information for practice

The increasing number of homeless students in the United States, particularly in the wake of the current economic downturn, is reaching crisis proportions. Research has begun to identify particular risks and negative outcomes homeless children face in their school, social, and family lives. In academic settings, there are more attempts at providing supports to homeless students, but the effectiveness of these interventions has only recently begun to be measured. One reason for measurement challenges is the difficulty in identifying homeless and highly mobile students, particularly as they move between school districts and are reluctant to self-identify to school staff.