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ERIC Number: EJ1203867
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Oct
Pages: 2
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0164-775X
EISSN: N/A
Addressing the Educational Needs of Homeless Students
Wynne, Martha Ellen; Ausikaitis, Ashley Etzel
Communique, v42 n2 p4, 6 Oct 2013
Homelessness has long been a concern throughout the United States. In the Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2012 Point in Time Estimate of Homelessness, on a given night in 2012, there were 633,782 homeless people in the United States. During the 2011-2012 school year, the U.S. Department of Education (National Center for Homeless Education [NCHE], 2012) found that the number of homeless students hit a record high at 1,065,794. Homeless students face significant challenges within the educational system. Compared to their housed peers, they tend to lag behind academically and have higher retention and dropout rates (Murphy & Tobin, 2011). Homeless children exhibit delays at four times the rate of children in stable housing, especially in the domains of social-emotional functioning and academic achievement (Samuels, Shinn, & Buckner, 2010). There are many similarities between the effects of homelessness and the effects of poverty. However, for several decades, studies have shown that even when controlling for the effects of income, homeless children are found to have more physical and mental health problems than children with stable housing (Kiesler, 1991; Park, Fertig, & Allison, 2011). It seems that instability and poor living conditions exacerbate the negative effects of poverty on children who are homeless. These compounding negative effects inherent in being homeless also are associated with instability in schooling. Given these alarming statistics and the potentially devastating effect of homelessness on educational opportunities for youth, particularly those of color (Aviles de Bradley, 2008), federal legislation was passed more than 20 years ago in an attempt to address problems of homeless students and their families. The major law developed to support homeless families and keep homeless students in school is called the McKinney-Vento Act (McK-V). The Act was created with the intent of providing educational access and stability for highly mobile children and youth. As advocates for students, it is logical that school psychologists would want to comply with any legislation designed to help the students and families they serve, but the lack of specificity in the McK-V Act makes it very difficult to implement. Unlike the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), under which school districts have a proactive obligation to seek out and identify children who may have disabilities (child find), the McK-V Act requires self-identification by the family or youth who is homeless to initiate services. Therefore, understanding who is considered to be homeless under the law is a very important first step for both families and the school staff members who want to help them. For the past 3 years, Loyola University of Chicago's Home School Community research team has been conducting focus groups with parents and unaccompanied youth who are homeless in an attempt to determine the effectiveness of the McK-V Act from the perspectives of the recipients of the law. Based on the understanding of the literature and the information obtained in focus groups, the authors have developed some suggestions and resources for school psychologists and other school staff members to help them implement the McK-V Act in a more comprehensive and socially just manner than mandated by the basic requirements written into the law.
National Association of School Psychologists. 4340 East West Highway Suite 402, Bethesda, MD 20814. Tel: 301-657-0270; Fax: 301-657-0275; e-mail: publications@naspweb.org; Web site: http://www.nasponline.org/publications/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Illinois (Chicago)
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Stewart B McKinney Homeless Assistance Act 1987
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A