Abstract

W e are proud that NASW Press and Oxford University Press (OUP) have published this special issue of Children & Schools on the needs of public schools serving military students. These students and their families experience multiple deployments—often to war zones—as well as family separation, frequent transi-tions and relocations, and other stressful life events that their nonmilitary peers do not undergo (De Pedro, Astor, Gilreath, Benbenishty, & Esqueda, 2013). Recent studies have presented findings that sup-portive schools can help shield students from intense depression, conduct problems, feelings of alienation, anxiety, and school failure. However, for schools to serve as protective settings for military-connected (MC) students, school personnel need to be aware that this population exists in their schools and that these students have particular needs (Astor, De Pedro, Gilreath, Esqueda, & Benbenishty, 2013; De Pedro et al., 2011). Over a million of the nation's MC students attend public schools. If 9/11 veterans' children are included, it is estimated that over 4 million chil-dren and youths have had parents serve the nation. Nevertheless, many civilian school district person-nel do not realize that students from military fami-lies are attending their schools. In addition, civilian school personnel are frequently unaware of the needs of MC students because they have not been trained to respond appropriately to the unique and often intense experiences of such students (Astor et al., 2012; Esqueda, Astor, & De Pedro, 2012). Awareness of the presence, experiences, and needs of MC students in public schools must be increased. School social workers can take a national leader-ship role in developing and implementing practices and policies that will increase awareness of MC stu-dents, foster understanding of their unique culture, and address their needs. Social workers have the capacity to address and integrate issues of policy, to sensitize school staff to diverse cultures, bring evidence-based practices to MC schools, improve school climate, and work with military families. The overarching goal of this special issue is to present articles that describe the current state of school social work knowledge and best practices in MC schools. These articles provide insight and implications that will help teachers, principals, school social workers, and other staff better serve MC students in the future. In this special issue, we present articles examining the perspectives of school staff, students, and parents in MC schools and outline best practices for such schools. The anonymous peer reviewers and NASW/ OUP staff were critical to the success of this special issue, and we thank them. We are also thrilled that NASW and OUP allowed this to be the first special issue with both print and online versions of Children & Schools. All content will appear online, and only some will appear both in print and online. Designa-tion of online or print does not imply quality of man-uscript or importance of specific topic. This online extension will provide more comprehensive coverage of the topic and allow social workers, counselors, and educators to delve deep into the many ecological lay-ers and methods of supporting MC students. We hope social workers, other professionals, and scientists will use the insights gleaned in this interdisciplinary special issue to move the field forward. The article by Guzman, "School-Age Children of Military Families: Theoretical Applications, Skills Training, Considerations, and Interventions," provides a brief overview of relevant studies and interventions, as well as a call for more specific research on the topic. This article serves an impor-tant introduction to some of the major issues facing our field. The article describing an original study doi: 10.1093/cs/cdu001 © 2014 National Association of Social Workers