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The Department of Defense Education Activity has 191 schools
catering to children of servicemembers and DoD civilians around the world.
James Williams recently toured Fort Knox High
to learn how students there benefit from an on-post school.
[ambient chatter]
[Williams] Fort Knox High School opened the doors of its new facility this school year.
It replaces a 50-year-old structure.
[S. Turner] I think that military children deserve it.
Their parents risk their lives for us every day.
They need to have a school that's the very best for them.
[Williams] Principal Sarah Turner says DoDEA schools offer a competitive curriculum,
especially in the area she calls strategic foreign languages.
[Turner] Which are things like Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese.
[Williams] In any given school year, more than half the students at Fort Knox High
are new to the school.
Given such a challenge, Turner says the faculty pays special attention
to ensuring the students' needs are met.
We do many things to try to ensure that their credits transfer appropriately,
that they graduate on time.
[Williams] Jennifer Mason is a long-term substitute at Fort Knox High
and has a child who is a student.
Mason says she and her husband looked at public schools as an option
but gave the DoDEA schools a better grade.
When we compared them against the experience
that the DoDEA teachers have with military children
and we compared nationwide testing scores,
we just found that at Fort Knox we felt like their education would be more well-rounded
and also be quality education.
[Williams] Turner credits the professional development training
Fort Knox teachers receive for that quality education.
Our teachers are very caring.
I think that's a big issue in military schools
is that you have to make a connection with the kids
because if you can't make that connection,
then everything that comes after that is not going to work.
James Williams, Fort Knox, Kentucky.