student 2 Student program
• The Call for the Arts Program that encourages military children to express themselves through art to communicate and celebrate their military lives

Parents can learn about DOD education benefits and parenting resources that are available to help you support your children’s education.

• Find parenting support as you assist your children with their education. Discover parenting benefits, the military parent resource center and top parenting resources offered through Military OneSource.
• A number of education resources are available to help parents navigate their children’s education. Find K-12 education resources, help your children change schools and prepare for your child’s college education.
• Deployment can be a challenging time for your family and, specifically, your child’s education. Find resources to support your family as you prepare for deployment and beyond, including parenting through deployment and staying connected with your child’s teachers during deployment.

• The DOD and Military OneSource offer a number of adoption and foster care essential resources for support if you are considering foster care or adoption. Military OneSource consultants can help you understand the aspects of adoption and fostering that are unique to military life, the different types of adoption, financial benefits, how to find information on the ins and outs of home studies and more.