More than 1.5 million students experienced homelessness in the 2017-18 school year, but teachers receive little guidance on how to support them. Earl Edwards provides K-12 (particularly high school) teachers with an overview of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and concrete recommendations for how to better support youth experiencing homelessness in their pursuit to graduate high school. The recommendations are derived from a study that analyzed the experiences of 10 youth who experienced homelessness as high school students in Los Angeles County.
Aviles de BradleyA. (2011). Unaccompanied homeless youth: Intersections of homelessness, school experiences and educational policy. Child and Youth Services, 32 (2), 155–172.
2.
BrownK.DuffieldB.OwensC.R. (2018, November). Risk and resilience: Differences in risk factors and health outcomes between homeless and non-homeless students in 2017 YRBS data. Washington, DC: School House Connection.
3.
BrubacherS.P.PowellM.B.SnowP.C.SkouterisH.MangerB. (2016). Guidelines for teachers to elicit detailed and accurate narrative accounts from children. Children and Youth Services Review, 63, 83–92.
4.
CheryS.RickelleR. (2008). Dietary intake, overweight status, and perceptions of food insecurity among homeless Minnesotan youth. American Journal of Human Biology, 20 (5), 550–563.
5.
EdwardsE.J. (2019, October). Hidden success: Learning from the counternarratives of high school graduates impacted by student homelessness: Urban Education.
6.
EdwardsE.J.HowardT.C. (2019). Young, Black, and houseless: An analysis of LA County Black homeless student population. Los Angeles, CA. UCLA Black Male Institute.
7.
HowardT.C.CamangianP.EdwardsE.J.HowardM.MinkoffA.C.OrangeT.TunstallJ.D.WatsonK.T. (2019). All students must thrive: Transforming schools to combat toxic stressors and cultivate critical wellness. Rexford, NY: International Center for Leadership in Education.
8.
McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 2015, Title IX, Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act. 42 US Code §11431–11435.
9.
MillerP.M. (2011). An examination of the McKinney-Vento Act and its influence on the homeless education situation. Educational Policy, 25 (3), 424–450.
10.
MortonM.H.DworskyA.MatjaskoJ.L.CurryS.R.SchlueterD.ChávezR.FarrellA.F. (2018). Prevalence and correlates of youth homelessness in the United States. Journal of Adolescent Health, 62 (1), 14–21.
11.
MurphyJ.F.TobinK J. (2011). Homelessness comes to school. Phi Delta Kappan, 93 (3), 32–37.
12.
National Center for Homeless Education. (2015, November). Federal data summary school years 2011-12 to 2013-14. Greensboro, NC: University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
13.
National Center for Homeless Education. (2020, January). Federal data summary school years 2015-16 through 2017-18. Greensboro, NC: University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
14.
SedlakA.J.MettenburgJ.BasenaM.PettaI.McPhersonK.GreeneA.LiS. (2010). Fourth national incidence study of child abuse and neglect (NIS–4): Report to Congress, Executive Summary. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.