Homelessness in Public Schools

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In the United States nationwide public schools are faced with dilemmas. The choices schools make has to be effective, serve the students, and have the best outcome. Well known problems such as bullying, special educational needs, budget cuts, new standards, and job cuts. Some of the problems are well known to the public while other problems are left in the background. According to the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY) reported that the U.S. Department of Education collected data stating “during the 2008-2009 school year that 954,914 homeless children and youth were enrolled in public schools.” This problem affects the child socially, mentally, and most importantly academically.

The National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY) defines Homelessness “is a lack of permanent housing resulting from extreme poverty and/or unsafe or unstable living environments” (NAEHCY, 2011, p. 2). In the year 2004, it was required that all states were to report to CSPR (Consolidated State Performance Report) of data collected of children and youth enrolled in any educational services (Bowman, Dukes, Moore, 2012, p. 6). The table presented below shows reports the school years of 2004-2010.

Number of Homeless Students Reported by States in the CSPR

2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010

655,591 906,680* 679,724 794,617 956,914 939,903

The National Center on Family Homelessness (NCFH) conducted research and collected data and found during a three year research of CSPR reports. (Bowman. ET al.’s, 2012). In the school years 2006-2009 “41% increase in the number of homeless student enrolled in schools across the nation” (Bowman...

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...2). Summary of the state of research: On the relationship between homelessness and academic achievement among school-aged children and youth (ED-04-CO-0056/0002). Retrieved from U.S. Department of Education website: http://www.serve.org/nche

Carter. Samuel, C. (2000). No excuses; lessons from 21 high performing high poverty schools. Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation.

Murphy.Joseph, F. & Tobin.Kerri, J. (2011, November). Homelessness comes to school. How homeless children and youths can succeed, 93(3), 32-37. Retrieved from http://kappanmagazine.org

National Assocation for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. (2011). Facts about homeless education. Retrieved from http;//naehcy.org/facts.html

W&B School of Education. (2012). History of the mckinney act. Retrieved from http://education.wm.edu/centers/hope/resources/mckinneyact/index.php

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