The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) is a federal school system headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, responsible for planning, directing, coordinating, and managing prekindergarten through 12th grade educational programs on behalf of the United States Department of Defense (DoD). DoDEA operates 163 accredited schools in eight districts located in 11 countries, seven U.S. states, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
DoDEA employs 15,000 employees who serve 71,000 children of active duty military and DoD civilian families. DoDEA has also historically served children of non-military and non-government affiliated families and continues to this day with admitting local students even in international locations.
DoDEA operates as a field activity of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness). It is headed by a director who oversees all agency functions from DoDEA headquarters in Alexandria. DoDEA's schools are divided into 3 geographic areas: Europe, the Pacific, and the Americas.
It is one of two U.S. federal government school systems, along with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).
History Shortly after the end of World War II, the United States military established schools for the children of its servicemembers stationed in Europe and the Pacific. Schools for children of military members stationed at various bases in the United States were already well-established. First administered by the military branches they served, the growing number of schools was soon transferred to civilian managers, then organized into two separate but parallel systems: the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (Pacific and Europe) overseas, and the Department of Defense Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools (Americas) in the United States. In 1994 the two systems were brought together under an umbrella agency, the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA). Shortly thereafter, the DoDEA logo was created by DoDEA Art Director, Calvin Bohner, in 1998.
Activities The DoDEA instructional program provides a prekindergarten through 12th grade curriculum. Currently 100% of DoDEA schools are accredited and in good standing with their regional accrediting agency. Students consistently achieve high scores in the National Assessment of Educational Progress and above the national average on standardized assessments. Minority students have been especially successful, scoring at or near the highest in the United States in mathematics.
DoDEA measures student progress with multiple performance-based assessments. The TerraNova standardized test provides DoDEA with results that it can compare to a nationwide sample. DoDEA students also take the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which provides comparisons of student achievement in reading, writing, math, and science. All DoDEA schools are accredited by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI) or the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI), which provide each school with an independent evaluation.
Schools submit annual reports of data, and every five years they host an on-site validation visit led by education experts from the United States. Following the on-site visits, the experts send a report that includes recommendations for improvements to each of the schools visited. DoDEA conducts internal monitoring of educational programs to ensure high-quality implementation of new programs and overall effectiveness of existing programs. Monitoring activities may include, but are not limited to the following activities: surveys, interviews, focus groups, classroom observations and the analysis of achievement and training data. Currently 100% of DoDEA schools are accredited and in good standing.
Operations
In 2008 the U.S. Congress published a study stating that decreased military budgets resulted in 70% of the DoDEA schools having campuses in less than ideal physical condition, with their conditions specifically noted as either "poor" or "failing".
A 2015 editorial of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune noted that schools in the DoDEA, were well funded, partly due to post-September 11 attacks security concerns and partly because of the size of the DOD itself, as well as the leadership of Robert Gates, who served as the Secretary of Defense. The Star-Tribune contrasted this with the lesser-funded Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) network, also federal and serving Native American students.
Sarah Mervosh of The New York Times, citing National Assessment of Educational Progress scores and performance levels of racial minorities, wrote in 2023 that DoDEA campuses "quietly achieve results most educators can only dream of." The nature of military employment means that students have parents with jobs and support structures, and according to Mervosh, the DoDEA campuses are "well-funded, socioeconomically and racially integrated, and have a centralized structure that is not subject to the whims of school boards or mayors." That year, David Leonhardt, also of The New York Times, wrote that the DoDEA "has been performing well for years and continued to do so during" the COVID-19 pandemic.
On February 7, 2025 the DoDEA issued a statement that it would be removing "books potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics" in its schools, resulting in a list of titles to be reviewed that include The Kite Runner, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, and Brave New World.
Academic achievement In 2001 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) wrote "The academic achievement of DOD students, as measured by their performance on standardized tests and their plans for enrolling in college, generally exceeds that of elementary and secondary students nationwide. On college admission tests, DOD students score at or near national averages."
DoDEA Americas Region Headquartered in Peachtree City, Georgia, in the Atlanta metropolitan area, DoDEA Americas is divided into 2 school districts (Americas Mid-Atlantic and Americas Southeast) and operates 51 schools at 16 military communities on the U.S. mainland, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. As of May 2019, it educates approximately 22,000 students of U.S. military and eligible DoD civilian personnel families."DoDEA Americas Region Web Pages.
DoDEA Americas' Mid-Atlantic District
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, NC
Bitz IS Brewster MS Heroes ES Johnson PS Lejeune HS Tarawa Terrace ES (note DeLalio ES is at MCAS New River)
Fort Bragg, NC
Albritton MS Bowley ES Devers ES Gary Ivan Gordon ES - In the Linden Oaks area Hampton PS Irwin IS Poole ES Randall David Shughart ES - In Linden Oaks Shughart MS - In Linden Oaks
High school students attend local public schools based on what county they reside in: Cumberland County Schools for Cumberland County residents, - Text list and Hoke County Schools for Hoke County residents. - Text list - "Fort Bragg Schools" refers to the DoDEA schools. The Cumberland County parts are assigned to EE Smith High School.
The Linden Oaks area is in Harnett County Schools, and is assigned to Overhills High School.
Marine Corps Air Station New River, NC DeLalio ES Brewster Middle School and Lejeune High School in Camp Lejeune serve the community for secondary school.
Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, VA
Dahlgren ES/MS The school first opened in 1921. The school's principal facility was built during World War II. In 2011 a review of the building found that it was in "poor" shape.
King George County Public Schools operates non-DoDEA public schools in King George County. Most off-post persons associated with NSF Dahlgren send their children to King George County schools. - This is from a .mil site. King George High School is the local county high school.
Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA
Crossroads ES The facility was scheduled to open in Spring 2016. It had a cost of $47 million. It has a two-story media center and a rooftop environmental science center, patio, and garden. The facility uses natural light and heating from geothermal sources. In 2015 the Star-Tribune described it as "state-of-the-art school design". It replaced Ashurst, Burrows, and Russell elementary schools in Quantico. Quantico MS/HS
USMA West Point, NY
West Point ES West Point MS
The academy is physically in the Highland Falls Central School District. The military installation sends students to James I. O'Neill High School of Highland Falls for high School, under contract. Pre-school through 8th grade attend school on the military academy grounds. The elementary school and the middle school are part of the DoDEA system, not in the Highland Falls School District. In 2021, 190 high school children living on post attended James I O'Neill High School. In 2021 the agency at West Point announced that the bid to educate West Point High School students would be competitive. In March 2022 the O'Neill contract was renewed.
Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba
W.T. Sampson ES/HS
Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen, PR
Ramey Unit School ES/MS/HS
Fort Buchanan, PR
Antilles ES Antilles MS Antilles HS
DoDEA Americas' Southeast District
Fort Benning, GA
Dexter ES Faith MS McBride ES Stowers ES White ES
High school students attend local public high schools operated by countywide school districts. - The document states that the county schools have high school zoning. The portion in Muscogee County is zoned to high schools of Muscogee County Schools. - Text list - "Fort Benning Schools" refers to the DoDEA schools on Fort Benning. The document states that the county schools have high school zoning. The portion in Chattahoochie County is zoned to Chattahoochee County Schools. - Text list - "Fort Benning Schools" refers to the DoDEA schools on Fort Benning. The document states that the county schools have high school zoning. Off-base families attend county school systems, with residents of Georgia attending those systems, and Alabama residents being in Lee County Schools and Russell County Schools.
Fort Campbell, KY
Barkley ES Barsanti ES Fort Campbell HS Lucas ES Mahaffey MS Marshall ES
The high school first opened in 1962. The current high school building was dedicated in 2018. Of the students, the percentage who attend for all four years total at FCHS is 10.
There were plans for a new middle school, but in 2019 the funds were instead designated for a wall along the Mexico-United States border.
Fort Jackson, SC The DoDEA schools on-post for Fort Jackson are Pierce Terrace Elementary School (Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 1) and C.C. Pinckney Elementary School (grades 2–6). Students are zoned to non-DoDEA schools for secondary school: Dent Middle School and Richland Northeast High School, which are operated by Richland County School District Two.
Fort Knox, KY
Fort Knox Middle High School Scott Intermediate School Van Voorhis ES Kingsolver ES
Fort Rucker, AL
Ellis D. Parker Elementary School
Students beyond the elementary level may attend non-DoDEA schools for secondary levels, with an on-post family choosing one of the following three options: Daleville City School System, Enterprise City School System, or Ozark City Schools. - From a .mil site. Enterprise operates Enterprise High School and Ozark operates Carroll High School.
Fort Stewart, GA
Diamond ES Kessler ES Murray ES
Students at the secondary level on Fort Stewart attend public schools operated by county school districts. Liberty County School District operates the public schools in Liberty County. - This is from a .mil website.
Maxwell Air Force Base, AL
Maxwell AFB ES/MS Magnet