“The newly compiled data from the nonprofit Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness shows only a slight dip compared to the 2013-14 school year, when 87,210 homeless kids were enrolled in city schools.
But the numbers for the 2014-15 school year, the latest year for which the data is available, numbers still show a 70 percent increase from the pre-recession, 2007-08 school year, when 50,926 homeless kids attended city schools.
Some 1.1 million kids are enrolled in the city schools, in total.
ICPH policy analyst Jennifer Erb-Downward said even if slightly fewer homeless kids attended city schools for the latest year on record, those who were homeless in previous years still carried a burden of the experience.
‘Not only are currently homeless students struggling in school, but students who have been homeless in the past are struggling just the same,’ Erb-Downward said.
Stats show kids who experience homelessness at some point in their lives are more likely to be absent from class and transfer schools, Erb-Downward said.
And those kids are less likely to meet grade-level standards for reading and math, and graduate on time, Erb-Downward added.
The ICPH data includes traditional district schools as well as charter schools and comes from the state Education Department, which is mandated by federal law to collect the information.
The data show more homeless students attended city schools each year starting in 2007-08, until the total dropped in 2014-15.”