Policy Matters
A brief video introducing recent publication from Educational Policy:
Considering relationships and homelessness
A short video prepared for United Way board members in fall of 2011…
fire at porchlight
this is a really tough situation for all the folks at Porchlight:
http://www.news.wisc.edu/20213
please find a way to help!
resposive systems of engagement
Schools and social service organizations should conceptualize and implement systems of differentiated practice for homeless students. The McKinney-Vento Act identifies a broad range of family settings and conditions that qualify them as homeless and the varying capacities and needs of this broad swath of students require diversified interventions. “One size fits all” modes of homeless education are inappropriate. Our current study is looking into such matters — how do schools and community organizations develop systems of responsive engagement…
importance of out-of-school effects…
Looking forward to reading Duncan & Murnane’s “Whither Opportunity” — it’s inclusion of out of school effects on children’s chances to learn and thrive brings to mind Rothstein’s (2004) work — including the following short excerpt:
“Better school practices can probably narrow the gap. School reform, however, is not enough. In seeking to close the achievement gap for low-income and minority students, policy makers focus inordinate attention on the improvement of instruction because they apparently believe that social class differences are immutable and that only schools can improve the destinies of lower-class children…”
learning about student homelessness
Studies that employ longitudinal, mixed-method designs have particular promise for cultivating deep and authentic understandings of students’ experiences before and after periods of homelessness. Most empirical studies in the field to date have used quantitative measures to learn about issues such as student achievement, psychosocial perceptions, and physical/emotional health at specific points in time and, while such work is highly relevant and should continue to be pursued, it can be accompanied by qualitative efforts. Specifically of note would be designs that incorporate multi-site (shelters, agencies, schools, neighborhoods, etc.) ethnographic inquiry that tracks students’ and families’ school-related experiences for extended periods of time—including phases of transition from homelessness into permanent housing. Given the relative paucity of rigorous qualitative research into issues of education in contexts of homelessness and the general lack of understanding about “post-homelessness” effects and experiences, such efforts applied over extended periods of time could engender increased comfort and trust among researchers and participants and could advance the field significantly.
2011 opening doors update
The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness recently released its 2011 “Opening Doors” update… it gives a sense for trends in homelessness (including more families and double-ups) and lends insight into federal strategies…
here’s the web address:
http://www.usich.gov/opening_doors/annual_update_2011/
changing trends and policies necessitates changing school roles
The data from the recently released NCHE report (showing an 18% increase in homeless students since the 07-08 school year), together with the release of the Interagency Council’s “Opening Doors” report indicated that schools’ engagement of homelessness must adapt in the years ahead. Not only are there more students, but they are more spread out (in and beyond urban cores) and less institutionally-attached (they’re doubled-up and in rapid rehousing settings). Schools can play critical roles as identifiers of these students and connectors to social services and upward mobility.
Review of book on homeless youth
Newly published review:
Street Kids: Homeless Youth, Outreach, and Policing New York’s Streets
reviewed by Peter M. Miller — September 22, 2011
Title: Street Kids: Homeless Youth, Outreach, and Policing New York’s Streets
Author(s): Kristina Gibson
Publisher: New York University Press, New York
ISBN: 0814732283, Pages: 288, Year: 2011
Search for book at Amazon.com
strategic support of homeless students needed in times of fiscal constraint
Title I funds can be better leveraged to support students’ needs during periods of homelessness. In fact, even though federal policy mandates such use of Title I funding (all students who are identified as homeless are automatically qualified to receive Title I services, regardless of whether or not their particular schools receive such funding), there is little documentation in the literature about how often and/or efficaciously homeless students have benefitted from Title I in school districts across the U.S. Are the specific needs of students who are homeless being addressed by strategically deployed Title I funds? Aside from isolated state reports (e.g., New Mexico Public Education Department, 2010; Oregon Department of Education, 2008) the answer is altogether unclear. Given the rapid expansion of the number of students who are being identified as homeless each year and that Title I funds are generally mobilized at much higher rates and levels than McKinney-Vento funds (for wider populations of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds), this gap in both research and practice is all the more confounding.
