The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (McKinney-Vento Act) provides students who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence with the right to the same free, appropriate, public education that other students receive. Each year, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) collects demographic and academic data on students eligible for…

Background/Context: Students experiencing homelessness are also often living in poverty and may share many of the same characteristics and experiences with children in low-income housing. Scholars aim to understand the impacts of homelessness above and beyond the effects of poverty, but studies are mixed. Contextual factors--such as the localized…

Little work examines the nexus of student homelessness and afterschool provision. This critical ethnographic case study of organizational culture draws from observation, documents, and interviews with youth experiencing homelessness, staff, and volunteers at a community-based afterschool center for youth experiencing homelessness. It explores how…

During the 2015-2016 school year, 1.3 million students nationwide experienced homelessness. Yet hardships like homelessness represent dynamic rather than static states, and so annual figures understate the cumulative risk that students face over time. Moreover, despite recent efforts to understand eviction and foreclosure as exploitative and…

This document reflects work that began prior to the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act. In 2015 the Arkansas Department of Education began engaging with stakeholders to determine how the Department could better support students, educators, school and district leaders, and communities in their efforts to improve student outcomes. The…

School districts play a key role in identifying, supporting, and educating homeless students. This qualitative case study of a school district in Northern California illustrates how district leadership serves as a bridge between federal policy and local school sites. In this case study, federal funding funneled through the state served as the…

Two years ago Congress passed the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act that provides $5 million a year for state programs to ensure that children are not prevented by bureaucratic or transportation obstacles from obtaining a public education. Although some homeless education plans are helping the children, the funding is inadequate. (MLF)

Highlights the unique needs of students with disabilities who are homeless, legislative mandates for serving these students, and promising practices for overcoming obstacles to service delivery. The practices focus on developing collaborative relationships at multiple levels, creating responsive systems, and providing students with the social and…

The people of the City of Boston have made a commitment that, during the Winter of 1988-89, no homeless person will be denied a warm bed, a hot meal, quality health care, and transportation to shelters. This document comprises a progress report on Boston's efforts to address the needs of the homeless. The following summary points are discussed:…

In response to the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act and its amendments, most urban schools have created special programs for homeless students to help them succeed academically and to offer them access to social services and a safe and stress-free environment. Recruitment, enrollment, and service coordination policies are adapted to the…

The Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, passed in July 1987, authorized over $400 million for fiscal year 1987 in homeless assistance for several federal programs, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This report examines how funds appropriated to HUD and FEMA…

These profiles of Adult Education for the Homeless programs funded by the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act are compiled from final reports submitted to the Division of Adult Education and Literacy, U.S. Department of Education, by the 50 states and from site visits by division staff. Data are reported for varying lengths of time for the first year…

This report presents the results of a federally mandated study done to determine the best means of identifying, locating, and counting homeless children and youth, for the purpose of facilitating their successful participation in school and other educational activities. Several alternative approaches to obtaining consistent national estimates of…

Despite the positive contributions of the 1987 Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act (the McKinney Act), Federal emergency aid has failed to keep pace with the growing need for assistance. Less than one year after the passage of the McKinney Act, progress has been made toward meeting the emergency need for food, shelter, and health care…

This paper analyzes the Bush Administration's budget request for homelessness programs, and argues that it promised little to alleviate the suffering of homeless people. The paper asserts that the proposal is the weakest in years, with overall spending down by 7 percent when adjusted for inflation. Programs hardest hit are new funding to increase…