60 Years ...
DoDEA Vision:
"Communities committed to success for ALL students."DoDEA Mission:
"To provide an exemplary education that inspires and prepares all DoDEA students for success in a dynamic, global environment."
DoDDS Celebrates 60+ Years!
Background and History:
The Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DODDS), was established following World War II. At the end of the war, there was no precedent to follow for establishing and operating dependents schools in foreign occupied countries - quite often, parents organized small schools.
The Department of the Army established the first dependents schools, on and off military installations, in 1946 in the occupied countries of Germany, Austria and Japan. Within three years, there were nearly 100 schools which were operated separately by the three U.S. military services (Army, Navy and Air Force) in countries around the world.
In 1964 the Secretary of Defense combined the three separate school systems into the Department of Defense Overseas Dependents School System. The worldwide system was then divided into three geographic areas. The Army operated all schools in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The Air Force operated all schools in the Pacific (Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea and Midway Island). The Navy operated all school in the Atlantic (Iceland, Labrador, Newfoundland, Bermuda, Eleuthera, Antigua and Cuba).
During the 1960s and 1970s, worldwide enrollment averaged 160,000. In 1976 a Joint House-Senate Conference Committee Report informed the three military departments that the Department of Defense was taking over the operation of the military dependents schools. A newly-established office in the Pentagon - the Office of Overseas Dependents Education, responsible to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs - took oversight of the schools. In 1979, the Office of Overseas Dependents Education became the Department of Defense Dependent Schools. The three geographic areas (Europe, Atlantic and Pacific) were reconfigured into six geographic regions (Atlantic, Germany North, Germany South, Mediterranean, Panama and Pacific); each with a regional director and several district superintendents. In 1983 the Germany North and Germany South regions were combined into a single Germany region.
Following the end of the Cold War, the number of DoDDS schools was reduced and combined with the U.S.-based Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools (DDESS) to form the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA).
Today, DoDEA operates more than 192 public schools in 14 districts located in seven U.S. states, Puerto Rico, Guam and 12 foreign countries to serve the children of military service members and Department of Defense civilian employees. All schools within DoDEA are fully accredited by U.S. accreditation agencies. Some 90,000 students are enrolled in DoDEA schools, with approximately 59,000 students in the DoDDS system and approximately 25,000 students in the DDESS system. DoDDS employs approximately 6,200 instructional personnel, and DDESS employs approximately 2,900.
