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Published on January 25, 2024
San Diego Schools Score $2M DoD Grant to Elevate Math for Military KidsSource: San Diego Unified School District

The San Diego Unified School District just snagged a cool $2 million grant from the U.S. Dept. of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) in a strategic move to up its educational game for military-brat brains. The cash infusion is locked and loaded to target math programs in select schools chock-full of students from military families—over ten percent, to be exact.

Tagged Operation LEAAP—not a tactical maneuver but short for Learning Experiences Advancing Academic Progress—the grant's mission is to arm six schools with modernized math strategies. High-fiving over the deal, Julie Garcia, who's got her stars as Senior Director STEM at San Diego Unified, told the district's news center, “Through implementing a broad and challenging curriculum that includes engaging instructional strategies, we hope to promote hands-on learning experiences that help students find success and joy in their mathematics classrooms.”

With DoDEA's Education Partnership and Resources Division at its sixth, the program aims to boost student engagement and shoot teacher skills through the stratosphere with professional development opportunities. The lucky lineup of schools enlisted into the program includes Crown Point Junior Academy, Fletcher Elementary, Hancock Elementary, Miller Elementary, Perry Elementary, and Taft Middle School.

The payoff for this educational strategy comes with expectations as high as a flag on the Fourth of July. Designed not just for improving test scores, Operation LEAAP is shooting to prep kids for honors and high-aptitude classes later. According to the info posted on San Diego Unified's news release, 82 elementary and five middle school teachers will report for duty in professional development sessions to be whipped into shape for the new and improved math curriculum.

With DoDEA's Education Partnership putting the wind beneath the wings of educational opportunities for K-12 military-connected kids, they're banking on schools to graduate students ready to conquer academic challenges, just like their military parents do foes on the battlefield. More intel on the DoDEA grants and their game plan to support military kiddos can be scouted out at dodeagrants.org.