DOD oversees a worldwide school system to meet the educational needs of military dependents and others, such as the children of DOD’s civilian employees overseas. The Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) administers schools both within the United States and overseas. In school year 2006-07, DODEA had schools within 7 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, and in 13 foreign countries. DOD has organized its 208 schools into three areas: the Americas (65), Europe (98), and Pacific (45). Almost all of the domestic schools are located in the southern United States. The overseas schools are mostly concentrated in Germany and Japan, where the U.S. built military bases after World War II. Given the transient nature of military assignments, these schools must adapt to a high rate of students transferring into and out of their schools. According to DOD, about 30 percent of its students move from one school to another each year. These students may transfer between DOD schools or between one DOD school and a U.S. public school. Although DOD is not subject to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLBA), it has its own assessment and accountability framework. Unlike public schools, DOD schools receive funding primarily from DOD appropriations rather than through state and local governments or Department of Education grants. U.S. public schools that receive grants through the NCLBA must comply with testing and reporting requirements designed to hold schools accountable for educating their students and making adequate yearly progress. DOD has adopted its own accountability framework that includes a 5-year strategic plan, an annual report that measures the overall school system’s progress, and data requirements for school improvement plans. The strategic plan sets the strategic direction for the school system and outlines goals and performance measures to determine progress. In annual reports, DOD provides a broad overview of its students’ overall progress, including the results of standardized tests. On DOD’s Web site, DOD publishes more detailed test score results for each school at each grade level. DOD also requires each school to develop its own improvement plan that identifies specific goals and methods to measure progress. School officials have the flexibility to decide what goals to pursue but must identify separate sources of data to measure their progress in order to provide a more complete assessment. For example, if a school chooses to focus on improving its reading scores, it must identify separate assessment tests or other ways of measuring the progress of its students. DOD is subject to many of the major provisions of IDEIA and must include students with disabilities in its standardized testing. However, unlike states and districts subject to NCLBA, DOD is not required to report publicly on the academic achievement of these students. States and public school districts that receive funding through IDEIA must comply with various substantive, procedural, and reporting requirements for students with disabilities. For example, they must have a program in place for evaluating and identifying children with disabilities, developing an individualized education program (IEP) for such students, and periodically monitoring each student’s academic progress under his or her IEP. Under IDEIA, children with disabilities must be taught, to the extent possible, with non-disabled students in the least restrictive environment, such as the general education classroom, and must be included in standardized testing unless appropriate accommodations or alternate assessments are required by their IEPs. Although DOD schools do not receive funding through IDEIA, they generally are subject to the same requirements concerning the education of children with disabilities. However, unlike states and districts that are subject to NCLBA, DOD schools are not required to report publicly on the performance of children with disabilities on regular and alternate assessments. Definitions of dyslexia vary from broad definitions that encompass almost all struggling readers to narrow definitions that only apply to severe cases of reading difficulty. However, DOD and others have adopted a definition developed by dyslexia researchers and accepted by the International Dyslexia Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping individuals with dyslexia. This definition describes dyslexics as typically having a deficit in the phonological component of language, the individual speech sounds that make up words, which typically causes difficulty with accurate or fluent word recognition, poor spelling ability, and problems in reading comprehension that can impede growth of vocabulary. Recent research has identified a gene that may be associated with dyslexia and has found that dyslexia often coincides with behavior disorders or speech and language disabilities and can range from mild to severe. Nevertheless, the percentage of people who have dyslexia is unknown with estimates varying from 3 to 20 percent, depending on the definition and identification method used. Research promotes early identification and instruction for dyslexics to help mitigate lifelong impacts. DOD offers professional development to all staff to help them support students who struggle to read, including those who may have dyslexia, and used designated funds to supplement existing training efforts across its schools. This professional development prepares teachers to assess student literacy skills and provides strategies to help instruct struggling readers. DOD used funds designated to support students with dyslexia for the development of two new online training courses containing modules on dyslexia, for additional seats in existing online courses, and for additional literacy assessment tools. DOD offers professional development to all staff who teach struggling readers, including students who may have dyslexia, primarily through online courses. The department offers online training courses through a professional development series known as Scholastic RED. These courses are DOD’s primary professional development on literacy for general education teachers. According to DOD, the department began offering the courses during the 2003-04 school year. DOD officials told us that since that time about half of the nearly 8,700 teachers in DOD schools have taken at least one Scholastic RED online course. Of the school principals who responded to our survey, almost all indicated that some of their staff members, including administrators and general and special education teachers, had participated in Scholastic RED training. Beyond Scholastic RED courses, DOD officials we interviewed told us that general education teachers also receive literacy development through instructional training in subject areas other than reading. For example, professional development on teaching at the middle school level may include guidance on how to enhance students’ reading skills through the study of a particular science. Most professional development for staff working with struggling readers focuses on the assessment of student literacy skills and presents strategies for instructing students who struggle to read, some of whom may have dyslexia. Scholastic RED online courses train teachers in five basic elements of reading instruction: phonemic awareness, comprehension, phonics, fluency, and vocabulary. Research suggests that both phonics and phonemic awareness pose significant challenges to people who have dyslexia. According to course implementation materials, the training is designed to move beyond online course content and allow participants the opportunity to apply new skills in site-based study groups as well as in the classroom. Some principals and teachers indicated their schools follow this model with groups of teachers meeting to discuss best practices for applying Scholastic RED knowledge and resources in their classrooms. DOD districts and schools sometimes offer their own literacy training through a localized effort or initiative. Professional development unique to a DOD district or school may be offered by a district’s special education coordinator. For example, the special education coordinator in a domestic district told us she offers literacy training to all staff, explaining that she tries to create a broader base of professionals who can more accurately identify and instruct students who are struggling readers. Regarding overseas schools, administrators in Korea told us they offer in-service workshops to help teachers improve student literacy, reading comprehension, and writing. DOD designed and provided additional training on literacy instruction for most special education teachers and other specialists under a special education initiative. The training provided these staff members with courses on how students develop literacy skills and how to teach reading across all grade levels. According to a 2004-05 DOD survey on the initiative, over half of special educators and other specialists said they had completed this training. Since the 2003-04 school year, special education teachers and other specialists have received training on topics such as the evaluation of young children’s literacy skills and adjusting instruction based on student performance. The department also provided speech and language pathologists specialized training to help them assist struggling readers, including guidance on basic elements of literacy instruction and development, such as phonological awareness and vocabulary development. DOD offers another literacy professional development program for special education teachers and other specialists known as Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS). According to the department, LETRS is designed to give teachers a better understanding of how students learn to read and write, showing instructors how to use such knowledge to improve targeted instruction for every type of reader. According to our survey results, about 10 percent of schools had staff who had taken this course. The LETRS course is based on the concept that once teachers understand the manner in which students approach reading and spelling tasks, they can make more informed decisions on instructional approaches for all readers. Much like the other literacy training DOD offers, LETRS modules contain reading instruction approaches on areas that may present challenges for those who have dyslexia: phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Overall, DOD staff told us the literacy training the department offered was useful for them, with some indicating they wanted additional training. In responding to our survey, more than 80 percent of the principals who said their staff used Scholastic RED courses rated them as very useful for specialized instruction. Principals we interviewed told us their teachers characterize Scholastic RED concepts as practical and easy to apply in the classroom. While teachers we interviewed told us Scholastic RED training is helpful, some special education teachers indicated the course material is basic and better-suited to meet the developmental needs of general education teachers than special education teachers.