Good schools can be found in the public, charter, and private and religious sectors nationwide. They offer varying curricular accents and teaching styles, but all tend to share an intense focus on the outcomes they seek for their students, a common sense of purpose among the adults involved, and high levels of trust among staff, students, and parents.
I recently visited a public charter school that emphasizes character development and the virtues of citizenship, respect for oneself and others, and patriotism. The New Orleans Military & Maritime Academy (NOMMA) provides students in eighth through twelfth grade with the skills, personal values, and conduct to get ahead in their chosen path, whether it’s going to college, entering the workforce, or joining the military. As one staffer told me, “Our job is citizenship.”
That the school is a collaboration between professional educators and retired officers and noncommissioned officers of the U.S. Marine Corps might be surprising to some education scholars, but it shouldn’t be. At their core, America’s armed services are tasked with protecting our constitutional order and freedoms, while training and supporting young people who generally reflect the mores of our contemporary culture. In that way, the services share a common challenge with the educational system.
All students (called cadets) at NOMMA must participate in the school’s Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (MCJROTC) program. Participation does not, however, require a commitment to enlist in the armed services. Junior ROTC programs exist in high schools across the country, typically as elective, part-time extracurricular initiatives. High schools like NOMMA, in which all students enroll in Junior ROTC, are rare. Six such military academies operate in Chicago, and one opened in August 2023 in Little Rock. These schools, like NOMMA, came about through the support of Paul Vallas, whose lengthy career in public service included stints as superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools and of the New Orleans Recovery School District.
“Schools like NOMMA serve three needs,” Vallas told me. “First, the need for quality public school choices. Second, a school that embraces high standards and gives students the necessary confidence and discipline, while teaching them the importance of respect and taking responsibility. And third, a school that introduces students to the working world, exposing them to various professions and the best community role models: working men and women.”
In New Orleans, NOMMA’s development was led by retired colonel Terry Ebbert and General David Mize, both with distinguished careers in the Marine Corps. Mize was the commanding general of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Ebbert was awarded the Navy Cross in Vietnam and served as Director of Public Safety and Homeland Security for the City of New Orleans.
NOMMA is a Type 2 charter school, approved by the Louisiana Department of Education, meaning that it can admit students from outside the parish where it is located (in a section of Orleans Parish called Algiers, on the west bank of the Mississippi River, across from downtown New Orleans). Cadets from five Louisiana parishes currently attend the school. With a Marine Corps support facility and a naval air station located near the school, NOMMA gives dependents of active-duty military members priority within its lottery-based admissions process; about 6 percent of current cadets belong to this cohort. All other cadets get admitted randomly, with no review of previous school performance.
According to data from the Louisiana Department of Education, NOMMA currently enrolls 904 cadets, 62 percent of them male and 38 percent female; 84.4 percent of the cadets are classified as economically disadvantaged. The school is racially integrated: 41.8 percent of the cadets are Hispanic, 28.1 percent black, 22.5 percent white, with the remainder multiracial, Native American, or Asian. Students with limited English proficiency make up 17.4 percent of the cadets; they receive English as a Second Language instruction.
The JROTC experience is central to the cadets’ time at NOMMA in two ways: it is at the core of the school’s character-building mission; and it supports instruction in the school’s academic classrooms by providing each student with several adult and older-student mentors, as well as maintaining a meritocratic reward structure based on classroom success and compliance with JROTC requirements. Eleven retired Marines serve as JROTC instructors, with ranks ranging from colonel to gunnery sergeant.
The JROTC program seeks to guide the young cadets through maturation, instilling qualities of self-discipline, self-esteem, and responsibility to others and to their community and country. Classroom teachers know that Marine instructors are observing the cadets outside the classroom, and the Marines inquire about their academic progress and give feedback to teachers and counselors on areas of concern and accomplishment for individual cadets. Marine instructors and teachers expressed gratitude for the effective culture of communication and support. That culture is reflected in ad hoc conversations and weekly afternoon professional-development sessions for adults, after early dismissal for cadets. When asked what drew them to NOMMA, one teacher said that it was the collaboration: “Here, you are never alone, with no one to help you.”
The equality of cadets and a strong emphasis on meritocracy, based on behavioral and academic standards, define NOMMA’s culture. All cadets are subject to the same expectations, with support provided along the way and with recognition for achievement as they earn “ranks” above cadet. All are held to the same Code of Ethics:
Cadets give their best in everything they do.
Cadets are completely and wholeheartedly honest.
Cadets keep the commitments they make to themselves and others.
Cadets respect the dignity and rights of others.
Cadets respect public and private property.
Cadets respect public laws and regulations.
Cadets respect and develop a healthy mind, body, and spirit.
During the 2023–24 school year, the JROTC “Battalion” was led by 37 upper-class cadets, with ranks running from cadet captain to cadet sergeant. They all earned these positions through merit, gaining a chance to mentor younger cadets (eighth- and ninth-graders). As one graduate of both the United States Naval Academy and its prep school suggests, when students, particularly those with weaker academic performance, see that they are being assessed on their behavior as well as their academics, they understand that they can merit recognition through their professionalism in military training. This can build confidence that leads to academic improvement.
Beyond mentorship, JROTC at NOMMA involves lots of physical activity, with training and the opportunity to compete in Military Drill, Physical Fitness, and Raider contests (involving a five-kilometer run, rope-bridging, CrossFit-type exercises, an obstacle course, and a general test of physical fitness). The program also instructs cadets in marksmanship with air rifles. The school fields interscholastic teams in boys’ and girls’ basketball, soccer, and wrestling, baseball, softball, track and field, cross-country, and powerlifting. NOMMA’s color guard supports dozens of community events each year.
The meritocratic culture of NOMMA informs its discipline policies. The school limits the use of out-of-school suspension when cadets break the rules. Instead, it manages a system of merits and demerits called the Positive Behavior Incentives and Support (PBIS) policy, which includes appropriate interventions and support, as warranted for each cadet. Any NOMMA staff member can assign merits or demerits. The action is then recorded in the school’s information system, and the student is told about the action. While demerits are not made public, merits are. The accumulation of merits and demerits determines cadet promotion in rank, the issuance of letters of commendation, and other recognitions. Periodically, staff meet with students to discuss the actions that affect them.
Demerits, which can be assigned for uniform infractions, academic problems, noncompliance with physical training or community service requirements, or other behavioral issues, also accumulate and may result in counseling, loss of privileges, removal from clubs or teams, reduction in rank, or retention in grade. Meetings with parents, after-school and Saturday detentions, and peer-support groups are other options. The underlying philosophy is that the best discipline is self-imposed, and staff should use disciplinary situations as opportunities to guide students toward an ethic of personal responsibility.
NOMMA’s academic program works to equip the cadets with the knowledge, skills, and habits that will help them thrive postgraduation. For those hoping to attain entry to decent-paying jobs straight out of high school, for instance, the school has built community partnerships, including internship/work-study programs in the maritime industry and with the New Orleans Police Department. Cadets currently earn $19 per hour in the work-study component.
NOMMA embraces the full range of academic and college preparatory classwork found at many high schools. The school offers Advanced Placement courses in English and U.S. history, as well as honors-level classes in social studies, math, science, and English. Technical studies cover business, cyberliteracy and cybersecurity, entrepreneurship, and digital media. Health and physical education credits are earned through participation in JROTC.
The school reports that 56 percent of its cadets graduate with an industry-based credential in transportation/logistics, arts and AV technology, business management, or information technology. Informal polling of alumni indicates that more than half of the cadets go to college or university after high school, and 15 percent to 20 percent enter the military. The remainder start working or pursue further trade education.
Data from the Louisiana Department of Education document the school’s record of success. Pre-Covid, the state education department consistently recognized NOMMA as a “Top Gains Honoree” for exceptional student progress. It also earned “A” grades for the strength of its diploma, graduation rate, and progress scores, while beating state and city averages in ACT scores and state assessments. Achievement levels dipped during the pandemic but have rebounded. The academy has won distinction as a Naval Honor School, thanks to its JROTC program’s superior performance.
The school’s per-pupil spending from all sources for the 2023–24 school year was $18,301, nearly three-quarters of which comes from the Louisiana legislature’s primary-education aid grant. Another 20 percent arrived from federal sources, with about half of that coming in the form of pandemic relief funds, scheduled to run out after this year. The school also receives lesser amounts from various state and local revenue sources.
I came away from my visit to NOMMA impressed by its efforts, and I believe that it offers critical lessons for America’s educational system. NOMMA partners academic instruction with a multifaceted emphasis on character development. Those two aims complement each other.
Unfortunately, too many schools find themselves mired in a culture war over the purpose and conduct of schooling: if they veer too far into the realm of values, they face criticism from one side or the other. What is too often lost in this fight is the notion that schools should seek to guide students to adulthood as individuals who exercise self-discipline, respect others, and do the right thing because it is right, not because they will be scolded if they don’t.
A school can engage in that type of personal development only by placing it at the core of its mission. Character, responsibility, and self-discipline can’t be taught as add-ons; all adults in the school must model it in their behavior and embed it in their instruction. At NOMMA, each policy and interaction is guided by a commitment to the school’s core principles and by the belief that all young people can become self-driven and successful citizens, given the right mentorship, support, and guidance.
Character formation should be at the heart of the educational enterprise in a modern democratic society. In a recent National Affairs essay, Joseph Loconte reminds us that our nation’s founders drew inspiration from the educational philosophy of John Locke. Too many of today’s progressives and conservatives, he says, “fail to grasp how the preservation of republican government depends on the inculcation of republican virtues.” As Locke wrote, “Reading, and writing, and learning, I allow to be necessary, but yet not the chief business.” Loconte continues: “The chief business, in Locke’s estimation, is to develop men and women of strong character, cultivating the traits necessary for responsible citizenship in the commonwealth. ‘For I think it every man’s indispensable duty, to do all the service he can to his country; and I see not what difference he puts between himself and his cattle, who lives without that thought.’ ” NOMMA models this educational ideal.
While military-themed schools like NOMMA are not the right fit for every student, more schools should embrace their emphasis. And some are already doing so. Classical schools in the charter school sector—with curricula grounded in moral values, as found in great works of philosophy and classic liberal thought—are growing in popularity. New Christian and Jewish schools are adopting the classical approach and adding scriptural study to the mix.
“Any school trying to adopt the NOMMA model would need trained adult leaders committed to such challenging work.”
Education advocates and philanthropists tend to encourage the replication of successful schools. Such efforts can work, but only if done carefully. Vallas was involved in creating a NOMMA-like school in Little Rock. He reports “current plans to open more schools of this type as part of a broader effort of the McKenzie Foundation, of which I am CEO, to promote work-study in high schools.”
The bedrock of an effective school is not easily separated from the people who compose it. NOMMA’s JROTC program is codified by the Marine Corps, but the level of cooperation between the retired Marines and the academic staff is complex, well orchestrated, and tailored to local conditions. Any school trying to adopt the NOMMA model would need adult leaders on both the academic and JROTC sides trained in this type of cohesion and committed to such challenging work.
Plans are in place to expand NOMMA’s physical plant and to allow its enrollment to grow by about a third. That’s a good start and worthy of support. Introducing this model to more communities is an exciting prospect, but it must be handled with the same relentless focus on principled success that distinguishes this admirable school.
Top Photo: “Our job is citizenship,” says one staffer at the New Orleans Military & Maritime Academy, which provides students in eighth through twelfth grade with the skills and values to pursue their paths in life. (Courtesy of New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy (4))
