(NAEP), also known as "the Nation's Report Card." DoDDS and DDESS student scores consistently rank at or near the top of the scale when compared with the scores of other participating states and jurisdictions.[citation needed] Furthermore, the performance of African American and Hispanic students is among the highest in the nation. Though achievement gaps persist between white and minority students, the academic performance gap is far narrower for DoDEA students than for students throughout the United States.[3]

Shortly after the end of World War II, the United States military established schools for the children of its servicemen stationed in Europe and East Asia (at that time, servicewomen were not allowed to be mothers and remain on active duty).

Schools for children of military members stationed in the United States wereestablished in the South after President Truman's 1949 order desegregating the United State military services.[citation needed] The need for integrated schools can be seen in the pattern of today's Department of Defense Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools (DDESS).[citation needed]

First administered by the military branches they served, the growing number of schools was soon transferred to civilian managers. Federal schools in the United States meant to serve the children of military and federal personnel were known as "Section 6 schools," and defined in federal directives as, "When a DoD-operated school is established on Federal property to provide a free public education for eligible children or, if not established on such property, the eligible child resides on such property."

Overseas schools were often titled, "American Dependent Schools." They were staffed