DoD schools struggle to identify, support military children with learning disabilities, GAO finds

For military families, a permanent change of station can mean more than adjusting to a new school. Government Accountability Office officials told Military Times that parents have repeatedly reported problems transferring educational records and individualized education programs when military families move, sometimes delaying services or leaving educators to reconstruct a child’s needs.

A new GAO review found gaps at multiple stages of the Department of Defense Education Activity’s process for identifying and supporting students with specific learning disabilities, including screening, referrals, evaluations and instruction. GAO officials said those gaps can compound, affecting when students receive help and the quality of the services they receive.

“Those are gaps that, when you add them up, they multiply, and they have a compounding effect on when and the quality of services that students receive,” said Jennifer Gregory, a GAO assistant director who oversees part of the agency’s special education work.

About 5% of DODEA’s roughly 60,000 full-time K-12 students had an identified specific learning disability during the 2024-25 school year, and the number of students identified with such disabilities increased 29% from 2018-19 through 2024-25, according to the latest GAO report. About 10% of DODEA students received strategic instruction, which provides short-term, small-group academic support.

Specific learning disabilities include disorders such as dyslexia and dyscalculia that affect understanding language or performing mathematical calculations.

GAO examined DODEA schools in five of the agency’s nine districts, covering districts that serve 63% of DODEA students with identified specific learning disabilities. Investigators visited 11 schools and conducted 47 group interviews with teachers, administrators and other stakeholders. They also administered an opt-in online questionnaire to parents of DODEA students with specific learning disabilities.

Among the parents who responded to GAO’s questionnaire, 82 of 121 said the limited availability of DODEA resources to assess students, such as screening tools, was a challenge.

GAO found that at nine of the 11 schools, staff said they needed more or better screening tools to identify students who may need additional literacy or math support or special education. DODEA’s screening tools did not directly assess foundational phonics skills among elementary school students and were not available to all students.

GAO said those limitations make it difficult to identify students who are behind for their grade level, which is particularly important given DODEA’s highly mobile population. DODEA officials told GAO in July that the agency had procured universal screening tools for all grades and planned to begin administering them in late 2026.

GAO also found that DODEA cannot currently ensure that all students identified as needing additional literacy or math support to meet grade-level expectations receive the appropriate support.

At the high school level, some of that assistance is provided through strategic instruction classes, which are electives, according to GAO. That means a student identified as needing additional help may not necessarily receive it, said Jacqueline Nowicki, the GAO director who oversees the agency’s K-12 education work.

“Once it is determined that a kiddo does need support, there is not a way right now that DODEA can ensure that kids who have been identified for this kind of support actually get it,” Nowicki said.

GAO recommended that DODEA ensure all students identified as eligible for additional literacy or math support receive the necessary instruction. The recommendation remains open.

The review also found problems with referrals and evaluations.

GAO recommended that DODEA analyze why Student Support Teams reject referrals for students who may benefit from additional literacy and math support and identify special-education referrals rejected because of poor-quality or incomplete information.

In the 2024-25 school year, DODEA reported that 12% of special-education evaluations were not completed promptly, according to GAO. Ten of the 11 schools GAO visited identified timely identification and evaluation as a challenge. GAO recommended that DODEA analyze factors within its control that contribute to delays in the evaluation process.

At all 11 schools GAO visited, staff cited obstacles to helping students meet literacy and math goals, including limited access to student data and professional learning that did not always align with teachers’ roles. Of 44 strategic-instruction and special education teachers interviewed by GAO, 32 rated their professional-learning opportunities as “bad” or “very bad.”

Teachers were routinely asked to evaluate training they had already received but did not have a clearly understood opportunity to identify the training they needed going forward, Nowicki said.

GAO also found that teachers did not always receive the professional learning needed to use DODEA’s specialized reading interventions as intended.

GAO did not formally audit the transfer of individualized education programs during permanent changes of station as part of this review. But Nowicki said the issue has repeatedly surfaced in GAO’s broader work with DODEA and military families.

Parents have told GAO that records sometimes did not arrive at a child’s new school. Other parents said they hand-carried records but were unsure where to deliver them, she said. GAO has also heard from parents who said receiving schools did not immediately implement an existing IEP.

Nowicki said missing or delayed records can delay services or leave educators trying to reconstruct a child’s needs and prior services.

“It is not uncommon for parents to tell us, you know, I transferred to DODEA School from ABC Public School. My files didn’t show up,” Nowicki said. “Or my files I brought them with me and hand carried them and didn’t know who or couldn’t find who to give them to.”

School liaison officers can help military families coordinate so-called “warm handoffs” between schools, Nowicki said. But not every school has a liaison officer, and some parents do not know the service is available.

The latest review contains eight recommendations to the Defense Department, addressing screening, referrals, evaluation delays, teacher training and access to student data, as well as ensuring students identified as needing additional literacy or math support actually receive it.