Powerful Opportunity to Head Off Recruiting Shortfalls Needs a Boost
Jim Cowen
August 12, 2025
The emerging problem is that the data the Department of Defense plans to send to states is insufficient.
Menu
The emerging problem is that the data the Department of Defense plans to send to states is insufficient.
The Purple Star School Program, a successful state-sponsored effort that military families rely on when moving from one installation to another and that also plays an important role by bolstering military readiness, needs an upgrade.
Military readiness is much more than the effective training of forces for deployment. As one community in central Missouri demonstrates, it includes ensuring that military-connected children have an excellent public school experience, giving their parents peace of mind that a career in the military doesn’t have to mean sacrificing a child’s education.
The D.C. region leads the nation in national security jobs anchored in math. But the region’s K-12 students must be better equipped if they are to participate. Area schools and educators must help them overcome serious math deficits.
The data will offer a new and much-needed lens for high schoolers and their parents on what a career in the military could mean – financially and in potential career skills and upward workforce mobility.
