January 9, 2003
More and more tearful goodbyes are happening across the country between American children and parents who are being deployed because of impending war. However, children of the American military fare surprisingly well when Mom or Dad is halfway around the world. "There is a cohesive network of support for children who live and attend schools on military bases," said Claire Smrekar, Vanderbilt University associate professor of educational leadership. Smrekar has done a major study looking at why students in Department of Defense-run schools score higher on national reading and writing tests than public school students. The system that kicks in when deployments are announced on base plays a role in the students’ success.
"It’s part of the culture at school for these kids,” Smrekar said. “Teachers and school counselors know which kids’ parents are being deployed. The schools are well informed by military command and many of the teachers grew up in the military so they understand what the students are dealing with," Smrekar said. During her visit to a military base in Germany, Smrekar saw school personnel being fitted for battle fatigues. The base school had decided that the superintendent and teachers should visit the parents deployed to Kosovo so school personnel could offer even more support to help students cope. Recently, Smrekar spent a week at Ft. Campbell military base in Kentucky and is now working on a paper focusing on social networks and support systems, neighborhoods and student success in schools on that post.
Smrekar’s other research interests include school choice policy in the post-busing era and the relationship between parental work patterns and school involvement. She is the author of two books: The Impact of School Choice and Community: In the Interest of Families and Schools and School Choice in Urban America: Magnet Schools and the Pursuit of Equity.