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…

In 2008-2009, nearly one million children experiencing homelessness were enrolled in school. In 2012, over 1.5 million children were identified as homeless. In a 2013 U. S. Census report, 2.5 million children were identified as homeless in America. The number of homeless children in America continues to increase every year. Homeless students are…

Intentional and early collaboration between state and local leaders and state coordinators for homeless education is vital to developing solutions that ensure success in Career Technical Education (CTE) programs for learners experiencing homelessness. As many states anticipate the growing rates of homelessness to continue in the coming years, the…

Homelessness often is accompanied by poverty, stress, and instability. As a result, children and youth in homeless situations frequently must overcome many educational challenges. The McKinney-Vento Act requires local educational agencies (LEAs, hereafter "school districts") to identify children and youth experiencing homelessness, and…

COVID-19 has disrupted California's education system in fundamental ways. Districts across the state are quickly creating strategies to serve all students, and many are designing their response around the needs of their most vulnerable students. This brief highlights Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD)'s crisis response, which…

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…

It is not surprising that in order to meet the job demands of the future, we need to ensure that students have the knowledge and opportunity to choose from an array of postsecondary options before graduating from high school. Particularly as our society continues to increase in diversity, providing access to college and career choices for all…

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…

In early August 2020, as educators prepared for an uncertain school year, there was a worrying theme from school district homeless liaisons: numbers of identified homeless students were down--in some cases, significantly down--despite evidence of increased need. In September and October of 2020, a survey was conducted of local educational agency…

English language learners of Hispanic decent have endured challenges that have been a direct result of their language barriers and learning disabilities. In this study, the majority of the impacted individuals were immigrants who migrated to the United States after having had some early education exposure in Mexico. The purpose of this qualitative…

The crash of the housing market in 2006 forced many families across the country to live with relatives or another family also known as "doubled up" or homeless. The McKinney-Vento Act offers protection through safeguards that schools must follow. Since the implementation of the McKinney-Vento Act there has been limited research on…

Education policy has the potential to eradicate opportunity and achievement gaps. For those on the ground enacting policy, however, it can be difficult to translate it into optimal strategies for helping all students achieve. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is a way for state education agencies (SEAs), local education agencies (LEAs), and…

COVID-19 has disrupted California's education system in fundamental ways. Districts across the state are quickly creating strategies to serve all students, and many are designing their response around the needs of their most vulnerable students. This brief highlights the response of Mother Lode Union School District (MLUSD) to the COVID-19…

Structural racism and class-based inequities help shape career and educational opportunities for women in the United States. As women make career and education gains, women of color (WOC) do not have access to the same level of opportunity. This report shares findings from interviews with parenting and unhoused WOC who attend the California State…

As state leaders continue to help their districts and schools respond to the COVID-19 crisis, they must not forget the lessons learned during the last 18 months. The $125 billion allocated through the American Rescue Plan is an opportunity for state leaders to support districts and schools in meeting students' most immediate academic, social, and…