The Pupil Personnel Guide for Supporting Students from Military Families

While it is true that children from military families live unique and interesting lives, it is also true that they face many challenges and special circumstances that civilian children and families don’t experience. These can include gaps in school attendance and learning due to frequent moves, being separated from a parent who has been deployed, and a sense of isolation in the midst of a civilian community.

This comprehensive, evidence-informed guide introduces pre- and inservice school counselors, psychologists, and social workers to this population and provides the necessary tools to create one-on-one and school-wide practices to support military students. Written in an engaging style by experts in the field, this guide includes:

• A primer on military culture
• Research highlighting how frequent school transitions and parental deployments affect the education of military children
• Guidance for creating school “transition” rooms for acclimating incoming students and parents.
• Examples of creative and effective projects designed to celebrate military children and support them through frequent school changes, a parent’s deployment, or traumatic experiences.

Teachers College Press also publishes guides written specifically for teachers, school administrators, and parents. All royalties from the sale of these books are being donated to military children’s educational causes.

Ron Avi Astor is the Richard M. and Ann L. Thor Professor in Urban Social Development at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Social Work and Rossier School of Education. He is the principal investigator of Building Capacity in Military-Connected Schools, a consortium partnership involving USC and eight Southern California military-connected school districts. Linda Jacobson is the editor and writer for the Building Capacity project in the School of Social Work at USC. Rami Benbenishty is a professor at Luis and Gaby Wiesfeld School of Social Work at Bar Ilan University.

“I am grateful to the USC Building Capacity team headed by Ron Avi Astor for developing this exceptional resource and attuning it specifically to the needs of the professional service provider. This truly is a sensitive and reliable source.”
—Mary M. Keller, Ed.D., President and CEO, Military Child Education Coalition

“As an adult who spent most of my youth in military-connected schools, I know too well what happens when adults do not understand the unique experiences of being from a military family. I am thrilled to be able to endorse this guide because it will educate adults about ways to be helpful through evidence-based prevention and intervention.”
—Dorothy L. Espelage, PhD, Professor and Child Development Chair, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

“Hundreds of thousands of military personnel are and will be returning to the United States in the foreseeable future. School personnel will need to expand their knowledge in order to better serve this important population.”
—Paula Allen-Meares, Chancellor and John Corbally Presidential Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago