National Leadership Role in Education for Military Children

National Leadership Role in Education for Military Children

mic3CRDG Director Kathleen Berg is in her second term as the Hawai‘i State Commissioner for the Military Interstate Children’s Compact Commission (MIC3), the national governing body of the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. The compact was designed to ease the transitions from school to school and from state to state that are part of the reality for children in military families, due to regular moves between postings. Thirty-eight states, which are home to nearly 90 percent of military dependent students in the nation’s public schools, had become members of the compact by the end of 2012.

While the armed services have made great strides in easing the transition for personnel, their spouses, and— very importantly—their children, much remains to be done at the state and local levels. Hawai‘i has been at the forefront of those efforts, and the state continued its leadership role with Berg’s election in November as chair of the MIC3.

The goals of the organization going forward include recruiting the remaining states and the District of Columbia into the compact. When this is achieved, policies affecting school transitions will be uniform throughout the nation and military children will not be penalized, or their educational opportunities reduced, as a result of their parents’ service in the armed forces of the United States.

Berg, who became director of CRDG in 2012, retired from military service in 2009 as brigadier general in the Hawai‘i Air National Guard and has served as associate director of CRDG since 2003. Her most recent research interests have centered on issues affecting military dependent students in Hawai‘i public schools.