Recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected students' academic performance and overall well-being, creating a rise in mental health needs. In response to this, there has been an increase in hiring school-based social workers. However, there is a lack of clarity on…

Each year in the United States, hundreds of thousands of people enroll in adult basic education (ABE) classes but leave before completing a level or accomplishing their goals. The persistence of this phenomenon may indicate that it is a feature of the system, rather than an unforeseen outcome. Research on other types of social service provision…

In the last decade, the number of public school students in the United States experiencing homelessness has more than doubled. Research shows that school enrollment processes are particularly onerous for families experiencing homelessness; yet, school choice and enrollment policies are rarely designed with the type of flexibility needed to be…

In 2018, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative engaged the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University (Gardner Center) to partner with public school districts in San Mateo County, CA to examine the barriers to educational success that homeless and highly mobile students face. Given the increasing prevalence of…

This brief summarizes a study of five school districts that have been recognized for their efforts to provide high-quality services to students experiencing homelessness. The districts worked hard to identify students experiencing homelessness and supplemented modest federal funds with private funding, district funding, community-based resources,…

Social determinants of health (SDOH)--conditions in which children live, learn, and play--affect child health and well-being. Publicly funded services in education and child welfare systems are important resources to support child well-being, but cross-system coordination is rare. Leveraging integrated administrative data from 60,287 6th graders…

The aim of this brief is to describe a key contributor to the persistent disparities found in student learning outcomes in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and to show how this knowledge can help identify specific sources of inequities in CPS, particularly for schools with predominantly Black student enrollments. The authors present a data-based…

The UIC Center for Urban Education Leadership (CUEL) brief is an analysis that examines schools that have historically struggled to improve within the context of the Chicago Public Schools SQRP Accountability System. In this research brief, CUEL researchers advance the term 'high churn" to describe a school type that has proven particularly…

Approximately 1.3 million K-12 public school students across the United States were identified as experiencing homelessness in 2019-20. In all cases, the stress, instability, trauma, and school mobility created by homelessness increase risks to physical, social, and emotional health and to educational engagement and achievement. Districts play an…

In partnership with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and 22 San Mateo County school districts, this report and research brief explore the ways in which local students experience housing instability, and how cross-sector strategies can better identify and serve these students. This study considers a rich set of school administrative data, which allow…

Students and educators have returned to the classroom for the fall of 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted in-person learning in schools across the country. Yet, this does not mean the pandemic's effects on education and students are behind everyone, and the pandemic continues to linger across America. The current understanding of the…

The large and growing number of New York City (NYC) students who lack stable housing has recently received much attention from advocates, researchers, educators, and policymakers. This new brief highlights not only that the City's rates of student homelessness have increased, but also that the problem is most prevalent during the elementary…

AERA's 2017 Call for Proposals asks us to consider pathways to achieving equal educational opportunity. This presentation argues that homelessness is one critical issue often overlooked when considering such pathways. Nationwide, over 1.3 million students experienced homelessness in 2013 (National Association for the Education of Homeless Children…

This Annual Plan presents the major initiatives and priorities the U.S. Department of Education (Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) intends to undertake to assist the Department in fulfilling its responsibilities to America's taxpayers and students. The Department continues to face significant challenges in FY 2018 that impact its…

This Annual Plan presents the major initiatives and priorities the U.S. Department of Education (Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) intends to undertake to assist the Department in fulfilling its responsibilities to America's taxpayers and students. The Department continues to face significant challenges in FY 2017 that impact its…