Addressing the Educational Needs of Homeless Students

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. Depa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Communiqué (National Association of School Psychologists) 2013-10, Vol.42 (2), p.4
Main Authors: Wynne, Martha Ellen, Ausikaitis, Ashley Etzel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Children
Children & youth
Disabilities
Education
Educational Needs
Federal Legislation
Homeless children
Homeless People
Homelessness
Housing Needs
School Psychologists
Student Needs
Students
Youth
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Summary: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
ISSN:0164-775X