From: curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com (Curt Finch/131072)
Newsgroups: tx.politics
Subject: EDUCATING HOMELESS CHILDREN:  THEIR TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS
Date: 30 Sep 92 20:29:22 GMT
Reply-To: curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com (Curt Finch/131072)
Distribution: tx
Organization: IBM AWD, Austin, TX

Reply-To: Daily Report Card News Service RPTCRD%GWUVM.BITNET@pucc.Princeton.EDU
From: DRC%GWUVM.BITNET@pucc.Princeton.EDU
Subject:      Daily Report Card

  --- Wednesday --- September 30, 1992 --- Vol. 2 --- No. 83 ---

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         THE NATIONAL UPDATE ON AMERICA'S EDUCATION GOALS
  An APN publication, supported by The Annie E. Casey Foundation
         and the Business Coalition for Education Reform
 __________         __________
|          SPOTLIGHT          |
|                             |
|   A CHILD WITHOUT A HOME    |
|                             |
|   Homeless children are an  |
| ugly scar on America's      |
| radiant face.  And their    |
| numbers are on the rise.    |
|                             |
|   Children without homes    |
| are burdened with a unique  |
| set of educational          |
| problems.  Everything is    |
| temporary.  Often they move |
| from school to school.      |
| Attention spans may be      |
| short and frustrations      |
| high.                       |
|                             |
|   But homelessness does not |
| necessarily mean            |
| hopelessness.  An educator  |
| gives her views of what     |
| schools, shelters and       |
| social agencies can do to   |
| keep kids learning. (#5)    |
|                             |
|   "Give me your tired, your |
| poor ... Send these, the    |
| homeless, tempest-tossed,   |
| to me:  I lift my lamp      |
| beside the golden door."    |
| (Inscription from Statue of |
| Liberty, N.Y. Harbor)       |
|_____________________________|

         ==============  QUOTE OF THE DAY  ==============
"There's no reason to drink cow's milk at any time in your life.
It was designed for calves; it was not designed for humans and we
      should all stop drinking it today, this afternoon." --
 Pediatrician Frank Oski advocating breast milk over cow's milk.
 _______________________________________________________________
|       (c) 1992 by the American Political Network, Inc.        |
|    282 N. Washington St., Falls Church, VA  (703) 237-5130    |
|     APN, Inc. hereby authorizes further reproduction and      |
|           distribution with proper acknowledgment.            |
|                 Publisher:  Barbara A. Pape                   |
|                    Editor:  Richard Hough                     |
|           Managing Editor:  Angela R. Heffernan               |
|      Senior Staff Writers:  Sarita M. Wilson, Susan Walitsky  |
|_______________________________________________________________|


                =====  CHILDREN IN CRISIS  =====

*5   EDUCATING HOMELESS CHILDREN:  THEIR TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS
     School personnel face many challenges in the education of
homeless children.  Michelle Fryt Linehan focuses on the effects
of homelessness on children and offers strategies for those who
teach them (PHI DELTA KAPPAN).
     Homelessness is on the rise in the U.S.  And families are
the largest growing subgroup of the homeless population.  The
author writes that families represent 75% of the Mass. homeless
population.
     According to Linehan, children respond differently to
homelessness and should not automatically be classified as having
cognitive, social or emotional difficulties.  She lists four
conditions that characterize a child's homeless experience:
constant moving; frequent change of schools; overcrowded living
quarters; and a lack of basic resources.
     Linehan writes that "many of the techniques that will help
[homeless] children are characteristics of good teaching."  She
cites providing structure and supervision; having appropriate
expectations; and setting limits as examples.
     According to the author, schools and homeless shelters
should work hand-in-hand and share information on students.
Linehan describes programs sponsored by the Mass. DoEd's Office
for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth that bring
together school personnel and shelter staff.  OEHCY holds
workshops for school, shelter and social agency staff and former
homeless parents "to discuss ways in which the schools can best
serve children" who are homeless.
     Mass. also provides a preschool volunteer program.  The
state DoEd and Horizons Fund, a Cambridge-based non-profit group,
joined forces to provide quality play time for preschoolers
living in shelters.  More than 120 volunteers have received six
hours of training and reference checks and now work with small
groups of children at the shelter, writes the author.
     Central to programs for homeless children is the Stewart B.
McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, passed by Congress in 1987 and
reauthorized in 1990.  One section of the Act "addresses the
educational needs of homeless children and affords them the right
to stay in their original schools for an entire school year,
regardless of where they are living," writes the author.  Funds
from the Act can be used for after-school programs, homework
clubs and district liaisons between the children and the schools
and social agencies.
     OEHCY and a consortium of agencies are exploring a modular
computerized curriculum that could be installed in shelters
serving adolescents.  The curriculum would enable students who
moved from one shelter to another "to pick up their education
programs without delay." (9/27)
     For more info on OEHCY, contact:  Leedia Macomber, Director,
OEHCY, Mass. DoEd, 1385 Hancock Street, Quincy, MA  02169.

--
curt@aixwiz.austin.ibm.com (Curt L. Finch) | AIX NFS/NIS Field Quality 
My views are unrelated to those of IBM     |       Austin, TX
 -Public school administration has gone from 15% to 30% of expenses since 1960-