The 75th anniversary was a year-long commemoration. We started our celebration in August 2021, looking at the opening of our first schools in post-World War II in Germany, Japan, and Austria. We concluded the commemoration with graduations at the end of the school year in June 2022.
In between, we acknowledged important milestones and all the entities that comprise DoDEA today. We highlighted our history, significant achievements, and people. Seventy-five years is a wide span of time to cover. We created 3 periods of focus in our systemic campaign.
1946-1975
October – December 2021
1976-1994
January – March 2022
1995-2022
April – June 2022
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“From our early beginnings, DoD schools have maintained an ongoing focus on continuous improvement, and a promise and commitment to ensure 'excellence in education for every student, every day, everywhere.'” - Tom Brady, Director
During the 2021-2022 school year, we celebrated 75 years as a school system. We looked back with gratitude on the remarkable men and women who made it their life’s work to care for, educate, and empower more than 15 million military-connected children who have passed through our doors. The DoDEA experience is characterized by an enduring commitment to excellence in every facet of teaching and learning – to provide military-connected children with the education they need and deserve.
We celebrated DoDEA’s 75th anniversary…Discovering the past, understanding the present, and creating a better future.
DoDEA has a long and proud history of serving military families at locations around the world. The school system we know today as the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), formally began with the establishment of dependents schools in October 1946 in the occupied countries of Germany, Austria and Japan.
Since that foundational year, the DoDEA footprint has expanded across the country and around the globe to meet the educational needs of military-connected youth. Over time, we have grown, merged, consolidated, reorganized, and changed many times.
You can read more about our history from the early days of the western frontier to our current day 21st century schools.
AFN Europe
MC@ Michael Hogan interviews DoDEA Director Tom Brady on our 75th anniversary and the enduring commitment of our teachers to the mission of educating military connected students.
“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way!"
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!
For 75 years DoDEA has educated and graduated military-connected students who have gone on to contribute to and thrive in every aspect of American life and culture; countless men and women who have become richer in many ways because of their unique DoDEA experiences.
Graduation is a culminating event for us as a school system and a highly visible symbol of what college and career readiness means to our students and their families. Our teachers and support staff take pride in the united effort it took to support students and to make this milestone possible for our military connected students.
Through their pursuit of excellence, our graduating students have achieved extraordinary things. This year is no different. As we conclude another successful school year and the next generation of leaders prepare to graduate, DoDEA salutes our graduates. Congratulations Class of 2022!
"Nearly 850 high school seniors are joining DoDEA-Pacific’s 75th graduating class"
By Alex Wilson (Source: Stars and Stripes)
"DoDEA seniors’ last checklist: caps, gowns and diplomas"
By Jennifer H. Svan (Source: Stars and Stripes)
Graduation Exercises at our 41 DoDEA high schools across the school system occurred this year. This year, about 2568 seniors earned a DoDEA diploma.
May 20
Fort Campbell High School
May 21
Fort Knox High School
May 25
Zama High School
May 26
Kinnick High School
May 27
E. J. King High School
M.C. Perry High School
Edgren M/H School
May 29
Bahrain Middle/High School
May 31
Humphreys High School
Alconbury Middle/High School
June 1
Daegu Middle High School
Kaiserslautern High School
Stuttgart High School
Sigonella Middle/High School
Lakenheath High School
June 2
Ansbach High School
Baumholder Middle/High School
Naples Middle/High School
Spangdahlem High School
Yokota High School
June 4
Kubasaki High School
Vilseck High School
Aviano Middle/High School
Quantico Middle/High School
Vicenza High School
Brussels Elementary/High School
June 5
Osan American Middle/High School
Antilles High School
June 9
Ramey Unit School
June 10
Lejeune High School
AFNORTH Middle/High School
SHAPE High School
1995-2022
The modernization and 21st century years (1995-2022) ushered in an era of organizational refinement, change, drawdowns/growth, and forward momentum for the unified school system known today as DoDEA.
On the education front, this period was marked by strategic planning, continuous improvement, enhanced educational opportunities, consistency of practice in curriculum/instruction/assessment, and continuous improvement in student achievement.
In the business operations arena, this era saw the marshalling of talent, fiscal resources, and technology needed to support robust teaching and learning as well as the integration of 21st century technology, tools and facilities across the system.
As the world faced extraordinary encounters with terrorism, conflict, natural disasters, school shootings, racial injustice, and a global pandemic, educators and support personnel mobilized to meet the impact of those challenges in schools and to support and protect military-connected students and families.
While there has been much change over the 75-year history of DoDEA, one thing remains constant -- students are at the core of everything we do. The DoDEA experience has always been characterized by an enduring commitment to excellence in every facet of teaching and learning – to provide military-connected children with the education they need and deserve. From our earliest days, an army of remarkable men and women who made it their life’s work to care for, educate, and empower more than 15-million military-connected children who have passed through our doors.
That is a proud legacy that lives on.
The 21st Century Schools initiative has been an extraordinary and innovative journey to transform learning spaces that employ technology in ways that improve teaching and learning. It has changed the way DoDEA teachers teach and enhanced the way DoDEA students learn. DoDEA has always been strongly committed to ensuring that the children of military families receive an excellent education that prepares them for successful careers and to be active contributors to their communities and the nation.
Presidential and other senior leader visits to DoD school
As only one of two federal school systems, DoDEA is sometimes referred to as the President’s School System. Over the course of our 75 year history, schools and military installations have hosted visits from dignitaries including Presidents, First Ladies, Vice Presidents, Members of Congress and scores of other government and foreign officials.
DoD students at installations around the world have had the opportunity to see, and in some cases, interact with our senior leaders as they have visited active duty and DoD civilians and their families serving abroad and at stateside locations.
Here are a few of those memorable events.
In 1995, DoDEA developed its first Community Strategic Plan (CSP) under the direction of Director Lillian Gonzalez, in concert with representatives of all its stakeholder groups. This plan, which guided DoDEA activities for the years 1995 through 2000, ensured that all schools work towards reaching the same priority benchmarks on the road to achieving their goals.
The first CSP identified ten goals in 14 benchmarks designed to support optimal student learning in areas as diverse as academic performance in specific subject areas and organizational development. Subsequent strategic plans refined previous editions, targeted goals for improvement based on evolving priorities, focused on both student achievement and organizational performance needed to support teaching and learning.
All the plans contained common elements essential to the strategic planning process including, vision and mission statements, core values or beliefs, organizational goals, strategies, benchmarks and associated performance measures.
The plans were developed for a five year period. The plans are monitored and updated annually or as needed, published as numbered volumes, alignments or updates.
Strategic planning demonstrates DoDEA’s commitment to continuously improve in its efforts to educate and prepare military-connected students. An additional rationale for strategic planning is to increase collaboration with and accountability to its most important publics: military families and military communities.
DoDEA has published periodic accountability reports to communicate information to the public and to address progress in student performance, as well as resource allocations and demographics.
The current Blueprint for Continuous Improvement, under the direction of Director Thomas Brady, represents DoDEA’s next step as a learning organization. Continuous improvement is a research-based, ongoing process intended to increase overall effectiveness and make a positive, measurable impact on all stakeholders, primarily students, by focusing on and implementing three essential elements: learn and share, examine and plan, and act and evaluate. For DoDEA, this means setting and working towards ambitious goals, learning from our successes and challenges, and making improvements every day to benefit military-connected students.
Today, the practice of monitoring and updating has evolved into a process called “analyze and adjust.” A team of senior leaders carefully review data from across the school system, identify necessary adjustments, and collectively agree upon and publish appropriate adjustments in successive volumes. The adjustments in each volume are the direct result of a comprehensive assessment of DoDEA’s current environment, documented progress towards meeting the established goals, and responsiveness to DoDEA’s evolving needs.
| Release Date | Title | School Years Covered |
|---|---|---|
| April 2018 | Blueprint for Continuous Improvement Volume 2 Volume 3 |
2018/2019 – 2023/2024 |
| August 2013 | Community Strategic Plan (CSP) | 2013/2014 – 201720/18 |
| 2013 | Community Strategic Plan (CSP) 2013 Background report |
2012/2013 – 2017/2018 |
| 2006 | Community Strategic Plan (CSP) 2008 Alignment |
2006/07 – 20011/2012 |
| March 2001* | Community Strategic Plan (CSP) | 2001/02 – 2006/2007 |
| August 1995 | Community Strategic Plan (CSP) Volume 1 Volume 2 |
1995/96 – 2000/2001 |
*Note: In 2002, an assessment of the Strategic Plan development process was completed by the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) for the Director, Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) in partial fulfillment of the task entitled “Assessment of DoD Education Activity Programs and Operations.
Digital copies for each past Community Strategic Plans since 1995 can be found here.
An Assessment of the DoDEA Community Strategic Plan 2001–2006 was completed by Richard K. Wright, September 2002.
A non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO) is an operation conducted by the Department of Defense (DOD) to assist in evacuating US citizens and nationals, DOD civilian personnel and their families, and designated persons (host nation and third country nationals) whose lives are in danger from locations in a foreign nation to an appropriate safe haven, when directed by the Department of State (DOS). Within the Americas and the territories, evacuations for emergencies are directed by federal, state, county and DoD entities.
The evacuation of more than 20,000 U.S. service members and their families from Subic Bay Naval Base, Cubi Point Naval Air Station, and Clark Air Base after the 1991 volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines has had the greatest impact on DoDEA operations in our 75 year history.
| Year | Month | Location | Reason | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | October | Puerto Rico | Hurricane Maria | |
| 2016 | Guantanamo Bay | Hurricane Mathew | to Naval AS Pensacola | |
| 2016 | March | Turkey; Izmir and Incirik | Degrading security environment | |
| 2015 | September | Adana, Turkey; Incirlik AB | Elevated force protection level | Voluntary departure authorization is limited in scope to the Adana area near Incirlik |
| 2011 | Japan | Operation Pacific Passage | 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami | |
| 2011 | March | Bahrain | Ongoing civil and political unrest. | Voluntary departure dependents and nonemergency employees |
| 2004 | Bahrain | Persian Gulf Tension | ||
| 2003 | Turkey | US Invasion of Iraq | ||
| 1994 | August | Guantanamo Bay | Cuban Refugee Crisis | |
| 1991 | Philippines | Eruption of Mount Pinatubo | Operation Fiery Vigil: Clark Air Base and U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay | |
| 1989 | Panama | Operation Just Cause | ||
| 1967 | June | Libya, Wheelus AB | Arab/Israeli (Six-day) War | |
| 1965 | South Vietnam | American Involvement in S. Vietnam | Saigon American School | |
| 1962 | October | Guantanamo Bay | Cuban Missile Crisis | |
| 1950 | June | Korea | Hostilities on Korean Peninsula | President Truman directs Gen MacArthur to evacuate American dependents |
"I have found uniformly that the quality of the education they [my children] received and the kinds of teachers they were exposed to, of the highest standards and they've all gone on to become college graduates and successful in life and so, that's a tribute to the DoD school system..."
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In Their Words… is a series of quotations from teachers, administrators, military leaders and our partners that speak to the circumstances, determination and spirit that have better enabled our warriors and DoD civilians, past and present, to make lasting contributions to our nation's defense, and indeed the defense of freedom around the world.
Go to In Their Words Gallery
Frau Inge A. Burck served in Germany as the Host Nation and Intercultural Coordinator in Europe for nearly 3 decades. In 1962, Frau Burck was selected as a host nation teacher at the American High School in Heidelberg. In 1969, the United States Dependents Schools, European Area (USDESEA) invited Frau Burck to serve as a consultant on host nation/intercultural matters and Host Nation Coordinator for Europe. Her work in that capacity launched a stellar and selfless career that shaped the host nation program into a unique feature of the overseas schools program – one taught by host nation instructors, as an essential experience of the DoDEA curriculum.
Download PosterMission Champions helps to bring alive the stories of just a few of those champions whose individual actions advanced the team-work and momentum needed to provide quality educational services to the children who attend our schools, and their families, who sacrifice so much to serve our country. Each of these champions represent and preserve a legacy built by thousands of educators and support personnel committed to advancing the DoDEA mission.
Go to Mission Champions Gallery
1976-1994
The Consolidation and Unification years (1975-1994) were empowered by the resourcefulness, dedication, and focused optimism of the men and women who established and operated schools in the aftermath of World War II. As the world has changed dramatically, Service, Command, and school leaders refined the structure and operation of the DoD schools to better meet a growing and dynamic mission. The need for a civilian school system within the DoD became clear leading to a comprehensive pre-kindergarten through 12th grade curriculum that was competitive with that of any school system in the United States.
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 1978 the Office of Overseas Dependents Education became the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS). The three geographic areas - Europe, Pacific, and Atlantic - were reconfigured into six geographic regions (Atlantic, Germany North, Germany South, Mediterranean, Panama and Pacific) with a regional director and several superintendents. In 1983, Germany North and Germany South were combined into a single Germany region.
1970: War in Vietnam Widens
1972 Martial law declared in the Philippines by President Ferdinand Marcos
1975: Saigon Falls
1977: Rise of the PC
1979: Islamic Republic Born in Iran
Following the Cold War in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the number of DoDDS schools was reduced and combined with the U.S.-based Domestic Dependents Elementary and Secondary Schools (DDESS) to form the Department of Defense Education Activity in 1992.
1980 Beginning of the Iran–Iraq War
1981 Iran releases the 52 U.S. hostages held in Tehran after 444 days
1983: The Internet is Born
1985: Reagan, Gorbachev Meet
1986: Shuttle Tragedy
1988 End of the Iran–Iraq War, 20 August
1989: The Berlin Wall Falls
In 1992 the DoDDS headquarters in Arlington, VA, became the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA). The DoDEA Director assumed responsibility for organizing, managing, and directing the DoDEA headquarters, DoDDS, and DDESS. Today, the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) provides education to approximately 67,000 eligible DoD military and civilian children in 160 schools.
1990 Gulf War begins
1991: The Gulf War ends in US withdrawal and a failed uprising, February
1992 The Maastricht Treaty creates the European Union
1993 World Trade Center bombing, 26 February
“No matter who you are, no matter what you do, you'd like to witness history.”
-Richard Sherman, Author
By virtual of their service in locations around the world, DoDEA employees and students have often had a front row seat to historic events around the world. Below a few of the incredible stories that students and their teachers have come back home to tell.
“All of these things are happening, but you just take them in stride. You live it. You experience it. You talk about it. You have a job to do --- you have school to teach or whatever your particular job is. But you're seeing all this history unfold around you.
It's hard to explain… the opportunity to go overseas and just see life from a totally different perspective. Phenomenal."
-Patrick Kilkenny, DoDEA Educator
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“It was the front edge of the big eruption that happened on that Saturday and we watched the cloud go over us, watched the sun disappear in the East because we were high above the bay and that's the last light we saw that day. The next morning we got up and it was a different world. It was all black and white or gray and white and the ash was everywhere. It had stripped off leaves from the trees and it was just like a whoa -- whole new world.”
-DoDEA Science teacher Michael Roylance
“So, that brings to mind the concept that DOD is family, and it's bigger than a job. The DoDEA family just supports one another, and that family continues. That original group that I worked with in the district office in Panama, we still get together every other year. We've been doing it for 20 years, and I am sure that there are many people in DoDEA that would tell you that same story.”
-Anne Muse, DoDEA Educator
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“Those of us who have opted to teach abroad have usually arrived exuberantly at our destinations, and our ebullience (after having overcome shipboard lethargy or jet lag) has continued into our new assignments. There was undoubtedly a time, however, in our Korean experience, that our thoughts were sobered."
The following first-hand account was transcribed and edited from an audio interview conducted by Frank O’Gara with Linda Beaulieu, an ISS and the coordinator of the Teacher of the Year Program at DoDEA HQ.
A big surprise one day
Yeah, April 1, 1991 -- April Fool's Day, we got to school, when we got to the parking lot, we smelled rotten eggs. Somebody said, “there's a dormant volcano that is waking up over in the distance.” I remember at lunch that day in the faculty lounge saying, "Can you imagine the letters? Dear Mom, we're being evacuated because of a volcano!” news.
“I stared in joyous disbelief at national television coverage in November 1989. Berliners smashed it [Berlin Wall] with sledge hammers, framing hammers, tire irons...anything they could to destroy that worn-out relic of injustice to humanity."
-Diana Green Kempton, AOSHS
Melvin Gilmer recalls experiences as one of DoDEA’s first African American students
Many of our partner organizations publish stories and memories from former students and employees, including…
"A list of 'impressive things' about DoDDS must surely begin with the students. As a group they are friendly# open and curious# as well as bright and scholarly."
Download Quote Image
In Their Words… is a series of quotations from teachers, administrators, military leaders and our partners that speak to the circumstances, determination and spirit that have better enabled our warriors and DoD civilians, past and present, to make lasting contributions to our nation's defense, and indeed the defense of freedom around the world.
Go to In Their Words Gallery
A lifelong educator, instructional leader, and champion for students, she was passionate about her work in the classroom and as a senior leader at the district, region, and HQ levels of the school system. Born a person of color at a time where there was little diversity at the top, her dedication and hard work were an example for all and a particular source of inspiration and motivation to historically underrepresented educators and students. Her work ethic and success underscored the value of gender diversity in leadership positions.
Download PosterMission Champions helps to bring alive the stories of just a few of those champions whose individual actions advanced the team-work and momentum needed to provide quality educational services to the children who attend our schools, and their families, who sacrifice so much to serve our country. Each of these champions represent and preserve a legacy built by thousands of educators and support personnel committed to advancing the DoDEA mission.
Go to Mission Champions Gallery
1946-1975
The early years encompass the first 3 decades of our operations in post-war Europe and the Pacific as well as domestic schools that were managed by installations and commands. It was marked by efforts to develop a consistent approach to the establishment, operation, and resourcing for schools serving military families, overseas and on installations in the USA.
In the list of school openings for 1946, the Europe listing is more detailed than the Pacific because of the availability of documents from the Army. Records identified from the Pacific Army operations are limited. Not every school today has been in operation for the 75 year span of our organizational history; however, each school and office has played a pivotal role during their tenure in telling the DoDEA story. Some of our current locations/communities are enduring communities – having had one of the first school operations in 1946 (Yokota, Tokyo, Kubasaki, Guantanamo Bay, West Point, Stuttgart, Garmisch, Ansbach, and Wiesbaden).
“The Army succeeded admirably in a task that transcended its military mission. It accepted the challenge of establishing in Europe a school system for its dependent children and created, virtually from nothing, a self-contained educational system that would meet the needs of over 30,000 children. The success achieved is to the credit of the service itself as well as to that of the dedicated men and women who established and maintained the system.”
Download Quote Image
In Their Words… is a series of quotations from teachers, administrators, military leaders and our partners that speak to the circumstances, determination and spirit that have better enabled our warriors and DoD civilians, past and present, to make lasting contributions to our nation's defense, and indeed the defense of freedom around the world.
Go to In Their Words Gallery
Dr. Virgil M. Rogers In 1947, Dr. Virgil M. Rogers, a prominent educator and superintendent of schools of Battle Creek, Michigan, was in Europe as a member of a War Department mission surveying German school systems and was asked to file a report on the Overseas Dependents High Schools for the North Central Accrediting Association (NCA). He conducted his investigation during the last two weeks of April 1947.
Download PosterMission Champions helps to bring alive the stories of just a few of those champions whose individual actions advanced the team-work and momentum needed to provide quality educational services to the children who attend our schools, and their families, who sacrifice so much to serve our country. Each of these champions represent and preserve a legacy built by thousands of educators and support personnel committed to advancing the DoDEA mission.
Go to Mission Champions Gallery
A lot has changed during the history of DoDEA. If you are looking to do a deeper dive into our history, we have compiled some research, resources and references for you.
DoDEA has a long and proud history of serving military families at locations around the globe. The 1946-47 school year also marked the first time that the federal government and the military realized that a more consistent approach was needed to the establishment, operation, and resources for schools serving military families, overseas and on installations in the USA. Schools were being operated separately by the Army, Navy, and Air Force in countries around the world and the operation and enrolment grew significantly with each passing year.
In 1976, Congress directed that the tri-service geographical management of schools be discontinued, and the total management of schools be vested in the Office of Overseas Dependents Education with a civilian director.
The citation of publications, organizations and/or the appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) of non-U.S. Government sites or the information, products, or services contained therein. Although DoDEA may or may not use these sites as additional distribution channels for Department of Defense information, it does not exercise editorial control over all the information that you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this website.
