New Report: What Do We Know About Homeless Students?

Posted by on August 20, 2010

PEC report highlights challenges of educating homeless kids

The National Center for Homeless Education has released a report on the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program  that compares and analyzes data collected through the McKinney Vento Education Assistance Improvement Act of 2001 and covering the period from 2006-2009.

The annual publication reviews data from more than 13,000 school districts.

http://center.serve.org/nche/downloads/data_comp_06-08.doc

People’s Emergency Center has published an analysis of the Pennsylvania data on homeless students contained in the report.

The report makes note that thousands of dedicated educators and community leaders, from the counselors in schools to the administrators to homeless housing providers, strive every year to support homeless students,  but calls attention to the challenges that they face on a daily basis.  The report focuses on Pennsylvania’s program and targets a number of indicators, including homeless student’s academic achievement and the number of homeless students.

The Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program is a partnership that consists of the federal, state, and local education agencies collaborating to provide schools and parents with enrollment assistance, uniform assistance, transportation, counseling, and other services. Its goals include eliminating or reducing barriers to education and ensuring that all homeless children enroll in school and have opportunities to succeed academically. This report examines three topic headings found in a report by the National Center for Homeless Education: “Academic Achievement,” “Number of Homeless Students,” and “Nighttime Residence.”

Among the findings are that while the number of homeless children and teens in the United States has increased over the past three years, in Pennsylvania the number has not changed significantly. Pennsylvania reported a 6 percent increase between SY 2007-08 and SY 2008-09, and a 4 percent decrease the past three years.

Nationally, homeless students are more likely to double up in someone else’s residence, while Pennsylvania homeless students generally reside in emergency housing.

Across the United States, there is some evidence that students who are experiencing homelessness scored better in standardized reading and mathematics tests than in the previous year. However, in Pennsylvania, homeless students have shown no improvement and continue to score poorly when compared to the general student body.

PEC recommends that system leaders need to organize a sustained effort to raise awareness regarding homeless children and youth.  It also recommends that the education system should hire an impartial independent evaluator who would recommend best practices to utilize in counting and enrolling homeless children and youth; target homeless teen participation for successful and proven academic enrichment programs; and bring together an improved and assertive collaboration of the thousands of educators and community leaders who concern themselves with homeless students would result in expanding the usage of existing programs by homeless students.

To download the PEC analysis, go here.

http://www.pec-cares.org/clientfolders/pdf/policy_prief_what_do_we_know_about_homeless_students_july_2010.pdf