Military children move an average of six to nine times during their K-12 school years. Many make multiple moves during high school alone.  Academic courses, extracurricular programs, graduation requirements and transfer of records vary greatly from state to state and even from school to school. These frustrations, in addition to giving up friends and associates, cause anxiety in military children. Separation from a deployed parent (or parents) tends to exacerbate an already difficult situation.

The Military Child Education Coalition is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit , worldwide organization that identifies the challenges facing the highly mobile military child; increases awareness of these challenges in military and educational communities; and initiates and implements programs to overcome them. MCEC''s goal is to level the educational playing field for military children wherever they are located around the world, and to model programs that are beneficial to all highly mobile children.