Although education is in many ways a responsibility of states and localities, the U.S. federal government also has an important role to play. National laws, court rulings, and policy guidance help ensure that English Learner (EL) and immigrant-background students have equitable access to a meaningful education. It is then up to states and school…

Subtitle VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Act, reauthorized in 2015 by Title IX, Part A of the "Every Student Succeeds Act" guarantees a child or youth identified as homeless the right to attend either the school of origin or the local attendance area school in the area in which they are currently residing. This brief explains the provisions…

Parents experiencing homelessness may be struggling to enroll and keep their children in school. If they have a child with special needs, they may have even more challenges to make sure their child receives the help she needs. This brief helps parents with the following concerns and offers resources for additional assistance: (1) not knowing who…

Family homelessness has been on the rise throughout the United States in recent years. As a result, more schools and communities than ever are challenged to serve students whose lives are touched by instability, uncertainty, and crisis. To date, there has been little inquiry into how families' particular places of homelessness might shape school…

With the needs and challenges of adolescent homelessness on the rise, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (MVA) was crafted as a public policy initiative aimed at facilitating access to schools for this population. While school social workers are the designated personnel for practice with homeless school-aged children, we know little about…

In urban districts, homeless and highly mobile students are an important contributor to achievement disparities-and their numbers are rising. To date there has been little inquiry into how broader education and housing policies shape the schooling experiences of homeless and highly mobile families. Using semi-structured interviews with 132 key…

When a child has lost his or her permanent housing and experiences the stress of a family crisis, the additional loss of a familiar school and its context may well be devastating. A basic educational need of children is continuity and stability in schooling. Yet most children (142 Chicago, Illinois families in shelters) interviewed in this…

In 1987, Congress passed the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act. One of its provisions was that each child of a homeless individual and each homeless youth have access to a free, appropriate public education. As required by the Act, the state prepared a plan for indirect and direct educational services to the homeless children of Hawaii.…