Access to books and storybook reading contribute to children's language, literacy and academic development. Homeless children often experience delays in these areas of development; however, their access to books and storybook reading is understudied. This study of 24 children in a family homeless shelter and 27 housed children in the same urban…

This year-long ethnographic study explored the occupational aspirations and informal educational experiences of 25 diverse homeless adolescents who found social welfare assistance through Empower, a nonprofit organization. Using organizational habitus and intersectionality as theoretical frameworks and constant comparative analysis, I found that…

The number of youth experiencing homelessness in the United States has nearly doubled over the past decade from 688,000 in 2006 to over 1.3 million as of 2017. While graduating high school is a significant barrier for many students experiencing homelessness, many youth are able to successfully graduate despite their unstable living conditions.…

The Common Core State Standards were designed to prepare all students for college and careers. Using theories of cultural capital and culturally relevant pedagogy, this study of 54 college-bound, inner-city high school seniors seeks to determine how students perceive their college readiness during the implementation of the new standards. While the…

Through engaging in interviews with 10 local educational agency liaisons, this study provides insight into their roles, challenges, and training in serving children and youth experiencing homelessness. Using thematic analysis to analyze transcripts, common themes were uncovered. The findings highlight the liaisons' challenges related to…

The school mobility rate in St. Louis Public Schools was 40% in 2011-2012, meaning that nearly half of students exited or entered a given school midway through the school year. This alarmingly high rate of churning across schools is accompanied by high neighborhood turnover, particularly within low-income, urban neighborhoods. This constant,…

Schools often struggle to build partnerships with homeless and highly mobile (HHM) families. These families are not homogeneous; they live in and engage with schools from diverse residential contexts. Using Epstein's theory and framework and drawing from 132 interviews with HHM parents, school personnel, and community stakeholders in an urban…

A qualitative research study conducted in two public high schools in an urban area of the Midwest sought to explore the issue of race as it pertains to educational policy implementation for unaccompanied homeless youth of color. Critical Race Theory (CRT) served as the guiding frame and method, uncovering the underlying theme of race in school…

Child homelessness has recently reached levels unprecedented in the United States since the Great Depression. Contemporary research has attempted to isolate the effects of homelessness on education, with mixed results. This study reports results from a study in one large urban area and finds that there is no meaningful difference in achievement…

This qualitative case study provides a counternarrative to the literature of White teachers who are unsuccessful in bridging the achievement gap and disrupts the assumed meaning of solidarity between successful White teachers and their African American students. As part of successful classroom practice, this teacher interrogated his own whiteness…

Federal policy changes for Head Start (HS) elevate the importance of measured academic performance over other traditional program aims, particularly those associated with the social-emotional development of children. Concerned about the possible effects of these changes on children, based on observations and interviews, detailed portraits of…

We utilized a pooled sample of elementary, middle, and high school-aged children identified as homeless via definitions set forth by McKinney-Vento legislation in a large urban district in California to estimate the extent to which school factors contributed to student attendance, suspensions, test-taking behaviors, and performance on state…

This article addresses the question, "How do mothers and children in a homeless shelter interact with literacy?" We drew on the theoretical framework of social literacy practices in which cultural context is foregrounded. Data for this qualitative study included participant observation in one homeless shelter and interviews with one…