Educators have long known the negative effect that housing instability can have on a child’s education, but this policy brief suggests that these effects do not end when a student is stably housed. This brief looks at the educational outcomes of homeless and formerly homeless students during the 2013–14 school year and the implications these outcomes have for education policy in New York City.…
School absences are pervasive across New York City. Almost one in five New York City public school elementary students (19%) were chronically absent in SY 2013-14, missing 20 days or more of school. Worse, homeless elementary students were chronically absent at roughly twice the rate of elementary students overall. This report examines the disparities in absenteeism and its impact on educational achievement, comparing homeless students and their housed peers, regardless of family income level.…
During school year 2012-13 there were over 80,000 homeless students in New York City’s public school system, a 60% increase in just six years. This new policy report looks at the academic and behavioral challenges facing these students, as well as the impact of homelessness on their performance in school and their probable outcomes by 12th grade and beyond.…
This issue examines the plight of undocumented families in “Reaching into the Shadows;” the bureaucratic and legal challenges to receiving food stamps in “Little Becoming Less;” the positive effects of gardening in “Green Thumbs Up;” and the need for better data to understand and target services to homeless youth in “National Perspective.”
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