Archived Information

# THE EDUCATION FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN AND YOUTH PROGRAM:  LEARNING TO SUCCEED

# Volume II:  Educating Homeless Children and Youth:  A Resource Guide to Promising Practices

##### FINAL REPORT

**2002**

**THE EDUCATION FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN AND YOUTH PROGRAM:  LEARNING TO SUCCEED**

# Volume II:  Educating Homeless Children and Youth:

# A Resource Guide to Promising Practices

Janie E. Funkhouser

Derek L. Riley

H. Jenny Suh

Policy Studies Associates (PSA)

Jean M. Lennon

Research Triangle Institute (RTI)

With the Assistance of:

Catherine T. Kelliher, PSA

Kimrey E. Millar, RTI

John T. Roberts, RTI

Michael D. Tashjian, RTI

2002

This report was prepared pursuant to Task Order 61, under ED contract #EA940053001, U.S. Department of Education.  The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department, and no endorsement by the Department should be inferred.

**U. S. Department of Education**

Rod Paige

*Secretary*

**Office of the Under Secretary**

Eugene Hickok

# Under Secretary

**Planning and Evaluation Service**

Alan L. Ginsburg

*Director*

**Elementary and Secondary Education Division**

Ricky T. Takai

*Director*

October 2002

This report is in the public domain.  Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted.  While permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be:  U. S. Department of Education, Planning and Evaluation Service, Elementary and Secondary Education Division, *The Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program:  Learning to Succeed*, Washington, D.C., 2002.

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#### CONTENTS

**Executive Summary** I

**Educating Homeless Children and Youth**: 

A Resource Guide to Promising Practices1

The Challenges This Study Addresses3

The McKinney Homeless Assistance Act4

**Roles and Responsibilities of State Coordinators:  Promising Practices**8

Raise Awareness with Assessment, Technical Assistance, and Training9

Cast a Broad Net to Disseminate Information13

Take Every Opportunity to Collaborate and Coordinate with Others14

Evaluate and Monitor with an Eye Toward Program Improvement18

**Promising Practices from Other State-Level Players, Districts, and Schools**22

Awareness Raising22

Immediate Enrollment30

Transportation34

In-school and Related Services42

Outreach To Youth47

**Conclusions: Some Cross-Cutting Strategies**50

**Appendices:**

Appendix A: Promising Practices HighlightsA-1

Appendix B: Organizations and Advocacy GroupsB-1

Appendix C: Selected Recent PublicationsC-1

Appendix D: Questions and Answers Guide on the Education of Children and Youthin Homeless Situations: Special Education and the Homeless StudentD-1

**Acknowledgments**

We extend our sincere thanks to those whom we interviewed in Illinois, Oregon, and Texas.  We also wish to thank the many people we visited in: (1) Baltimore County, Maryland; (2) Bucks County, Pennsylvania; (3) Chicago, Illinois; (4) Fort Wayne, Indiana; (5) Santa Cruz, California; and (6) Victoria, Texas.  They were eager to contribute to this effort to share promising practices among those who serve homeless children and youth, and they graciously took time out of their very busy schedules to talk with us.

We also wish to thank those who helped us select states and districts to include in our sample and those who thoughtfully provided us with suggestions about what to include in this guide.  These include: Steve Berg at the National Alliance to End Homelessness; Diana Bowman at the National Center for Homeless Education; Barbara Duffield at the National Coalition for the Homeless; Sally McCarthy at the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty; Miriam Rollin at the National Network for Youth; and Walter Varner at the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth.

**Executive Summary**

**Overview of the Resource Guide**

This guide suggests strategies and processes that states, districts, and schools can use to overcome some of the many barriers that keep homeless children and youth from getting the education to which they are entitled.  It also presents approaches for helping them to achieve the same high standards expected of all children.  The promising practices the guide describes all come from states and districts that have placed a strong emphasis on enrolling homeless children and youth in school and helping them to be successful students.  Others can put some of these strategies to use in their own states and districts.  

The search for promising practices focused on a small number of places where such practices were particularly likely to be found.  We looked in three states and six school districts, all of which were recommended by current research literature and national experts in the field of educating homeless children and youth.  The three states included:  Illinois, Oregon, and Texas.  The districts included:  Baltimore County, Maryland; Bucks County, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Santa Cruz, California; and Victoria, Texas.  We interviewed state coordinators of homeless education by telephone.  A team of researchers visited the six districts to gather detailed information about programs for homeless children and youth. 

This resource guide begins with an overview of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, the first and sole major federal legislative response to homelessness.  It also describes:

· The key roles and responsibilities of state coordinators of homeless education programs and examples of promising practices to build a strong statewide support system for homeless education; 

· Promising practices that other state-level players (e.g., coalitions, legislatures), as well as districts and schools, can use to educate homeless children and youth;

Appendices provide quick access to information and resources, including:

· Promising practices highlights in states and districts, with contact information 

· An annotated list of organizations and advocacy groups interested in the education of homeless children and youth, with descriptions of on-line resources and links to additional resources; 

· A bibliography of recent publications that report on education-related issues affecting homeless children and youth;

· Selected questions and answers regarding special education and the homeless student.

The Challenges This Resource Guide Addresses

When children and youth move frequently, or when they have no stable home base, attending school is difficult.  There are challenges for students and challenges for the school districts, schools, and states working to serve them.  Strategies aimed at five of the most common challenges are detailed in this guide.  These include:

· Awareness raising.  State coordinators of homeless education report that many educators, as well as members of the general public, remain unaware of the serious consequences of homelessness for school-age children and youth.  As one coordinator observed about homeless students, “...these students are invisible -- they do not exist.”  In order to identify, enroll, and educate homeless students, the general public and district and school staff at all levels and in all capacities need to understand the rights and needs of homeless students and their families, as well as the services available to them.

· Immediate enrollment.  School records requirements make enrolling in school a problem for many homeless students.  States have made significant progress in resolving issues having to do with immunization records for homeless students.  Nevertheless, schools and other agencies remain apprehensive about eliminating the usual requirement for documents (e.g., birth certificate, court records) that prove a student has a parent\legal guardian who accepts responsibility for the child. Further, when academic records such as grades and test scores are not transferred from one school to another, students may not be placed in the appropriate education programs.

· Transportation.****Transportation remains the major enrollment barrier for homeless children and youth.   Often, homeless students cannot immediately get access to district transportation because shelters, motels, campgrounds, the homes of relatives and friends, and other temporary housing are not on regular district bus routes.  Homeless students in rural communities and communities without public transportation have even fewer transportation alternatives from which to choose.  When they move across school and district boundaries, transportation problems often force homeless students to change schools, thus disrupting relationships with teachers and classmates.

· In-school and related services.  Homeless students are at a disadvantage in terms of access to school services that supplement the standard educational program.  State coordinators report that these students have difficulty receiving services such as gifted and talented education, special education, Head Start, and other publicly funded preschool programs, even when they qualify for these programs.  Transportation problems make it even more difficult for homeless students to participate in before- and after-school activities such as tutoring, clubs, sports, and counseling.  Furthermore, homeless students often need school supplies that their families can’t afford, and they may need referrals for health and social services to address problems that can prevent their success in school.

· Outreach to youth.  Identifying and enrolling homeless youth, who by legislative definition are between the ages of 12 and 18, poses special challenges.  This population includes runaways and other highly mobile students, some of whom purposefully avoid being identified and avoid school.   State coordinators report that homeless youth “remain hidden and, as a result, are difficult to identify, and therefore, to serve.”  Those youth who do attend school may still have difficulty meeting the attendance and course requirements necessary for graduation, particularly if they change schools or districts frequently during the school year. 

**The Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act**

The Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act (PL 100-77), as amended, contains nine titles that cover a range of services to homeless people.  Subtitle VII authorizes four programs, one of which is the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program.  Congress established the EHCY program in response to reports that more than half of homeless children were not regularly attending school.  As amended in 1994, the EHCY program mandates that states take action to ensure that homeless children and youth have equal access to the same free and appropriate public education as their non-homeless peers.

**Roles and Responsibilities of State Coordinators:  Promising Practices**

Every state has a coordinator for homeless education.  Interviews with the three state coordinators in this study provide information on many promising ways to meet the goals of the McKinney Act.  Specifically, state coordinators can:

· Raise awareness with assessment, technical assistance, and training.  Two effective strategies are to assess current awareness and provide technical assistance and training to district and school personnel.  Assessing educators’ awareness of homeless education issues, rights, resources, and services is a smart first step toward developing strategic activities that target areas of greatest need.  Identifying homeless children and youth**is**a**crucial step to ensure that these students enroll in school and have the opportunity to reach high academic standards. Many districts are not aware that they have homeless students; nor do they know which children to count as “homeless.”

· Cast a broad net to disseminate information.  State coordinators can maintain close contact with school districts, service providers, and advocates and provide them with useful information, such as guidance on the McKinney Act, changes in the law itself, or related policies that can effect the education of homeless children and youth.  State coordinators communicate information in various ways, including through statewide newsletters, e-mail listservs, statewide hotlines, and direct calls to districts.  The coordinators with whom we spoke try to use as many different means of communication as possible.

· Take every opportunity to collaborate and coordinate with others. Specifically, state coordinators suggest collaborating with district and school staff, local departments of transportation and local youth-serving organizations and agencies to provide innovative in-school and related services and coordinating funds to provide in-school and related services to more homeless students.  

· Evaluate and monitor with an eye toward program improvement.  State coordinators are required to gather information on homeless children and youth in their state and report findings to the United States Department of Education once every three years.  In our sample of states, we uncovered promising strategies to collect high-quality data and use the data for program improvement.

**Promising Practices from Other State-Level Players, Districts, and Schools**

**Awareness Raising**

To begin the process of awareness raising at the local level, district and school liaisons can: (1) conduct a local needs assessment, (2) target a wide audience, (3) target a full range of staff positions including district personnel, teachers, and bus drivers and make attendance at awareness-raising activities mandatory, and (4) develop awareness-raising materials to disseminate widely.  District and school staff can also keep parents informed about their children’s legal rights to immediate enrollment and provide advice on what to do when moving (e.g., notify the school of departure to begin records transfer, request a copy of all school and immunization records). 

**Immediate Enrollment**

To ensure that homeless children and youth can enroll in school immediately, districts can minimize enrollment barriers through policy (e.g., develop district policy and/or look to relevant state policy).  They can also use a systematic process for records transfer and assign a staff member the responsibility to oversee this process.  Many have found that when a liaison or other specified contact person leads a homeless student through the enrollment process -- going with the student from the shelter to the school and completing forms and requirements, such as a doctor’s appointment if immunization records cannot be found -- the length of time it takes to access a student’s records decreases significantly**.**

**Transportation**

To identify the transportation needs of homeless children and youth, communicate these needs to the right person, and resolve problems, states and districts can: (1) develop state law and policy to clarify the McKinney Act provisions, (2) develop local transportation policy that facilitates the attendance of homeless students, (3) collaborate with the local department of transportation to provide the most appropriate transportation to homeless students, and (4) develop a systematic process to meet transportation needs of these children. 

The McKinney Act’s guidance on all matters related to the transportation of homeless children and youth is not always clear. For example, the McKinney Act does not address: (1) exactly how long a homeless student may remain in the school of origin; (2) who is responsible for transporting homeless students across district lines, or (3) procedures for filing and resolving enrollment disputes.  Furthermore, many district administrators may not be aware of the McKinney Act and its provisions at all.  State law and policy can not only increase awareness of transportation issues among school and shelter staff in non-McKinney districts but also clarify the gray areas of the McKinney Act.  

**In-school and Related Services**

To help ensure that homeless children and youth have access to the in-school and related services that they need, districts can: (1) accurately identify the need for programs and services by identifying homeless children and youth, (2) ensure access through policies that make clear what programs and services homeless children and youth are entitled to, and (3) create networks and partnerships to stretch resources.   A smart first step in providing in-school services to homeless students is to determine the extent of the need for particular services by, for example, conducting a school survey.  Once need is determined, districts can stretch resources by developing a network of service providers and developing local partnerships.

**Outreach to Youth**

To specifically address the problems that homeless youth face, districts can: (1) collaborate and coordinate with local youth-serving organizations/programs, and (2) form a multi-disciplinary team.  Establishing and maintaining contact with local youth-serving organizations and programs can increase the chances of identifying and enrolling homeless youth in school.  Multi-disciplinary teams, that may include the juvenile officer for the local police department, a narcotics officer, a social worker, and a mental health outreach worker, for example, can provide homeless youth with the supports that some may need to re-engage in school or to get a job.   

**Conclusions: Some Cross-Cutting Strategies**

Looking across this sample of states and districts, promising strategies that meet challenges across a range of issues that homeless children and youth confront every day include: (1) developing law and policy to strengthen and reinforce the McKinney Act, (2) appointing a homeless liaison for every district, (3) collaborating to maximize district resources, and (4) creating a comprehensive and coordinated homeless education program.  Homeless students will be best served when promising practices are implemented as part of a comprehensive and coordinated homeless education program.  Promising practices that are implemented in isolation are likely to result in some homeless students falling between the cracks.  A homeless education program can align and integrate the efforts of all stakeholders, and do so in a systemic, planned, and sustainable way.  The ultimate success of any homeless education program requires that the efforts of many individuals are coordinated and measured by whether all homeless students are identified, enrolled, and educated appropriately.

****

This guide describes promising practices that state coordinators for homeless education and other state, district, and school staff can use to meet the requirements of the McKinney Act, as well as some of the most pressing challenges to enrolling homeless children and youth in school and providing them with the supports they need to reach the same high standards as others.  Although success in meeting these challenges rarely comes easily, when it does come, it is well worth the effort in improving the lives of these vulnerable children, youth, and families.

**Educating Homeless Children and Youth:**

**A Resource Guide to Promising Practices**

This guide suggests strategies and processes that states, districts, and schools can use to overcome some of the many barriers that keep homeless children and youth from getting the education to which they are entitled.  The guide describes promising practices that some states and districts have implemented to enroll homeless children and youth in school.  It also presents approaches for helping them to achieve the same high standards expected of all children.  We know that others can put some of these strategies to use in their own states and districts.  

Children and youth are a fast growing segment of the homeless population.  Estimates vary because of the difficulties in accurately counting homeless children.  The*Year 2000 Report to Congress*on the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program indicates that:

· The number of homeless children and youth (PreK-12) increased 10 percent from approximately 841,721 reported in 1997 to 928,429 reported in 2000, while the overall population of PreK-12 children increased only 2 percent during this time period.

· The largest numbers of homeless children are PreK-6 aged children, comprising approximately 65 percent of the homeless children and youth population.

· Approximately 87 percent of school age homeless children and youth (K-12) are enrolled in school; 13 percent are not enrolled. Year 2000 data show that approximately 77 percent of school age homeless children and youth (K-12) attend school regularly; almost one-quarter (23 percent) of homeless children do not. These data show a significant improvement from the 1997 data that reported only 55 percent of school age homeless children and youth attended school regularly.

· Only 15 percent of preschool age homeless children are enrolled in school programs. These data suggest that preschool age homeless children are greatly underserved by homeless education programs.

Further, the most recent *United States Conference of Mayors Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America’s Cities* indicates that requests for emergency shelter by homeless families with children increased in almost three-quarters of cities surveyed in 2000.  Across these cities, the average increase in requests was 17 percent.  Half of those cities report that people are homeless for a longer period of time than was true in past years.  Research indicates that these problems are also prevalent in rural areas.  

In order to focus our search for promising practices in a small number of places where promising practices were particularly likely to be found, we looked in three states and six school districts across six states, all of which were recommended by current research literature and national experts in the field of educating homeless children and youth.  The three states included:  Illinois, Oregon, and Texas.  The districts included:  Baltimore County, Maryland; Bucks County, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Santa Cruz, California; and Victoria, Texas.  In our search we interviewed state coordinators of homeless education by telephone, and a team of researchers visited the six districts to gather detailed information about programs for homeless children and youth. 

The promising practices described here are but a few; many other states and districts could, no doubt, contribute their own success stories.  We have, in a few instances, included promising practices from sites that, although not in our study sample, help to illustrate a particular point.  

This resource guide begins with an overview of the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, the first and, to date, the sole major federal legislative response to homelessness.  The McKinney Act has been amended five times.  For the most part, the amendments expanded the scope and strengthened the provisions of the original legislation.  In addition, Congress has recently changed the name of the Act from the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act to the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act.

The resource guide also describes:

· The key roles and responsibilities of state coordinators of homeless education programs and examples of promising practices to build a strong statewide support system for homeless education 

· Promising practices that other state-level players (e.g., coalitions, legislatures), as well as districts and schools, use to educate homeless children and youth

The guide includes appendices that provide quick access to information and resources:

· Promising practices highlights in the states and districts included in this guide, with contact information 

· An annotated list of organizations and advocacy groups interested in the education of homeless children and youth, with descriptions of on-line resources and links to additional resources 

· A bibliography including recent publications that report on education-related issues affecting homeless children and youth

· Selected questions and answers regarding special education and the homeless student

**The Challenges This Study Addresses**

( **Awareness raising**

( **Immediate enrollment**

( **Transportation**

( **Providing in-school and related services**

( **Outreach to youth**

When children and youth move frequently, attending school is difficult for many reasons.  There are challenges for students and challenges for the school districts, schools, and even states working to serve them.  Strategies aimed at five of the most common challenges are detailed in this guide:

**Awareness Raising**

State coordinators of homeless education programs report that many educators, as well as members of the general public, remain unaware of the serious consequences of homelessness for school-age children and youth.  As one coordinator observed about homeless students, “...these students are invisible -- they do not exist.”  In order to identify, enroll, and educate homeless students, the general public and district and school staff at all levels and in all capacities need to understand the rights and needs of homeless students and their families, as well as the services available to them.

**Immediate Enrollment**

School records requirements make enrolling in school a problem for many homeless students.  States have made significant progress in resolving issues having to do with immunization records for homeless students.  Nevertheless, schools and other agencies remain apprehensive about eliminating the usual requirement for documents that prove a student has a parent\legal guardian who accepts responsibility for the child.  School authorities are concerned not only about liability questions, but also fear that non-homeless students would react to such a change by enrolling in schools outside of their attendance area for other reasons (e.g., the popularity of a school).  Further, when academic records such as grades and test scores are not transferred from one school to another, students may not be placed in the appropriate education programs.

Transportation 

Transportation remains the most prominent enrollment barrier for homeless children and youth.   Often, homeless students cannot immediately get access to district transportation because shelters, motels, campgrounds, the homes of relatives and friends, and other temporary housing are not on regular district bus routes.  Homeless students in rural communities and communities without public transportation have even fewer transportation alternatives from which to choose.  When they move across school and district boundaries, transportation problems often force homeless students to change schools, thus disrupting relationships with teachers and classmates.

**In-school and Related Services**

Homeless students are at a disadvantage in terms of access to school services that supplement the standard educational program.  State coordinators report that these students have difficulty receiving services related to gifted and talented education, special education, Head Start, and other publicly funded preschool programs, even when they qualify for these programs.  The lack of transportation makes it even more difficult for homeless students to participate in before- and after-school activities such as tutoring, clubs, sports, and counseling.  Furthermore, homeless students often need school supplies, and they may need referrals for health and social services to address problems that can prevent their success in school.

**Outreach to Youth**

Identifying and enrolling homeless youth, who by legislative definition are between the ages of 12 and 18, poses special challenges.  This population includes runaways and other highly mobile students, some of whom purposefully avoid being identified and avoid school.   State coordinators report that homeless youth “remain hidden and, as a result, are difficult to identify, and therefore, to serve.”  Those youth who do attend school may still have difficulty meeting the attendance and course requirements necessary for graduation, particularly if they change schools or districts frequently during the school year. 

**The McKinney Homeless Assistance Act**

The McKinney Homeless Assistance Act (PL 100-77) was signed into law on July 22, 1987.  Its purpose was to bring to the surface and address the problems associated with homelessness in the United States.  The Act was amended in 1988, 1990, 1992 and 1994.  The McKinney Act contains nine titles that cover a range of services to homeless people.  Subtitle VII authorizes four programs, one of which is the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program.  Congress established the EHCY program in response to reports that more than half of homeless children were not regularly attending school.  As amended in 1994, the EHCY program mandates that states take action to ensure that homeless children and youth have equal access to the same free and appropriate public education as their non-homeless peers.  This report discusses data collected in 2000 when the 1994 reauthorization was law.  

The 1994 amendments to the McKinney Act gave local education authorities increased flexibility in the use of funds appropriated under the Act, specified the rights of homeless preschoolers to a free and appropriate public preschool education, gave parents of homeless children and youth a greater voice regarding their children’s school placement, and required educational authorities to coordinate with housing authorities.  In 2000, Congress appropriated $28.8 million to the EHCY program and stipulated that no state appropriation could be less than $100,000.

The EHCY program awards grants to state education agencies (SEAs) to provide and coordinate services to homeless children and youth and to establish or designate a state homeless education coordinator.  The state coordinator works to improve the educational access and school success of all homeless children in the state.  The Office of the State Coordinator also awards subgrants to local education agencies (LEAs) to help homeless children and youth enroll in, attend, and succeed in school.  Operating at a funding level of $28.8 million, the McKinney Act is a relatively small program, and the number of subgrantees receiving McKinney funds is small; approximately 4 percent of school districts nationwide receive subgrants.

The McKinney Act imposes several key requirements on LEAs in participating states.  An LEA must:

· Either continue the student’s enrollment at the school of origin or enroll him or her in the attendance area in which he or she currently lives.  In making these placement decisions the LEA should, to the extent feasible, comply with the request made by a parent or guardian regarding school selection,

· Provide homeless students with services that are comparable to those offered to other students, including transportation, school meals, and educational programs for students who are gifted and talented, have disabilities, or are limited-English proficient,

· LEAs that receive subgrants should coordinate with local social service and housing agencies, and

· LEAs that receive subgrants should designate a homeless liaison whose responsibilities include ensuring that the LEA responsibilities are met and that homeless students receive the educational services to which they are entitled; however, some states require that all LEAs, including those without McKinney subgrants, designate a homeless liaison

**Roles and Responsibilities of State Coordinators:  Promising Practices**

( **Raise awareness with assessment, technical assistance, and training**

( **Cast a broad net to disseminate information**

( **Take every opportunity to collaborate with others**

( **Evaluate and monitor with an eye toward program improvement**

Although only 4 percent of school districts receive McKinney funds, every state has a coordinator for homeless education.  In broad terms, state coordinators identify homeless children and youth and build support systems for school districts to serve them effectively.  Interviews with the three state coordinators in this study provided information on many promising ways to meet the goals of the McKinney Act.  Specifically, these coordinators shared promising practices they use to:

· Raise awareness about homeless children and youth

· Disseminate information

· Collaborate and coordinate with other organizations and agencies, and 

· Evaluate and monitor McKinney subgrantees

**Raise Awareness with Assessment, Technical Assistance, and Training**

( **Assess current awareness**

( **Use technical assistance to identify homeless children and youth**

( **Use technical assistance to ensure access to in-school and related services**

( **Train for self advocacy**

Staffs of state departments of education, districts, and schools, as well as community members, vary in their awareness of homeless issues -- including those related to the definition, condition, needs, and rights of homeless children and youth.  Lack of awareness can result in barriers that delay or prevent homeless children and youth from enrolling in school.  Homeless parents themselves are often unaware of their children’s rights or their own rights.  Furthermore, school staff who are unfamiliar with the conditions of homelessness may be unresponsive to homeless students’ educational needs and insensitive to the everyday challenges they face. 

State coordinators we interviewed expend considerable energy on awareness raising.  Two effective strategies are to: 

· Assess current awareness

· Provide technical assistance and training to district and school personnel.

**Assess Current Awareness**

Assessing educators’ awareness of homeless education issues, rights, resources, and services is a smart first step toward developing strategic activities that target areas of greatest need.  For example, Illinois’ state coordinator surveyed the state’s 900 district superintendents to gauge their awareness of federal and state laws that address homeless education, as well as related services and issues.  Following this first survey, the coordinator undertook many outreach and informational activities to raise awareness in the areas in which superintendents lacked knowledge and understanding.  After administering the survey a second time nearly two years later, this state coordinator now says, “We saw a significant rise in awareness after two years.  The survey showed that people in schools and districts are much more aware.  I am confident now that if you ask any superintendent about homeless education, he or she will at least know that there is some legislation and guidance out there that addresses it.”

Use Technical Assistance to Identify Homeless Children and Youth

Identifying homeless children and youth is another crucial step in ensuring that these students enroll in school and have the opportunity to reach high academic standards.  Many districts are not aware that they have homeless students; nor do they know which children to count as “homeless.”  Noting the importance of providing technical assistance and training on this topic, the state coordinators we interviewed offered two effective means: 

· Developing written guidance 

· Presenting at statewide conferences 

***Developing written guidance***.  One way that state coordinators can train others to identify homeless children and youth is to provide written guidance about exactly who is homeless.  For example, in January 2000 Oregon’s state coordinator published a manual entitled *Admission of Students to Oregon Public Schools: Guidance for Schools and Districts*.  Incorporating the non-regulatory guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Education on McKinney Act provisions, the guidance provides district and school personnel with legal references and policy guidelines to determine student eligibility for admission to school.  The manual includes a section addressing special populations, with guidance for identifying homeless youth in particular.  It also includes a question-and-answer section, based on best practices, to address some of the reluctance among school staff and principals to enroll homeless youth.  Among the questions addressed are:

· What is the responsibility of a school district to admit school-age children and youth located in the district who do not have a permanent in-district address or who are not supervised by a parent or legal guardian?

· What should school personnel do if they suspect or know the youth to be a runaway?

· Can a school require documentation such as a recent receipt or a utility bill to prove that a child or youth is a resident of the district for school admissions purposes?

· Should an unaccompanied homeless student be allowed to participate in field trips for which a signed parent permission slip is a prerequisite?

· If a youth admitted to school becomes ill or is injured at school, and school personnel either take the child to the hospital or call for an ambulance, is the school district responsible for the medical costs incurred?

· What should educators do if a homeless youth attempting to enroll is known to have been expelled from another school for possession of a weapon?

Oregon is revising the manual after feedback from districts, and it is likely to expand it to cover issues related to adjudicated youth.  School and district staff will be able to access the new edition on the Web, along with links to other resources that can assist in enrolling homeless students.

***Presenting at statewide conferences and local workshops.***  Another method by which state coordinators can familiarize school staff with homelessness issues is to present information at statewide conferences of other federal or state education programs or advocacy groups.  Texas’ state coordinator gets on the program at statewide conferences to raise awareness of issues related to homeless children and youth, including how to identify them.  

Oregon’s coordinator has conducted interstate workshops to address the movement of homeless families between California, Oregon, and Washington.  She also conducts about 25 district workshops a year to help staff learn how to identify homeless children and youth. 

**Technical Assistance to Ensure Access to a Free Appropriate Public Education**

The Texas state coordinator recently published *Questions and Answers Guide on the Education of Children and Youth in Homeless Situations*(1999).  The guide specifically addresses special education services in Texas and answers many questions that district and school staff in that State are likely to ask in deciding whether a homeless student is eligible to participate in the program.  It also describes when homeless students may receive expedited consideration for such services.   This guidance, while specific to Texas, identifies some of the issues that States can address in their own policies and practices.

Train for Self Advocacy

As previously noted, while every state has a homeless coordinator, not every district receives subgrants.  As a result, many districts do not designate homeless program liaisons.  In Texas, for example, the state coordinator notes that, with more than 1,000 districts in the state, many school staff, service providers, and homeless parents lack the knowledge and skills to quickly resolve problems that affect school enrollment and success for homeless children and youth.  She believes in “training individuals to advocate on their own behalf ... to ensure that ‘fires’ at all levels are put out quickly.”  Consequently, when an advocate or homeless student calls the state homeless information hot-line with a problem (e.g., not being allowed to enroll in a particular school), they leave the conversation armed with the information they need to take care of the situation at hand.  The coordinator explained that local advocates can pressure local communities in ways that state officials can’t. “It is much more meaningful when a constituent -- rather than someone from the state office -- gets up at a school board meeting and talks about what works and what needs changing,” she said.  She noted further that becoming an advocate for oneself means that, when a homeless parent or student moves to another district or state, they know how to access the information and services they need.

**Cast a Broad Net to Disseminate Information**

The state coordinators we interviewed try to maintain close contact with school districts, service providers, and advocates and to provide them with useful information, such as guidance on the McKinney Act, changes in the law itself, or related policies that can affect the education of homeless children and youth.  State coordinators communicate information in various ways, including through statewide newsletters,   e-mail listservs, statewide hotlines, and direct calls to districts.  The coordinators with whom we spoke try to use as many different means of communication as possible.  In Texas, for example:

· All schools have e-mail access to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), and are required to check the TEA website regularly.  (TEA no longer sends many types of information via paper communications to districts.)  The coordinator posts important information related to homeless education on this website.

· All homeless program liaisons have e-mail access, and the coordinator contacts them regularly to “check in and keep touch.”  The coordinator also e-mails information about relevant policy and law affecting homeless children and youth to all subgrantees.

· The OEHCY publishes at least one article for each issue of the bi-monthly *Texas Homeless Network News*, which is disseminated on-line as well as in hard copy, to more than 2,000 readers

**Take Every Opportunity to Collaborate and Coordinate with Others**

( **Collaborate to provide innovative in-school and related services**

( **Coordinate funds to provide in-school and related services to more homeless students**

The McKinney Act directs the state homeless education program to coordinate activities with the SEA and with other agencies and organizations that serve homeless children and youth.  The state coordinators we interviewed think that collaborating with others is essential in a successful homeless education program.  Collaboration enhances educators’ ability to:  

· Provide innovative in-school and related services

· Extend the reach of McKinney dollars to provide more homeless students with in-school services

**Collaborate to Provide Innovative In-school and Related Services**

Texas’ state coordinator has played a key role in designing the Support for Homeless Education: Linking Technology Resources to Shelters (SHELTRS) project, which gives homeless students in Austin access to information-age learning tools.  Specifically, SHELTRS provides new technology resources and expands existing technology resources at eight facilities in Austin that provide shelter, educational services, or job training and employment referral services to homeless students.  To get this project started, the state coordinator convened a group to collaborate, including Austin shelter directors, staff of the University of Texas Dana Center, and representatives from private technology companies such as Microsoft and Southwestern Bell.  Their meetings and joint planning eventually led to a grant award from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP).

In addition, the coordinator collaborates with private non-profit charitable organizations to increase services that influence students’ school success.  One such collaboration is with Feed the Children, a national organization headquartered in Oklahoma that distributes food, clothing, and other resources to the homeless in Texas.  Feed the Children contacts the coordinator regarding donations, and she in turn contacts liaisons who select families to receive the donated items.  This organization, for example, once provided rent money to a family about to be evicted from their apartment.

**Coordinate Funds to Provide In-school and Related Services to More Homeless Students**

Coordination also offers opportunities to provide more homeless students with in-school services, both within and outside of McKinney-funded districts.

***Title I can serve homeless students***.  Oregon’s homeless coordinator combines McKinney funds with Title I funds through the Title I, Part A Set-asides Initiative. Although Title I mandates that funds be reserved to serve homeless children, some Title I program directors remain unaware of this requirement.  Others are not aware of the existence of homeless students in their school district or are unsure exactly which children count as “homeless.”  The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) ensures that shelter count data (produced twice annually by the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department) are distributed to school districts.  The coordinator said, “A district knows that if they appear on this list, they have homeless children and need to reserve some Title I funds for them.”

To establish the Title I, Part A Set-asides Initiative, the buy-in of administrators at the state and local level was crucial.  According to the coordinator, administrators had “to believe that homeless and mobile kids need a bigger break because of the amount of time in school they’re going to miss.”  Getting them to this point involved awareness-raising and convincing people that “the larger common denominators are poverty and mobility ... homelessness is made up by many layers of disadvantage....”

The Oregon state coordinator also encourages districts to support migrant recruiters and other home-school consultants who are typically funded by the Title I Migrant program through the Title I, Part A program.  The coordinator reports that “district people realize that it makes good economic sense to get the most out of a person who is going to be in the field already ... looking for families in trailer parks, motels, and campsites....”  This way, she explained, when a recruiter locates children who are homeless but not migrant, they can receive needed services promptly and efficiently.  

The Illinois state coordinator encourages districts to submit a consolidated ESEA state plan to ED and to include their homeless education program in the plan.  He said, “Homeless children are a subset of Title I.  They are some of the poorest and neediest, so it is logical to tie the services together to serve them...being part of the consolidated plan increases our reach to non-McKinney districts.  Whereas the McKinney program on its own would reach 20 programs in Illinois, the consolidated plan enables us to reach about 800 of our 900 districts statewide, since that is the number of districts that submit a consolidated plan.” 

**Evaluate and Monitor with an Eye Toward Program Improvement**

( **Collect high-quality data**

( **Use the data for program improvement**

State coordinators are required to gather information on homeless children and youth in their state and report findings to ED once every three years.  In our sample of states, we uncovered promising strategies to: 

· Collect high-quality data

· Use the data for program improvement

**Collect High Quality Data**

Data collected from school districts across a state may not be comparable, and therefore not useful to inform a statewide needs assessment or demonstrate whether a homeless education program was successful.  In Texas, the coordinator launched a “uniform data reporting” effort to track homeless students, evaluate McKinney projects, and monitor the academic achievement of homeless students.  The new data reporting requirements were gradually phased in so that they would not overwhelm districts with too many new requirements all at once.  

Because 1997 was the first year of a new McKinney grant cycle, the coordinator saw this as a good opportunity to introduce her data collection plan at that year’s annual meeting of McKinney subgrantees.  When projects accepted their new grant, they also accepted the mandate to report uniform data.  Project directors were instructed to purchase a computer and specific reporting software (using McKinney funds).  They were also asked to add some data items to the information they were already collecting.  Uniform reporting became mandatory in 1998.  Every year since, the amount of data that projects have been mandated to report has increased. 

**Use Data for Program Improvement**

State coordinators with whom we spoke use data in many ways to improve their homeless education programs.  For example, with high-quality data in hand, McKinney subgrantees in Texas answer three questions in a narrative report:

· In what ways is the program working to meet the needs of students experiencing homelessness?

· In what ways is the program effective in meeting the needs of students experiencing homelessness?

· What changes will the program make in the future to meet the needs of students experiencing homelessness?

The Illinois state coordinator “shadows” local homeless liaisons for a day.  He monitors subgrantees, learns about the issues they face, and identifies areas in need of improvement.  “Evaluation takes a step further than monitoring to focus on program improvement -- identifying program successes, progress, and challenges,” he said.  “My shadowing isn’t so much to monitor, though that is part of it.  I really am trying to learn about what the liaisons do.  What are the problems?  What can be done about them?  In the past I went for small amounts of time.  However, just recently, I started spending the entire day with them.  I do check that grantees are compliant with what they said they would do in their application, but I also go with them to visit homeless families and do their usual tasks.... I think going into the field like this will help me understand how to collect data that shows that we are adequately serving the population.  Numbers are not enough as they are.”

And in Oregon, the state coordinator requires subgrantees to submit mid-year and end-of-year reports to evaluate their effectiveness.  She submits these reports to ED and uses them to help subgrantees improve their programs.  

**Promising Practices from Other State-Level Players, Districts, and Schools**

State coordinators work hard to address the pressing challenges confronting the education of homeless children and youth.  But statewide coalitions, advocacy groups, state legislatures, districts, and schools offer promising practices as well.  

**Awareness Raising**

( **Conduct a local needs assessment**

( **Target a wide audience**

( **Develop materials to distribute widely**

In addition to the far-reaching efforts of state coordinators to raise awareness, many whom we interviewed described the importance of the district and school liaisons.  They particularly noted efforts to:  

· Conduct a local needs assessment

· Target a wide audience

· Develop materials to distribute widely 

Conduct a Local Needs Assessment

Just as assessing the need for statewide awareness-raising can lead to targeting the greatest needs, the same holds true for districts and schools.  For instance, the homeless liaison in Santa Cruz County, California, administers a two-page survey to all principals in the district.  It inquires about the school’s homeless education services, summarizes federal and state homeless education law, and asks whether the principal would like to schedule professional development to raise awareness of homeless education issues among staff. 

**Target a Wide Audience**

We uncovered awareness-raising activities aimed at many different audiences.  Activities are geared to pre-service teachers and homeless service providers as well as other school staff and the general public.  For example, The Opening Doors program, funded by the Illinois Board of Education, provides: 

· A 1-800 hotline for homeless issues.  Opening Doors staff added an extension to a pre-existing hotline operated by the Board of Education.  With McKinney funds, new hotline staff received training.  If they cannot answer a particular question, they refer callers to someone who can.  Posters in schools, at the Salvation Army, food banks, shelters, churches, and libraries have widely publicized the hotline. 

· A website used by the state coordinator as well as by service providers, social workers, and school and district staff.  The site provides information such as key provisions of state and federal homeless legislation, and “tip sheets” for teachers, principals, enrollment clerks or secretaries, nurses, and social workers.  Topics include guidelines for identifying homeless children and youth and procedures for enrolling them in school.  The state homeless coordinator also uses this website to post relevant ED services and information. 

· The dissemination of press releases and public service announcements.  This typically occurs when new statistics come out or during the first cold spell.  The director of the Illinois Opening Doors program explained that “this is a big time for enrolling homeless kids since the parents want them out of the cold, or they go to a shelter and the shelter tells them they must enroll their child.”

The Illinois Opening Doors program is exploring a new awareness-raising model that trains pre-service teachers and social workers.  While admitting that coordination with institutions of higher education will likely pose a challenge, the director remains dedicated to the concept, noting that  “...new teachers should be prepared before they are already teaching, and [during their pre-service education] is an efficient time to do it...and new teachers are full of hope and are receptive to addressing [homeless education] problems.”  

***Target a full range of staff positions and make attendance mandatory.***  Because homeless students need special attention and assistance in ways that will prevent them from being ostracized or stigmatized, it is important that staff at all levels participate in awareness-raising activities.  Chicago Public Schools requires school-level training on homeless education, thus greatly strengthening federal and state policies on awareness-raising.  At least annually, principals attend a homeless education training session on the procedures and forms related to district policy and state and federal law.  The Chief of Schools and Regions conducts the two-hour session, using a PowerPoint presentation, a comprehensive program manual, posters for each school office, and pamphlets for distribution to parents.

To keep the training engaging and useful, the Chief revises the agenda and content every year.  The homeless education program ensures that all principals have an opportunity to attend the training by providing frequent make-up training sessions.  Principals are strongly encouraged to bring assistant principals, homeless education liaisons, and school clerks.  Within 30 days of attending the session, principals must provide training to all staff within their schools, and with sign-in sheets, certify to the district coordinator that school staff received the training.  The district also provides voluntary follow-up training focused on sensitivity to homelessness and collaboration with shelter staff.

In Baltimore County, the homeless education program worked with the districtwide Homeless Education Steering Committee on a comprehensive staff development plan for the education of homeless students.  Program staff enlisted wide membership on the Steering Committee, including district staff developers, administrators, transportation staff, secretaries, nurses, and many others to ensure a high-quality, relevant staff development plan.  The plan is revised on an ongoing basis and targets staff development to those personnel who are likely to have the greatest impact on homeless students -- including all new teachers, pupil personnel workers, school counselors, school social workers, special education supervisors, administrators, school nurses, bus drivers and other transportation staff members, and Head Start staff members.  

Additionally, the district Office of Staff Development helped the Steering Committee design training for school-based teams.  The district superintendent invited all school principals to send a team (including an administrator, counselor, social worker, teacher, secretary, and parent) to the one-day training event, where participants developed a Homeless Education Action Plan.  School secretaries, who were recognized as key gatekeepers in enrolling homeless students, received additional training; the superintendent encouraged attendance by authorizing professional development release time.  

The school district in Santa Cruz, California, also holds annual training for principals, office staff, teachers, nurses, and bus drivers.  The training’s primary focus is on ensuring that staff at each school can identify and enroll homeless students in accordance with the law.  

**Develop Materials to Distribute Widely**

Because not every district has a McKinney subgrant or a homeless program liaison, it is important that states distribute their awareness raising materials as widely as possible.  Bucks County, Pennsylvania, develops materials and training for the entire state under contract with the Pennsylvania Department of Education.  A representative summarized the intent by saying, “We design these materials generically so [that] other states can use them.  All materials focus on the McKinney Act, so if you go to a workshop in any town in Pennsylvania, you would see consistency in terms of the message.”  Additionally, during every school term, Pennsylvania’s Deputy Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education sends a letter to each superintendent and homeless liaison.  The letters reemphasize local requirements regarding homeless students and cite *Pennsylvania Basic Education Circulars*, which include additional information on the rights of homeless children and youth.  

The Illinois Opening Doors program produces a series of one-page tip sheets designed for different audiences throughout the community.  The one for teachers describes signs of student homelessness.  Principals receive a tip sheet on state-level homeless law and policy, while enrollment clerks, secretaries, social workers, and nurses receive information and strategies most relevant to their respective professions.  

***Develop a comprehensive district manual.***  The Chicago Public Schools developed a guide on homeless education in that district for Chicago educators and community members.  The 66-page document addresses homeless policy and law, school-level requirements, standard district procedures and forms, and frequently asked questions.  A task force including advocates from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, members of the state and local school boards, Chicago city officials, shelter staff, and staff of the Chicago Homeless Education Program helped develop the manual. 

***Develop resource guides.***  States and districts can develop resource guides to make it easier and faster for school staff to locate services for homeless students.  For example, Santa Cruz has compiled a booklet of local resources and contact information.  The booklet outlines:

· Services the district homeless education program can provide

· Services available from other local agencies such as the Community Action Board

· Resources created by other organizations that focus on homeless education (e.g., *Strategies for Teachers with Homeless Students in Their Classrooms* (from the National Center for Homeless Education and the Illinois Opening Doors Program)

· A summary of findings for the Santa Cruz County Homeless 2000 Census and Needs Assessment 

***Keep parents informed*.**  The Homeless Children’s Initiative in Baltimore County provides homeless parents with information about their children’s legal rights to immediate enrollment.  The initiative provides a folder known as a Parent Pack, containing important information that homeless families can take with them.  Information includes advice on what to do when moving, such as notifying the school of departure to begin records transfer, requesting a copy of all school and immunization records, and a reminder to keep all records in the folder pockets for easy access.

**

***Take advantage of newsletters, posters, pamphlets, and the local newspaper.***  Some of the more portable media can reach a wide audience simply by being short and easy to mail or to carry around.  Some districts periodically develop and distribute newsletters.  The school district in Fort Wayne regularly distributes its monthly newsletter to 225 people in the community, including school secretaries, teachers, and principals.  The newsletter updates readers on homeless issues, recent articles and research, statistics, and service strategies.  Many states and districts distribute posters and pamphlets.  These media provide concise and to-the-point information, as well as contacts who can answer more in-depth questions or provide services.  Chicago Public Schools distributes a poster designed for homeless parents that must be displayed in every school.  The poster has been translated into Spanish, Polish, and Arabic.  Similarly, the Pennsylvania homeless program distributes a “Homeless Children Have a Right to a Free, Appropriate Education” poster to every district in the state, so that staff can then make copies or request more.  

**Immediate Enrollment**

( **Minimize enrollment barriers through policy**

( **Use a systematic process for records transfer and assign a staff member the**

**responsibility to oversee this process.**

State coordinators cite homeless students’ frequent movement from school to school as the leading barrier to their academic success.  The McKinney Act requires that states and districts minimize barriers to the immediate enrollment and placement of homeless students in schools.  A survey of state homeless coordinators indicates that the enrollment of homeless students has speeded up significantly in the last five years.  Some of this progress is due to the fact that states have reduced many legislative barriers to enrollment, such as securing health, academic, residency, and guardianship records.  

Many states have made substantial progress toward removing barriers to immediate school enrollment by revising laws or policies to eliminate immunization-records barriers completely.  Some of these states have developed systems to immunize students at school sites, coordinate with a local health agency, or verify immunization by telephone.  Other barriers remain, however, particularly when school staff and enrollment clerks are unaware of the legal rights of homeless students.  Requirements for proof of guardianship persist as an obstacle to immediate enrollment; many schools require these records to protect themselves from liability and over-enrollment. 

Many districts, including those we visited, have developed or revised policies to ensure that homeless students can enroll in school right away, by, for example, allowing a 30-day grace period to provide records.  One district in particular, the Baltimore County Public Schools, demonstrated its commitment to immediate enrollment by allocating some of its McKinney funds to assist families with the costs of tracking down records and participating in meetings for school enrollment and placement.  To expedite the enrollment of homeless students, funds may be used to cover taxi fees and paperwork fees.  Funds have also been used to enable homeless parents or guardians to participate in enrollment and placement meetings, such as meetings to develop an individualized education program (IEP) for students eligible for special education services.  Members of the BCPS Homeless Education Steering Committee have accompanied some homeless families to hearings, including their due process hearings under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), to serve as advisors.  Other promising ways to ensure the timley enrollment and placement of homeless children and youth include:  

· A policy to clarify immediate enrollment and minimize enrollment barriers, and

· A systematic process for records transfer, with one person in charge.

**Minimize Enrollment Barriers Through Policy**

***Limit school transfers.***One way to avoid having to transfer records in the first place is to limit school transfers.  The McKinney Act supports this by declaring that all homeless children have the right to attend their school of origin to minimize educational disruption.  The Victoria Independent School District in Texas limits school transfers through their One Child, One School, One Year policy, which supports the homeless student’s right to attend their school of origin. 

Staff of the homeless education programs we visited note that local policies would not be effective if they weren’t supported from the top down.  Not only do district and school administrators need to be aware of the policies, but school liaisons need to remind school staff and homeless students themselves of students’ rights. 

***Look to relevant******state policy.***  The Bucks County Intermediate Unit in Pennsylvania looks to its state educational policy, entitled the Basic Education Circular, for guidance on school enrollment procedures.  The Pennsylvania circular states that the educating district should begin to instruct students as soon as it receives proof of age and evidence of immunization, or evidence that an immunization program has been started.  In the case of homeless students, however, the educating district should make special exceptions when it comes to waiting on records to enroll students, contacting the student’s prior district to verify immunization by telephone if necessary.  The circular cites the state’s policy in affirming that oral confirmation between professionals provides sufficient basis for enrolling a student, with written confirmation to follow within 30 days.  The circular also states that instruction should begin as soon as possible after the enrollment process begins.

**Use a Systematic Process for Records Transfer and Put Someone in Charge**

Seventy percent of state coordinators report difficulties in obtaining some or all of the necessary records of homeless children who transfer to their schools.  Although some states amended their laws regarding records transfer in response to the McKinney Act, many of the most effective solutions to the problem of records transfer have been designed by local districts. 

Staff in several districts we visited say that channeling many of homeless students’ needs through a single person ensures an efficient enrollment process.  Homeless families will likely have difficulty keeping track of records, contacting previous schools to initiate transfers, and working around school bureaucracies.  Many have found that when a liaison or other specified contact person leads a homeless student through the process -- going with the student from the shelter to the school and completing forms and requirements, such as a doctor’s appointment if immunization records cannot be found -- the length of time it takes to access a student’s records decreases significantly.

In Chicago, the homeless liaison/contact person in the student’s new school must enroll the child, contact the previous school for records, and make any immediate referrals for medical documentation or immunizations.  When the homeless liaison submits the appropriate forms and paperwork to the Homeless Education Program, the data go into a central computer system.  About 75 percent of homeless students identified by Chicago schools are already in the district’s data system, greatly simplifying records transfer.  Because about 80 percent of the homeless students in the district transfer from other schools within the district, most documents can be easily tracked down by searching the district’s database. 

Each Baltimore County public school has a Pupil Personnel Worker.  This individual verifies the homeless status of the student and transfers records.  By immediately involving the Pupil Personnel Worker, who is familiar with the law and local policy, the enrollment process is shortened considerably.  Specifically, the Pupil Personnel Worker will:

· Coordinate with appropriate school personnel to obtain missing records,

· Facilitate the transfer process when a homeless student changes schools within the same district or between school districts,

· Deliver records to the receiving school, and

· Initiate a request for education records (for either transfer or withdrawal) through a telephone call with the student’s school.

**Transportation**

( **Develop state law and policy to clarify the McKinney Act provisions**

( **Develop local transportation policy that facilitates the attendance of homeless students**

( **Collaborate with the district department of transportation to provide the most**

**appropriate transportation to homeless students**

( **Develop a systematic process to meet the transportation needs of the children**

A national survey of 2,000 homeless and impoverished families found that one-quarter of the parents had problems enrolling or keeping their children in school.  About half of these parents cited transportation as a barrier.  Further, in 1998, 24 state coordinators named transportation as among the top three barriers to homeless students’ school success.  

Specific transportation barriers can include:

· Parents and guardians not knowing how to voice their needs to the district 

They may not know their rights, or not know whom to call to arrange for transportation, or they may have more immediate survival concerns.

· Complicated and costly transportation if the school of origin is far from a student’s temporary residence, or if a student requires transportation across district or state lines

· Lack of communication and coordination 

It is not a simple task to identify the transportation needs of homeless children and youth, communicate these needs to the right person, and resolve problems, given the hectic schedules of staff at both schools and shelters. 

· Finding additional local financial and staff resources

Often districts must pay for public transportation tokens, taxi fares, and expanded bus routes or driver time.  Further, districts already struggling to fund basic transportation to schools find it exceptionally difficult to transport homeless students to before- and after-school activities.  

· Lack of a school transportation policy

The McKinney Act leaves some districts confused.  Specifically, it does not *require* that homeless students be transported to their school of origin, nor does it affix responsibility in cases of inter-district transportation.

Nevertheless, many states and districts successfully address these problems.  Promising strategies identified by the states and districts in our sample include: 

· Developing state law and policy to clarify the gray areas of the McKinney Act

· Developing local transportation policy

· Collaborating with the local department of transportation

· Developing a systematic process to identify and meet needs

**Develop State Law and Policy to Clarify the McKinney Act Provisions**

The McKinney Act’s guidance on all matters related to the transportation of homeless children and youth is not always clear. For example, the McKinney Act does not address:  (1) exactly how long a homeless student may remain in the school of origin; (2) who is responsible for transporting homeless students across district lines, or (3) procedures for filing and resolving enrollment disputes.  Furthermore, many district administrators may not be aware of the McKinney Act and its provisions at all.  State law and policy can not only increase awareness of transportation issues among school and shelter staff in non-McKinney districts but also clarify the gray areas of the McKinney Act. 

In 1995, the Illinois legislature passed the Illinois Education for Homeless Children Act (SB 881), which district staff describe as being more effective than the McKinney Act in providing explicit guidance.  The Illinois law clarifies McKinney transportation provisions in three ways:

· It clearly gives parents and guardians the option of keeping their children in the school of origin for the rest of the school year.  The McKinney Act gives this option “to the extent feasible.”  Additionally, parents who must move because of their homelessness have an option to convene a meeting with a teacher and principal representative to discuss what arrangement might be in the best interest of their child. 

· Illinois law describes how districts should resolve disputes when homeless students cross district lines to attend their school of origin.  If the parents or guardians decide to keep the student enrolled in a school of origin across district lines, the two districts involved must share the responsibility and costs, unless they decide otherwise.

· The law lays out a process for parents to dispute a school’s or district’s refusal to enroll homeless students.  In these situations, the state law designates regional superintendents (or other appropriate individuals) as ombudspersons to facilitate dispute resolution.  In the meantime, the student remains in the school of origin.   

Although not in our sample, other states have made notable progress in this area.  For example, Iowa’s 1989 state homeless education policy was one of the first to define responsibility for inter-district transportation.  It established that if a homeless student must cross district lines, the sending district assumes responsibility for transporting the student to a bus stop in the district of origin.  In 1999, the Maryland State Board of Education adopted an article of the Annotated Code of Maryland (Title 13A.05.09) that requires districts to “confer to determine the feasibility of transportation options” when a student must travel across district lines to remain in the school of origin.  It also elaborates on factors in determining which school will best serve the interests of the homeless student, requires districts to establish a grievance process, and provides parents with the power to appeal decisions all the way to the state board of education.  In Pennsylvania, the Department of Education regularly disseminates Basic Education Circulars to provide districts and schools with guidance regarding transportation.

**Develop Local Transportation Policy**

The support of the local board of education and administration is critical in establishing and maintaining a successful transportation system for homeless students.  Without local scrutiny, state and federal laws and policies can be rendered meaningless until local practices are challenged in court.  However, with local commitment, local policy can provide crucial monetary and human resources.  In the sites we visited, local policies focus on the guarantee of transportation (1) for all homeless children and youth and (2) to the school of origin.

***Guarantee transportation for all homeless children and youth.***Chicago developed district policy to guarantee transportation for homeless students to the school of origin.  The local policy not only reemphasizes the Illinois Education for Homeless Children Act, but clarifies local intent and commitment.  The Chicago Board of Education and district officials demonstrated their commitment to transporting homeless students to and from school by committing adequate funding.  Although the district receives $350,000 in McKinney funds, the district spends approximately $500,000 on bus passes and $1,600,000 on school bus service for homeless students. 

Chicago is exploring two new ideas to increase its efficiency and save money when transporting homeless students to and from school:

· Working with the city and Chicago Transit Authority to institute a reduced-fare pass for homeless students and their families

· Developing a database to track where and when students become homeless and where they temporarily reside.  With this information, shelters can relocate where the need is greatest.

***Guarantee transportation to the school of origin.***  The Victoria Independent School District adopted a policy known as the “One Child, One School, One Year” policy, which means that homeless students need not change schools before the end of the current academic year. The district provides transportation to enable the student to remain at his/her school of origin.  

**Collaborate with the District Department of Transportation**

Those whom we interviewed underscored the importance of working with the district’s department of transportation to organize and sustain an effective way to transport homeless students to and from school.  By making the department of transportation an active partner, the homeless education program can capitalize on the experience and knowledge of local transportation staff.  Two specific suggestions for maximizing these contributions include dedicating adequate staff time and resources and using existing bus routes when possible. 

******Although not in our sample, districts in six rural counties around Vancouver, Washington, have found a creative way to work with the transportation office of their regional intermediate school district to improve transportation for homeless students.  The Education Service District 112 provides transportation services to special education students in the region’s 11 member districts.  This service eventually developed into a transportation cooperative organized to serve homeless students as well.  Now homeless students are transported to their schools of origin partly through special education bus routes, enabling districts to maximize their resources and serve remote areas.  Success of the program relies on the coordination of the special education transportation staff and the regional homeless liaison.

**Develop a Systematic Process to Meet Transportation Needs**

A systematic process -- with agreed-upon steps and individual roles -- can get homeless students to and from school efficiently and reliably.  The districts we visited offered these suggestions:  

· Identify one individual as the key contact regarding transportation 

· Include a process to determine the best interests of the student regarding travel to a particular school 

· Standardize transportation-related data collection and processing

· Plan for emergencies 

***Identify one individual as the key contact***.  District and school level liaisons -- or contacts -- are key to an effective transportation system for homeless students.  Easily identified when problems arise, they can explain legal rights and alternatives to parents, work with departments of transportation, and, in emergencies, even drive students to school.  School liaisons can pinpoint homeless students’ transportation needs and pass the information along to others quickly and efficiently. 

In Fort Wayne, Indiana, when a school or shelter notifies the district liaison of a transportation issue, the liaison works with the departments of student services and transportation to make whatever arrangements are necessary.  In this district, 95 percent of homeless students who receive district transportation take district busses, which transport many students outside of their attendance area as part of the district School Choice program.  The liaison works with bus dispatchers to adjust pre-existing routes, sometimes within 24 hours.  The liaison then notifies parents and shelter staff of the time, bus number, and pick-up point.  When possible, the district follows its policy of picking up students at shelters first on the route and dropping them off last to minimize any stigmatization among their peers.

The Victoria, Texas, homeless program designates three district staff members to work closely with school-level parent liaisons and administrators.   The parent liaison at each school assumes primary responsibility for coordinating all services, including transportation, for homeless children and youth.  When the parent liaisons identify a homeless student and determine his/her transportation needs, he/she contacts a district liaison, who in turn notifies the district transportation department.

***Develop a process for determining which school is in the student’s best interest.***Several districts have developed processes and related materials to help determine which school is in the student’s best interest.  Transportation needs are often a major consideration in that decision.  Many times the decision requires a meeting of concerned parties.  For instance, the Illinois law requires that if a parent wants a child to remain in the school of origin, “that parent or guardian, a teacher of the child, and the principal or his or her designee from the school of origin may meet at the option of the parent or the school to evaluate whether travel is in the [student’s] best interest” (Section 1-15).  Bucks County, Pennsylvania, has a “school selection checklist” for parents or guardians to use when deciding which school a child should attend.  The list also asks parents to consider the length of stay in a school, possible means of transportation, mileage and transportation time, a school’s ability to meet student needs, the family’s final relocation plans, student safety, and whether or not a sibling attends the school.   

***Standardize data collection and processing.***In Chicago, school liaisons complete a Transportation Request Form and a Homeless Education Program Information Form, and submit both to the district Homeless Education Program.  District program staff then share this information with the Department of Transportation to make appropriate arrangements.  The district typically processes requests for transportation within two to three days, staying well ahead of district policy, which states that transportation services for homeless students must be arranged within two weeks of the request. 

******In Baltimore County, a senior administrator from the school system’s Transportation Division serves on the systemwide Homeless Education Steering Committee.  As soon as a homeless student is identified, this administrator arranges transportation to the school of origin, or to the school selected as in the student’s best interest, usually within twenty-four hours.  If bus transportation cannot be provided immediately, the Homeless Education Program may provide temporary taxi transportation so that the student can enroll immediately.

### Deciding Which School Is in the Student’s Best Interest:Some Considerations

Source:  Adapted from the school selection checklist used by the Bucks County Intermediate Unit, Pennsylvania

***Plan for emergencies***.  When transportation cannot be arranged immediately, school liaisons or other staff in Chicago provide homeless students with emergency public transportation passes.  In fact, the district provides every school in the district with a CTA Emergency Pack that includes student-rate public transportation passes, $6 in cash, and an adult 7-day pass.  The adult pass makes it possible for a parent to accompany an elementary-age student.  Similarly, in rare and temporary situations where district buses cannot transport homeless students, the Fort Wayne, Indiana, school district uses public transportation or special education busses to transport homeless students to school.

**In-school and Related Services**

( **Accurately identify the need for programs and services by identifying homeless children**

**and youth**

( **Ensure access through policy**

( **Create networks and partnerships to stretch resources**

The McKinney Act requires states and districts to ensure that homeless children and youth have access to appropriate educational services and that they have opportunities to meet the same challenging state content and student performance standards to which all children are held.  In addition to specific publicly funded education programs (e.g., Title I, gifted and talented programs), homeless children and youth need school supplies and access to services such as before- and after-school programs and health and social services that enhance their chances for school success.  

However, many homeless students experience difficulty in gaining access to educational services.  For example, the *Report to Congress Fiscal Year 2000* on the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program indicates that roughly a quarter (24 percent) of states report that homeless students have difficulty accessing Title I services.  Homeless children also have difficulty gaining access to gifted and talented programs, special education services, and Head Start or other publicly funded preschool programs.  In fact, the low numbers of enrolled preschool age homeless children suggest that this age group is greatly underserved.  In addition, school and district staff in non-McKinney districts often do not ensure that homeless students have access to these programs because they are unfamiliar with the requirements of the law.  

Other barriers include:

· Limited resources for identifying needs and for providing services.  Most time and energy goes into identifying and enrolling homeless children and youth; the nature and quality of the services these students receive once they have arrived at school, if considered at all, may be viewed as a secondary issue

· Programs that fill up to capacity.  Programs whose limited enrollment slots fill up at the beginning of the school year cannot admit homeless children and youth who arrive at school later in the year.

As noted, state coordinators in our sample have made great strides in ensuring homeless children’s access to special education and Title I services.  Most staff in the districts we visited described strategies to provide in-school services such as tutoring, enrichment, or homework help, or to provide school supplies and health and social services.  To overcome some of the many barriers noted above, districts can: 

· Accurately identify the need for programs and services by identifying homeless children and youth

· Develop policy aimed at ensuring access

· Create networks of service providers and partnerships among local businesses/organizations to stretch resources

**Accurately Identify the Need for Programs and Services**

A smart first step in providing in-school services to homeless students is to determine the extent of the need for particular services.  As noted earlier, the district and/or school homeless liaison/contact, because he/she can serve as a point person for contacting shelters, community agencies, and school staff, can play a key role here.  The liaison can identify which homeless students need school supplies or who needs in-school and related health and social services, and then follow through with other staff to ensure that the needs are met.  In Bucks County, Pennsylvania, for example, shelter staff collect and regularly update information for a centralized database.  The database contains a student’s attendance record, need for counseling, weakest school subject, the Individualized Education Program for special education (where appropriate), and health-related needs (e.g., eye exam, hearing evaluation).  Liaisons can refer to the database to speedily determine which educational and related services homeless students need.

***Conduct a school survey***.  Another way to assess the need for in-school and related services is to conduct a school survey.  The director of the homeless education program in the Santa Cruz County Office of Education surveys school principals annually to find out how many homeless students are in their schools and targets those schools that need immediate or extensive help in providing in-school and related services to their homeless student populations.  Survey items determine the top five priority needs for serving homeless students (e.g., counseling, tutoring, enrichment, school supplies).  They also ask about any resources the school receives that might contribute to educational programming and enrichment activities for homeless children and youth, such as the Title I Part A Set-aside, which provides educational services to homeless students, or publicly funded community child care programs. 

**Ensure Access Through Policy**

If publicly funded preschool or other such programs fill to capacity, a district cannot guarantee access for homeless students.  To address this problem, the homeless program in Baltimore County Public Schools distributes an information sheet to all schools making it clear that the district’s policy is that homeless children are eligible for early childhood programs and that, under certain circumstances, they may be placed in those programs, even if those programs are already filled to capacity.  Readers are directed to call the homeless education office for more specific guidance and information.

**Create Networks and Partnerships to Stretch Resources**

***Develop a network of service providers***.  Providing the many services that homeless students need to succeed in school is costly in terms of both financial and human resources.  One way to offer a range of in-school and related services is to develop a network of service providers, a strategy used in several of the districts we visited.  Creating such a network took an estimated three years in Santa Cruz, California, where the director of the homeless education program worked with school staff and local health and social service providers to create the Homeless Action Network.  The first thing she had to do was convince the various service providers that there were homeless students in the area who needed their help.  To do this, the director presented data from the survey of school principals (see above).  To keep the network active, the homeless program director regularly attends monthly staff meetings of the various service providers and encourages local newspapers to run stories on the benefits of these services to homeless students.  After developing the network, the director worked with individual schools to identify a contact person who could assume responsibility for coordinating these services for individual students.

***Develop local partnerships.***  The Santa Cruz homeless program also works with a local university to help homeless students achieve to high academic standards.  Work-study students from the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) tutor homeless students, concentrating on building literacy and math skills.  To prevent any stigma associated with homelessness, students do not know that the tutors specifically target homeless children and youth.  

Under the guidance of the school community liaison, tutors work closely with classroom teachers to address individual student needs.  They also help homeless students enroll in after-school extended learning programs, homework assistance programs, enrichment programs and other services as needed.  In addition, tutors escort students to the UCSC campus for special events.  Both the university and the district contribute to paying tutors’ salaries -- the university pays 60 percent and the district pays 40 percent. 

In Victoria, Texas, the district offers tutoring for homeless students after school through eight neighborhood-based homework centers.  Collaborative funding by the Victoria homeless education program (KIDZConnection,) the Victoria Youth Home, the Victoria Housing Authority, Mid-Coast Family Services, the YMCA, the University of Houston-Victoria, the Boys and Girls Club, and district federal programs sustains the There’s a Teacher in Your Neighborhood program.  Qualified teachers and assistants staff the centers, where free snacks and small computer labs are available.  This year, two additional homework centers were located on the two high school campuses to serve all students, including homeless students, four afternoons a week.  

**Outreach To Youth**

( **Collaborate with local youth-serving organizations/programs**

( **Form a multi-disciplinary team**

Serving homeless youth (i.e., those youth between 12 and 18 years of age) is difficult on a basic level because simply *identifying* members of this highly mobile group is problematic.  In addition to the challenge of identifying members of this hidden population, homeless youth face extreme barriers to school access.  For example, curfew laws can make these youth guilty of a crime simply because they have nowhere to go, and schools in some states refuse to admit homeless teens due to liability concerns (if they do not live with a parent or legal guardian).  In addition, some school personnel may be reluctant to enroll homeless youth because they assume school safety or discipline problems will develop. 

The problems of attendance and accruing the credits necessary to graduate from high school continue to be barriers to school success for these students.  For instance, state or district attendance policies often specify a minimum number of days that a student must attend school to stay enrolled, to be promoted to the next grade, and to earn a diploma.  For these reasons and more, states and districts look for new ways to specifically address the problems that homeless youth face, although many acknowledge that this is an area where far more work is needed.  

As noted earlier, the admissions manual developed by the Oregon state coordinator provides guidance to identify homeless youth and to alleviate some of the reluctance of schools to enroll homeless youth.  And in Texas, district and school personnel can consult state law (Chapter 25, section 25.001(d)) of the Texas Education Code) when making decisions about the enrollment and admission of children and youth living away from parents or legal guardians, which is more likely the case for homeless youth rather than for younger children.  At the district level, staff with whom we spoke suggested: (1)  collaborating and coordinating with local youth-serving organizations and agencies, and (2) forming a multi-disciplinary team to provide homeless youth with the supports they need to re-engage in school or to get a job. 

Collaborate with Local Youth-Serving Organizations/Programs

Establishing and maintaining contact with local youth-serving organizations and programs can increase the chances of identifying and enrolling homeless youth in school.  In Victoria, Texas, the McKinney program staff includes a teacher liaison for the Students Taking Action and Responsibility (STAR) program, a Victoria ISD teen parenting program.  The STAR teacher liaison identifies and enrolls pregnant and parenting teens who lack permanent housing, provides parenting classes, and helps to arrange transportation for any teen parent enrolled in the STAR program (and his/her child) to attend the school of origin.  In addition, the STAR-sponsored day care centers are located on high school campuses.  If a student does not have transportation to the STAR program office to join the STAR program, the STAR teacher liaison or other staff may visit the student at the school, or where the student is staying, and provide a travel voucher for use on the public transportation system. 

In Santa Cruz, the homeless coordinator works closely with a drop-in educational center called The Bridge.  Homeless and runaway youth can stop in between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.  The Bridge provides them with lunch (with food donated by the community), befriends them, and encourages them to re-engage in school or work.  Bridge staff provide services that include designing an independent study program, as well as medical and counseling services.  A medical doctor stops by regularly to provide physical exams, and conduct workshops on topics such as hygiene, taking care of wounds, avoiding sexually transmitted disease, and birth control.

Some Oregon districts pool their McKinney and Title I, Part A dollars, and, for example, subcontract the position of homeless liaison to a local non-profit youth services agency.  Because that individual is employed by the youth services agency, the liaison has increased knowledge of and access to other community youth-serving organizations that can help locate homeless children and youth as well as provide them with the community supports (e.g., health care, counseling) that they may need. 

**Form a Multi-disciplinary Team**

The Santa Cruz homeless education coordinator helped to form a multidisciplinary team to address the multiple needs of homeless youth.  The team consisted of the Santa Cruz Police Department Juvenile Officer, the downtown narcotics officer, a Child Protective Services social worker, the mental health homeless outreach worker, the Youth Services Homeless outreach worker, the director of the homeless resource center, and staff from the Santa Cruz AIDS Project and needle exchange program.  Taking advantage of a California Child Welfare and Institution Code allowing agencies to share confidential information, everyone on the team signed an oath of confidentiality.   According to the homeless liaison, “this was an extremely helpful approach to putting together the pieces of information regarding a homeless street youth.  Each agency [may have a different] piece of the puzzle, and together we [can] develop a plan of strategies and interventions to assist the referred youth.” 

Districts without a shelter or other services for youth can pull together a multi-disciplinary team that includes: 

· Local law enforcement - particularly the juvenile officer from areas where youth congregate

· Mental health worker

· Child protective service worker

· A high school counselor

· Homeless liaison

· Representatives of local youth serving organizations (e.g., the YMCA)

**Conclusions: Some Cross-Cutting Strategies**

( **Law and policy can strengthen and reinforce the McKinney Act**

( **Every school district needs a homeless liaison**

( **Collaborations and partnerships maximize district resources**

( **Create a comprehensive and coordinated homeless education program**

Visits to our three states and six districts uncovered many promising practices for helping homeless children and youth enroll and succeed in school.  In addition to the strategies that address specific problem areas, such as transportation or awareness-raising, for example, we uncovered some strategies that hold promise for meeting challenges across a range of issues that homeless children and youth confront every day.  These are: 

· Enact law and policy to remove barriers to the successful education of homeless children and youth 

· Ensure that districts appoint a homeless liaison/contact

· Collaborate and create partnerships to maximize the resources available to serve homeless children and youth

**Law and Policy Can Strengthen and Reinforce the McKinney Act**

The McKinney Act requires that states review and revise attendance laws and “other laws, regulations, practices or policies that may act as a barrier to the enrollment or success in school of homeless children and homeless youth” (McKinney Act, Section 721).  The vast majority of states comply with this requirement by changing their laws or by creating special statutes for homeless children and youth.  The states we visited have enacted new legislation and/or adopted new policy either to clarify definitions in the McKinney Act or to strengthen the Act -- even extending its reach to more homeless students (e.g., through using the Title I, Part A Set-aside to serve homeless children and youth).  

Districts can also adopt policy to reinforce and strengthen the McKinney Act.  Chicago Public Schools, for example, recently published *Chicago Public Schools Homeless Education Program Policy and Other Important Documents: 2000-2001*.  The Chicago Board of Education adopted the policy to reiterate the significant provisions of the state homeless education program, to affirm the board’s commitment, and to implement guidelines for resolving issues affecting the education of homeless children and youth.  The policy provides guidance on identifying, enrolling, and transporting homeless children and youth.  Some ways in which Chicago’s policy strengthens the state and federal laws include:  (1) requiring annual in-service training for all school principals, who must then train other school staff, and (2) targeting specific Chicago community organizations and agencies for collaborative relationships. 

**Every School District Needs a Homeless Liaison**

While only about 4 percent of school districts receive McKinney grants, homelessness is everywhere.  Each district that receives a McKinney subgrant must designate a homeless liaison.  The liaison works to identify homeless students, enroll them in school, and arrange transportation for them to get to the school.  The liaison also makes referrals to health care and other services as appropriate while coordinating the activities of local service providers.  Liaisons work hard to raise public awareness about homelessness.  Our interviews with people at the state and district levels indicated the grave need for a homeless liaison, or “point person” in *every* district.  Whatever the particular challenge at hand, homeless program staff emphasize the vital role of the homeless liaison as the critical link between homeless children and youth and the services to which they are entitled. 

The Illinois state coordinator for homeless education recently initiated a process to identify a contact person for issues related to homelessness in all 900 Illinois school districts.  Such a strategy was suggested at a conference sponsored by the National Center for Homeless Education.  As a result, upwards of 750 or more Illinois school districts (out of 900) now have a contact person for issues related to homelessness. 

**Collaborations and Partnerships Maximize District Resources**

The McKinney Act requires school districts to collaborate and coordinate.  Specifically, they must:

· Coordinate with local social services agencies and other agencies or programs providing services to homeless children or youth and their families

· Where applicable, coordinate with state and local housing agencies responsible for developing the comprehensive housing affordability strategy described in section 105 of the Cranston-Gonzales national Affordable Housing Act to minimize educational disruption for children who become homeless

***Collaborate to maximize resources***.  In our sample, we found many examples of districts that collaborate and partner with each other, or with local agencies and organizations to identify and provide services to homeless children and youth. Coordination can be especially important at the local level, not only to avoid the duplication of services that might otherwise occur, but also to maximize the resources directly available to those in need.  One collaborative relationship crucial in identifying homeless children and youth is between school district staff and/or the school homeless liaison and staff from local shelters.  

***Partner to maximize resources***.  Inter-district partnerships also provide creative venues to serve homeless children and youth.  In Texas, a partnership linking four school districts reportedly maximizes the efficient use of McKinney funds.  Two of these districts, the Plano and Greenville Independent School Districts (ISDs), act together as the fiscal agent for the partnership.  The other two partners are the McKinney and Sherman ISDs.  Plano and Greenville subcontract the combined grants from the state to the University of Texas at Dallas to manage the homeless program for all four districts.  This arrangement provides cost-efficiency, realizing economy of scale with regard to technical assistance and staff training in the four districts.  In addition, the combined resources of the four districts and their manager have resulted in one substantial and creative learning opportunity for some homeless students; the university operates a Kid’s College for students living in shelters.  Kid’s College students stay on the campus for a week and learn about a particular topic (e.g., cultures from around the world) through hands-on and interactive activities.  

**Create a Comprehensive and Coordinated Homeless Education Program**

Homeless students will be best served when promising practices are implemented as part of a comprehensive and coordinated homeless education program.  Promising practices that are implemented in isolation are likely to result in some homeless students falling between the cracks.  A homeless education program should align and integrate the efforts of all stakeholders, and do so in a systemic, planned, and sustainable way.  A key strategy to ensure that a homeless education program maintains coordination is to create a homeless education steering committee, consisting of representation from district offices (e.g., Title I, transportation, curriculum, homeless education), schools (e.g., teachers, nurses, secretaries, social workers, special educators, food and nutrition staff members), students, parents, government agencies, and homeless service providers.  Such a committee should create a homeless education plan that organizes and directs district and community activities.  Furthermore, the committee should meet regularly to assess the plan’s implementation.  The ultimate success of any homeless education program requires that the efforts of many individuals are coordinated and measured by whether all homeless students are identified, enrolled, and educated appropriately.

****

This guide has described promising practices that state coordinators for homeless education and other state, district, and school staff can use to meet the requirements of the McKinney Act, as well as some of the most pressing challenges to enrolling homeless children and youth in school and providing them with the supports they need to reach the same high standards as others.  Although success in meeting these challenges rarely comes easily, when it does come, it is well worth the effort in improving the lives of these vulnerable children, youth, and families.

**Appendix A**

**Promising Practices Highlights:  State Participants**

##### Promising Practices Highlights:  State Participants

#### Promising Practices Highlights:  District Participants

**Appendix B**

**Organizations and Advocacy Groups:  On-line Resources**

# Organizations and Advocacy Groups:  On-line Resources

**Appendix C**

**Selected Recent Publications**

**Selected Recent Publications**

Anderson, L.M., Janger, M.I., & Panton, K.L.M.  (1995)*.  An evaluation of state and local efforts to serve the educational needs of homeless children and youth*(page xi).  Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

The Better Homes Fund.  (1999)*.  Homeless children: America's new outcasts.*Newton, MA: Author.

Bunn, S*.*(2000)*. Admission of students to Oregon Public Schools: Guidance for schools and districts.*Salem, OR: Oregon Department of Education.

California Department of Education.  (1999)*.  Enrolling students living in homeless situations.*Sacramento, CA: Author.

Children's Defense Fund.  (1998)*. The state of America's children, yearbook 1998.*Washington, DC: Author.

Connecting Title I and the McKinney Homeless Act: Providing services for homeless children and youth.  (2000,**May). *Title I Monitor, (5)5.*

Fosburg, L.B., & Dennis, D.L.  (Eds.).  (1999).  *Practical lessons: The 1998 National Symposium on Homelessness Research.*Prepared for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Homes for the Homeless and the Institute for Children and Poverty.  (1999).*Homeless in America: A children's story.*New York: Author.

The Institute for Children and Poverty, Homes for the Homeless.  (1999)*. Homeless in America: A children's story, Part one.*New York: Author.

The Institute for Children and Poverty, Homes for the Homeless.  (1998)*. A snapshot*of *familyhomelessness across America.*New York: Author.

Lowe, E. T.  (2000,**December).  *A status report on hunger and homelessness in America's cities, 2000: A 25 city survey.*Washington, DC:  The United States Conference of Mayors.

Marek, L.I., Mancini, LA., & Brock, D.J.  (2000)*.  Continuity, success, and survival of communitybased projects: The National Youth At Risk Sustainability Study.*Richmond, VA:  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Markowitz, J.  (1999, December 5-7).  *Educating children with disabilities who are homeless*(proceedings document) [Policy Forum].  Washington, DC:  U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.

National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth and the National Coalition for the Homeless.  (1999)*.  Making the grade: Successes and challenges in providing educational opportunities to homeless children and youth.*Washington, DC: Author.

National Center for Homeless Education at SERVE.  (February 2000)*. National Symposium on Transportation for Homeless Children and Youth.*Proceedings, February 20‐21*,*2000*,*Williamsburg, VA.

National Coalition for the Homeless.  (1999,**June).  *Education of homeless children and youth.*(NCH Fact Sheet # 10) [On Line].  Available: www.nationalhomeless.org/.

National Coalition for the Homeless.  (1999, April).  *The McKinney Act*(NCH Fact Sheet # 18) [On Line].  Available: nch.ari.net/McKinneyfacts.html.

National Coalition for the Homeless.  (1998).  *Homelessness in America: Unabated and increasing: A ten-year perspective.*Washington, DC:  Author.

National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.  (September 1997).  *Blocks to their future: A report on the barriers to preschool education for homeless children.*Washington, DC: Author.

Phillips, C.M., Wodatch, J.K., & Kelliher, C.T.  (forthcoming).  *Access and achievement: Reducing barriers for homeless children and youth.*Washington, DC:  U.S. Department of Education.

The Regional Educational Laboratory at SERVE.  (1999).  *Terrific transitions: Ensuring continuity of services for children and their families.*Greenboro, NC:  Author.

Stronge. J.H., & Reed-V.E.  (Eds.).  (2000).  *Educating homeless students: Promising practices.*

**Larchmont, NY:  Eye on Education.

Stronge, J.H., & Popp, P.  (Eds.).  (1999).  *The education of homeless children and youth: A compendium of research and information.*Tallahassee, FL:  SERVE.

Vissing, Y.  (1998, November).  *Homeless children: Addressing the challenge in rural schools*(EDO-RC-98-1). ERIC® Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools.

Vissing, Y.M. (1996).  *Out of sight, out of mind: Homeless children and families in small‐town America.*Lexington, KY:  University Press of Kentucky.

United States Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.  (2000).  *Report to Congress Fiscal Year 2000*.  Washington, DC:  Author.

Wilson, W.J.  (1996).  *When work disappears: The world of the new urban poor.*New York: Knopf (distributed by Random House).

**Appendix D**

**Questions and Answers Guide on the Education of Children and Youth**

**In Homeless Situations:**

**Special Education and the Homeless Student**

**Appendix D**

**Questions and Answers Guide on the Education of Children and Youth in Homeless Situations**

**Part 5: Special Education and the Homeless Student**

# Texas Office for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth

# July 1999

As defined by federal law, the purpose of Special Education is to ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free, appropriate public education that includes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs.  Additionally, it is the intent of the law to ensure that the rights of children with disabilities and their parents are protected and to assist states and localities in providing for the education of all children with disabilities and to assess and ensure the effectiveness of efforts to educate those children.

5**.1What is required of special education programs related to the education of students in homeless situations?**

Not all homeless students are students with disabilities.  However, some homeless children and youth are students with disabilities and are not receiving appropriate special education services.  Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, each school district is required to have policies and procedures in effect to ensure that all children with disabilities residing in the district and all homeless children with disabilities enrolled in the school district who are in need of special education and related services are identified, located, and evaluated.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires that districts annually undertake to identify and locate every qualified person with a disability residing in the district's jurisdiction that is not receiving a public education.  The Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights for the U.S.  Department of Education (in a letter to the Chief State School Officers dated October 15, 1990) drew attention to the need to conduct child find activities to identify unserved children with disabilities who are homeless.  Also, because Section 722(g)(4) of the McKinney Act requires that each homeless child be provided services comparable to those offered to other students, school districts must ensure that each homeless child has equal access to the same free, appropriate public education as provided to children who are not homeless.

**5.2Should all students experiencing homelessness be referred for special education evaluation?**

No.  Homeless students must be referred and evaluated for special education on the same basis as non-homeless students.  The school district should consider the individual educational needs of homeless students and make a determination regarding a referral for a special practitioners outside the school district to expedite a homeless student's evaluation education evaluation on the same basis and in the same manner it makes determinations regarding the referral of nonhomeless students for special education evaluations.

**5.3Is there any provision to treat homeless children differently from other students regarding receipt of special education services?**

No.  Homeless children should be granted the same rights, privileges, processes, and services as children who are not homeless.

**5.4If a homeless student who is receiving special education services from a school district leaves the school district and enrolls in a new school district, can the new school district begin providing special education services immediately?**

Yes.  According to 19 TAC §89.1050(e), for a student who is new to a school district, the student's Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) committee may meet when the student registers and the parents verify that the student was receiving special education services in the previous school district or the previous school district verifies in writing or by telephone that the student was receiving special education services.  Special education services that are provided immediately by the new school district (based on confirmation that the student was receiving special education services in his or her previous school district) are temporary, contingent upon receipt of valid evaluation data from the previous school district or the collection of new evaluation data.  A second meeting of the student's ARD committee shall be held within 30 school days after the first ARD committee meeting to finalize or develop a new Individual Education Plan (IEP) based on the evaluation data.

**5.5****Can the evaluation of a homeless student for eligibility for special education services be given precedence over pre-existing referrals of other non‐homeless students?**

Yes.  The policy establishing the sequence in which students are referred or tested is generally developed by the local school district, without guidance from the state or federal government.  Unfortunately, many homeless students may not have been determined to be eligible for special education services because they have not remained in any district long enough to complete the referral and evaluation process.  Hence, districts are encouraged to expedite evaluation of a homeless student for special education services.  School districts that have a backlog of special education evaluations may contract with qualified 

**5.6****If a homeless student moves prior to the completion of the referral and assessment process, can the student's new school district simply complete the unfinished portion of the process or is it necessary to reinitiate the referral process?**

Once the new school district has received the student's special education referral and evaluation packet, the new school district may resume the process where the former school district left off.  However, the new school district is permitted to take the full 60 days to complete the process, as provided by law.  Because of the transitory nature of students in homeless situations, districts are encouraged to expedite the process.

**5.7****Can a student experiencing homelessness under the age of**18 **who does not have a parent or legal guardian participate in special education?**

Yes.  The school district may, in special circumstances, appoint a surrogate parent to act on the child's behalf in matters relating to special education and related services.  However, the state and federal laws that authorize a surrogate parent to act on behalf of a child on matters dealing with the identification, evaluation, and educational placement vary according to the circumstances.  It is important to make certain that the child's legal guardian or surrogate parent has the legal authority necessary to sign consent forms for special education issues:

**5.8****Must****a district provide transportation for a physically disabled homeless student who lives within the two‐mile limit but is unable to use conventional transportation methods?**

Yes, if the student's ARD committee determines that transportation is necessary for the student to receive educational benefits.  

**5.9****If a physically disabled homeless student is initially assigned to a campus that is not equipped to meet the student's special education needs, what is the maximum length of time that may pass before the school district must provide transportation to another school?**

The student must be placed appropriately as soon as is reasonably possible, and modifications to accommodate the student's needs in the current placement must be made until the placement is changed.

The McKinney Act: Responsibilities of the State Coordinator

The McKinney Act requires state coordinators to:

Develop and carry out the state plan

Facilitate coordination between the SEA, the state social services agency, and other agencies serving homeless families

Develop relationships with relevant education, child development or preschool programs, and other service providers in order to coordinate and improve the provision of comprehensive services to homeless families

Collect and submit information to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) every three years on (1) the estimated number of homeless children and youth in their state and the number of these being served directly with McKinney funds; (2) the nature and extent of the problems of homeless children and youth in gaining access to public preschools and elementary and secondary schools; (3) the difficulties in identifying the special needs of homeless children and youth; (4) any progress made by the SEA and LEAs in addressing such problems and difficulties; and (5) program success in allowing homeless children and youth to enroll, attend, and succeed in school

Source:	Title VII, SubTitle B, of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 11431 et. Seq.  

The McKinney Homeless Assistance Act:  The Education of�Homeless Children and Youth Program

Subtitle VII-B of the McKinney Act, which established the Education of Homeless Children and Youth program, stipulates that:

All homeless children and youth have a right to the same, free, and appropriate public education as other children and youth, including a public preschool education.

States must review and revise residency laws and “other laws, regulations, practices, or policies that may act as a barrier to the enrollment, attendance, or success in school of homeless children and homeless youth.”

Students must not be separated from the mainstream school environment because of their homelessness.

Homeless students should have access to education services to enable them to meet the same challenging student performance standards to which all students are held (McKinney Act, Section 721).

Section 103(a) of the McKinney Act defines children and youth as homeless if they lack “a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.”  Children and youth may also be defined as homeless if their primary nighttime residence is:

A supervised shelter (e.g., welfare hotel, congregate shelter, runaway shelter, or transitional housing for people with mental illness) designed to provide temporary accommodations,

An institution (other than a jail or prison) that provides temporary accommodations for people who are intended to be institutionalized, for example, children who are in the care of the state and are between foster families, or

A place not designed for, or regularly used as, sleeping accommodations for people.

Other homeless children and youth such as migrant children, those living in foster care, children of “doubled-up families” who share a living space, and those who live in trailer parks or camping areas may or may not be classified as homeless.  States can assess cases individually, using such criteria as whether these living arrangements are voluntary.�

�

Oregon:�Technical Assistance to Identify �Homeless Children and Youth

Admission of Students to Oregon Public Schools: Guidance for Schools and Districts defines what is meant by: 

Homeless and temporarily housed students

Unsupervised, abandoned, emancipated*, and runaway youth

Highly mobile, migrant, and immigrant children and youth

The manual also defines possible living arrangements for homeless children and youth as:

Transitional or emergency shelters

Trailer parks, campgrounds, vehicles

Inadequate housing

Doubled-up housing and overcrowded conditions

Motels, hotels, and apartments with short-term rates

*  Under Oregon law, youth ages 16-17 may become “emancipated” from parents or legal guardians through a juvenile court procedure.  Emancipated youths have been deemed by a judge to be capable of independent living and of making decisions such as those related to public school enrollment.  Legally emancipated youths are considered residents in the district in which they reside, irrespective of the residence of their parents or legal guardians.

Statewide Conferences Reach a Wide Audience

The Texas state coordinator teaches district staff how to identify homeless students at statewide conferences for: 

The Parent-Teacher Association

The Association of School Social Workers

All regional educational service centers

School superintendents

The associations of school boards, school nurses, and school secretaries

Head Start

The Texas Homeless Network (a statewide organization that provides technical assistance to direct service providers and individual members across Texas)

The Texas Network of Youth Services

Special Education and Homeless Students:

The Texas Office of Education for Homeless Children and Youth (OEHCY) Answers Some Important Questions for its School Districts

What is required of special education programs related to the education of students in homeless situations?

Should all students experiencing homelessness be referred to special education programs?

If a homeless student who is receiving special education services from a school district leaves the school district and enrolls in another school district, can the new school district begin providing special education services immediately?

Can the evaluation of a homeless student’s eligibility for services take precedence over pre-existing referrals of non-homeless students?

If a homeless student moves before completing the referral and assessment process, can the student’s new school district simply complete the unfinished portion of the process, or must it start over from the beginning?

Can a homeless student under the age of 18 who has no parent or legal guardian participate in special education?

If a physically disabled homeless student is initially assigned to a campus that is not equipped for his or her special education needs, what is the maximum length of time that may pass before the school district must transport that student to another school?

* See Appendix D for responses to these questions.  Also, the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) answers these and many more related questions in a Policy Forum Proceedings document dated December 5-7, 1999 (contact www.nasdse.org).  The guidance in these documents is based upon a combination of federal and state law. 

Learning to Be One’s Own Advocate

The Texas state coordinator believes in training homeless individuals to “be their own advocate.”  One good reason to do this, she explained, is that “sometimes when state homeless education staff calls a school to correct a problem, the school will take out their frustrations on the student or family....”  The coordinator explained that school staff may decide that the student or family member went over the district’s head to the state: “So I encourage them to be their own advocate.  Still, if the student or family member is uncomfortable making that call, I make it clear that I will make it for them.”

A Statewide Hotline Can Answer Many Questions

The Texas state coordinator manages the �1-800 hotline, which anyone may call for information on how to assist a homeless child or youth.  The hotline receives many inquiries, as well as calls from those who wish to volunteer.  In this case, hotline staff ask in which community the caller resides and directs them to the district homeless liaison.  If there is no homeless education project in that community, the coordinator assists the caller or refers the caller to the statewide homeless coalition for further assistance.

“[Collaboration] attacks [homelessness] in a bigger way, in the larger context of poverty.” 

Oregon State Coordinator

A Partnership to Help Homeless Students Reach High Standards

SHELTRS provides:

Personalized tutoring in the state-mandated curriculum (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills [TEKS]) and additional instructional time annually to more than 940 students residing in shelters

Training so that tutors can (1) access Web resources that are directly linked to the TEKS curriculum, (2) access Web resources that help them understand homelessness and its effects on students so that they can better serve these students, and (3) perform basic computer troubleshooting to avoid lengthy down-time

Means for tutors to communicate frequently with classroom teachers so that tutoring time is customized to student needs

Encouragement for parents to attend tutoring sessions with their children so that they can learn basic computing skills and how to help their children with homework

Evidence of success: 

SHELTRS staff and tutors report that almost all of their students, who have no prior experience with computers, become less fearful of the technology.  They also report that these students gain confidence and show more initiative to learn on their own.

During the last quarter of 1999, the Austin Children’s Shelter (one of the facilities) recorded 54 hours of tutoring on computers, and more than 82 tutoring sessions.  This shelter had no tutoring on computers or using the Internet prior to its involvement with SHELTRS.  The Safe Place Shelter recorded 221 tutoring sessions and instances of computer usage by children and youth in a recent three-month period.

As of fall 2000, nearly every classroom in Austin will be wired, and OEHCY will instruct SHELTR tutors, classroom teachers, and interested parents in the use of e-mail to facilitate communication between SHELTRs projects and schools

More formal evaluations that look at homework and daily test scores and that include interviews with classroom teachers are forthcoming.

Source:  [Online] http//www.tenet.edu/shelters/about.html

“Any project relying solely on McKinney funding for support is on shaky ground, fiscally as well as qualitatively.  Collaboration is essential not only to good community program management -- it is vital to resource development and long term financial security.”

Oregon State Coordinator

Title I Can Stretch McKinney Funds

Oregon received $253,000 in McKinney funds in 1999-2000.  Eighteen districts received sub-grants. An additional 86 districts that did not receive McKinney funds set aside a portion of their Title I allocation for services to homeless children.  According to the state coordinator, “Oregon has essentially quadrupled our McKinney funds through our Title I, Part A Set-asides Initiative.  Our $250,000 in McKinney funds is now supplemented at the LEA level with almost $1 million in Title I, Part A reserves for serving homeless students.  That’s been the case annually for four years now.”4 

How to Serve Homeless Students with Title I

Oregon districts submitting a consolidated ESEA Program Application5 also receive a Title IA – Homeless Set-asides Table that provides the number of homeless children and youth, from birth through grade 12, who live within their boundaries.  This table includes the name of the county and district, the name of the shelter provider, the daily average shelter count, the daily average district count, and the annual district estimate of the number of homeless children and youth.  Accompanying instructions state that:

The Oregon Housing and Community Services Department conducts shelter counts twice a year �and ODE organizes them

The table is to be used in conjunction with the Oregon Consolidated IASA Program application

All districts listed on the table must reserve Title IA funds to address the needs of homeless students.  For districts not listed on the table, the set-aside is optional.

To estimate the amount of funds to reserve, a district’s nightly average may be multiplied by the district’s per-pupil allocation, although using this calculation method is not required

Not all homeless children and youth are counted: campers, motel residents, doubled-up families, and others may not be included in the table, although they may be eligible for services.  Districts are advised to assess local need and support measures to address those needs.

Districts that are McKinney Homeless Program grantees should use current local data from that program to inform budget decisions�

�

Texas: Collecting Comparable Data Statewide 

Since 1998-99, McKinney project directors throughout Texas have been required to report data on the extent to which services to homeless students through the McKinney program improved the capacity of those students to enroll in, attend, and succeed in school.  Projects begin data collection on September 1; after that, at the beginning of each month they submit data on students who have exited the McKinney program during the previous month.  The state homeless office enters the data for the student into a master database.  All projects submit data electronically, either by e-mail or on a diskette.

Project directors receive specific instructions defining and explaining the data items to collect.  Data requirements include background information as well as information on present living situation, participation in special programs (e.g., Title I, special education, Even Start, etc.), special programs to which the McKinney program will refer the student, academic services rendered through McKinney (e.g., after-school tutoring; holiday programs; in-class assistance; inter-session programs, etc.). 

Oregon:  Districts Use Data for Program Improvement

In Oregon, subgrantees look at student outcomes to evaluate what they do well and what needs work.  The state coordinator reviews the mid-year report and makes sure that each project plans to incorporate evaluative information in its end-of-year report.  To assist district liaisons in setting up measurable objectives for their projects and in showing quantifiable progress, the state coordinator created a guide entitled Impacts of McKinney Education Projects for Homeless Children and Youth.  Based on a set of activities authorized in the McKinney Act, this guide details how to measure the effect of student outreach and transportation assistance, among other things.

To measure the effect of student outreach, for example, liaisons could report:

The number of homeless children and youth who previously did not attend school, but who now attend regularly

The time needed to place homeless students in appropriate schools

The number of enrollment delays for homeless students

The number of school placements for highly mobile children who move within a district (i.e., indicating increased school stability)

Or to measure the effect of providing transportation assistance, liaisons could report change in:

The percentage of homeless students attending school regularly through transportation assistance

The number of days individual homeless students cannot attend school due to lack of transportation

Local Community Members, Service Providers, �and Organizations Partner to Develop a Preschool Program

When a preschool program for children at a transitional housing center was introduced in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, local advocates for the homeless soon realized that children living in other area shelters did not have equal access to the program.  A task force was formed to locate classroom space, which the local YWCA readily provided.  All five shelters and the residential treatment program in Lancaster now make regular referrals to the two preschool locations.

The school district funds the preschool teacher’s salary (she works at both preschool locations) and some of the supplies, while the rest of the supplies are provided by shelters and other service providers, such as The Community Hospital Auxiliary and the Junior League of Lancaster County.  In addition to the preschool teacher, many community members volunteer through the Junior League and local colleges to help in the classroom -- and all are recruited and screened by the homeless educational liaison.  Because the two preschool locations are located near the shelters they serve, transportation is not a problem for parents who bring their children. For this reason, preschool programs located on site at shelters are a good idea. However, transportation problems may arise once families leave the shelter.  In Lancaster, because community members make special arrangements for homeless families as often as possible, many children continue in the preschool program from motels or other temporary locations after they leave a shelter.

Steps to Improve Transportation for Homeless Students

District directors of pupil transportation can take steps to support the transportation of homeless children and youth:

Communicate regularly with the district homeless liaison

Establish procedures to receive information about the transportation needs and pickup location of homeless students

Know the rights of homeless students regarding transportation to school and to the school of origin

Train bus drivers and dispatchers on the rights and needs of homeless students, as well as on the need for sensitivity and confidentiality

Develop a bus routing system that can respond flexibly and quickly to new pickups

Be aware of new shelter locations and prepare to include bus stops nearby

Lobby for increased district commitment to provide homeless students transportation to school, as well as to before-and after-school programs.

“It takes a great deal of coordination between [the student’s school, the district homeless education program], and the transportation department to ensure that this is a successful system...however, most importantly, it takes a transportation department committed to seeing every child succeed.”

Victoria Independent School District�Homeless Ed Program Staff

The McKinney Act: Transportation and School of Origin

States and school districts must review and revise any policies that impede enrolling homeless children and youth in school, including transportation barriers.

School districts must provide homeless children and youth with services comparable to those offered to other students, including transportation services.

McKinney funds may be used to supplement transportation costs for homeless children and youth.

Create a Comprehensive and Coordinated Homeless Education Program

Enlist key school and community leaders to participate in a homeless education steering committee

Conduct ongoing awareness raising activities throughout schools and the community

Train and designate homeless education liaisons at each school to serve students and educate staff

Provide ongoing staff development

Collaborate continuously with homeless service providers and other civic groups

Coordinator

Baltimore County Homeless Education Program

The McKinney Act: Immediate Enrollment

States and districts must develop or revise policies to remove school enrollment barriers facing homeless children and youth.  States must:

Address school enrollment problems, including delays caused by requirements for immunization records, residency records, guardianship records, birth certificates, and school records,

Describe procedures (in the state plan) for the prompt resolution of disputes regarding the educational placement of homeless children and youth, and 

Ensure that homeless children have equal access to the same public preschool programs, administered by the state, that are provided to other children; and that homeless students can participate in all federal, state, or local before- or after-school care programs for which they are eligible. 

Districts must:

Select which school a homeless child or youth will attend according to his or her best interest.  This may mean keeping the student in the school of origin for the remainder of the academic year or (if the family becomes homeless between academic years) for the subsequent year.  Districts may enroll the child or youth in any school that serves his or her attendance area, and must comply, to the extent feasible, with the request made by a parent or guardian regarding school selection, and

Transfer a homeless student’s records promptly between the former district and new district.  This provision applies to any record ordinarily kept by the school, including immunization records, academic records, birth certificates, guardianship records, and evaluations for special services or programs.

Use Local Newspapers

Santa Cruz promotes awareness of its homeless education program by asking for donations to the homeless education program in the local newspaper.  Not only does the ad solicit donations, but it tells homeless families and the community that homeless students have rights and a program to facilitate their education.

Raise Awareness Among Parents 

All Chicago parents receive a four-page notice that describes the homeless education program and the district policy on homeless education, including key definitions, enrollment and transportation rights, and the dispute resolution process.  Parents are asked to sign and return the notices, which are printed in English, Spanish, and Polish.  The district policy also requires that a “Getting Your Child in School” poster, which lists homeless children’s rights and the name of the homeless liaison, be prominently displayed in every school.

A Comprehensive Reference Manual Can Raise Awareness throughout the Community

A comprehensive manual for a homeless education program might include the following topic areas and sample documents, as does the Chicago Public Schools manual:

Mission statement regarding the education of homeless students

A list of “What Schools Need to Do”

District homeless education policies and procedures

State and federal guidance, policies, and laws

“Getting Your Child in School” poster

Policy notice to be distributed to all district parents

Samples and directions for filling out all relevant forms (provided in multiple languages):

Student intake information 

Public transportation request

Alternative transportation request 

Dispute resolution process

District policy regarding waiver of school fees

District policy regarding uniforms

Frequently asked questions

School district organization chart and contacts

Local service providers and telephone numbers

Design a Comprehensive Plan �to Raise Awareness Community-wide

A comprehensive design might include:

A task force composed of educators, school board members, advocates, service providers, parents, and government officials to guide awareness-raising activities

Policy to encourage or require professional development

A comprehensive manual for community members and school and district staff that includes state and district law and policy; the rights of homeless children and youth; promising practices from other states and districts; a list of service providers

Posters, pamphlets, and other materials to distribute communitywide

Training for principals, teachers, secretaries, enrollment clerks, social workers, and other service providers, which encourages or requires participants to train their colleagues

Use the Internet to Reach a Wide Audience

“The materials [for the website] are created under the assumption that people would rather get a little information more often than one big packet.  People are too busy to read a bunch of stuff so we keep them to one page.  Everything we send out has a name and number to call with questions.  If nothing else, this is what we want people to know -- that there is a real person you can call and get an answer.” 

			Coordinator

			Illinois Opening Doors Program

State Boards of Education Can Support Awareness Raising

The Illinois State Board of Education adopted a policy that recommends that districts provide professional development on the legal rights of homeless students, methods to identify students, and sensitivity to their needs and challenges.

The McKinney Act: Awareness-Raising 

States must develop and implement professional development programs that heighten school personnel’s awareness of, and capacity to respond to, problems related to the education of homeless children and youth.  School districts may use McKinney subgrant funds for:

Professional development designed to deepen understanding and sensitivity of school personnel to the needs and statutory rights of homeless children and youth

Education and training for parents of homeless children and youth about their children’s rights and the resources available to them

Source:	Title VII, SubTitle B, of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 11431 et. Seq.  

Develop a Systematic Process to Transport Homeless Students 

Sites we visited suggested taking the following steps to ensure that homeless students can get to school:

A shelter, school, or district staff member identifies the homeless student and informs the family of their rights regarding transportation to school

The staff member completes an intake form that notes the family’s temporary residence and helps them decide what school would be in the student’s best interest

The staff member immediately informs the district homeless education liaison (or other district staff who are assigned this responsibility)

If necessary, the district homeless education liaison discusses options with the family, addresses disputes, or informs and answers questions from the school

The district homeless education liaison contacts and coordinates with the district department of transportation to arrange transportation for the student

The district homeless education liaison contacts the family with transportation information 

If transportation cannot be immediately arranged, provide temporary transportation, such as taxi fare

The McKinney Act: In-school and Related Services

Each homeless child or youth must be provided services comparable to services offered to other students in the school, including services provided by:

Title I of the ESEA or similar state or local programs

Programs for children with disabilities S

Students with limited English proficiency

Vocational education

Gifted and talented programs

School meals programs

Head Start, Even Start, and preschool programs

Referrals to health care services, including dental services, mental health services, and other appropriate services (e.g., violence prevention counseling)

Source:	Title VII, SubTitle B, of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 11431 et. Seq.  

The Liaison: A Critical Link to In-school and Related Services

The community in Victoria, Texas, credits the success of its homeless education program to the placement of a parent liaison on every elementary and middle school campus, as well as on one high school campus.  These liaisons are certified teachers who provide a link between the home and school.  To identify homeless students and help them to succeed in school, liaisons:

Monitor student attendance and conduct home visits if there is a problem

Initiate interventions (e.g., tutoring or homework help) for students with academic problems�

Coordinate referrals to community health and social services

A Partnership to Build Literacy and Math Skills

The Santa Cruz Homeless Education Program provides one-on-one in-class tutoring to help homeless students build literacy and math skills.  The tutoring program uses work study students from the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC), who assist homeless students during the school day.  Pulling students out of the regular classroom was not only disruptive, but also served to stigmatize the students as having problems.  According to the homeless outreach program director, avoiding the stigma of being homeless is essential to the program’s success.

The McKinney Act: Outreach to Youth

The State Plan (developed and implemented by the state coordinator) must describe programs for school personnel (including principals, attendance officers, teachers, and enrollment personnel) to heighten their awareness of the specific needs of runaway and homeless youth.

Ways for Districts to �Collaborate and Coordinate

Share or pool resources, such as consultants and specialists

Arrange for courtesy enrollments, tuition exchanges, and transportation agreements for students in neighboring districts to assist with placing homeless students

Co-author grant applications for shared resources such as regional summer schools, area recruiters and liaisons,  multi-district career fairs, or staff development presentations

Oregon State Coordinator

Every District Needs a Homeless Liaison

“It just takes someone committing to doing it.  There aren’t any secrets.  So my office sent a form to every district, as it usually does, asking for the number of homeless students in the district.  This time we included a contact request at the bottom, and said that the superintendent will receive the information if a contact name isn’t given.... Now we have a statewide directory of contacts.  Kathy Conrad at the Opening Doors program uses the directory for their mailings.  I also use it if I need to talk with a district about a student.  In the future, I hope to improve the process.... By that I mean having contacts who invest more into addressing homeless issues -- someone with an advocacy bent and more time to commit to it.”

State Coordinator�Illinois Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program

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Keys to Enacting a State Law for Homeless Children and Youth

Work with advocacy groups to determine needs:

“The first step was to contact, via letter and telephone, shelters statewide and local McKinney project directors to get their take on what a state law should include. The largest network of emergency shelters in Illinois is the PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter) -- faith-based volunteers run these shelters...we contacted the local PADS shelters and shared our concerns and plans with them.  We ended up with a list of 13 items on the wish list.  You need to be able to exert muscle -- say, ‘Look, there are 2000 shelters that want this to happen, and we have the data to prove it -- get yourselves on the legislators’ radar screen.’”

Give a name and a face to the law:

“We got a photo journalist to take some pictures of homeless children -- so that we could put a face on the legislation.  The chosen photo was of ‘Charlie’ -- holding his cat, no shoes, belly out.  We asked his mom if we could use the photo.  The legislation became known as Charlie’s Bill.  Then every letter we sent out -- all communications with sponsors, shelters, etc., had this logo -- Charlie’s Bill -- with the picture.  This was the best thing we did -- to give the legislation a name and a face.”

Lobby with persistence and fearlessness to get bipartisan support:

“We developed a list of those we would need to sponsor the bill -- both Republicans and Democrats.... The Executive Director (of the Coalition) spent every week of the spring legislative session in Springfield -- lobbying, explaining, getting support ... asking others, ‘Who needs to get on board here?’  The answer was many, including the entire education committee.  So we brought in moms and homeless people and shelter folks from all over the state, especially to make the point that this is not just a suburban or inner-city issue -- it affects the entire state.”

Program Coordinator, Illinois Coalition to End Homelessness

 “The legislation is my Bible.  It provides the backing and gives my efforts direction.  It is simple and clear, and is only five pages long.  It is easy to refer to and to understand.  The legislation is particularly useful in [clarifying] school of origin [issues].  Often, I act as an intermediary with the law.”

				State Coordinator

Illinois Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program

“The law is everything for us.  We refer to both the McKinney and Illinois laws.  The Illinois law clarifies the gray areas in McKinney and broadens [its reach] to include all districts/schools, not just the funded ones.”

Coordinator

Illinois Opening Doors Program

Sample Awareness Raising for Secretaries in Baltimore County  �

Awareness-raising training for all school secretaries in the Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) was developed by the Homeless Education Steering Committee, which included many secretaries.  Their involvement was invaluable in creating training targeted to specific needs.  The superintendent of schools granted professional development release time on a staggered schedule for secretaries at all 162 county schools.  This training included:

Welcome by the administrative secretary of the Title I and Child Care Offices

Opening homeless awareness activity conducted by students from a local high school

Overview of the McKinney Act by the Maryland State Homeless Education Coordinator and the BCPS Homeless Education Consultant

Overview of BCPS policies and procedures to identify and enroll homeless students presented by the Director of the Office of Pupil Personnel

Keynote address by homeless education staff from Project HOPE at the College of William and Mary (see description of Project HOPE on pg. B13)

Panel discussion including staff from Title I and Child Care Offices, principal from a local elementary school, secretarial staff from the Title I and Child Care offices, and staff and parents from a Baltimore County homeless shelter

Closing activities led by Homeless Education staff members

School secretaries receive followup materials regularly throughout the school year, and follow-up training as needed. 

Pamphlets Answer Basic Questions Quickly

In Baltimore County, widely distributed pamphlets include:

FACTS About Education for Homeless Children and Youth.  This pamphlet, which is created by the Maryland State Department of Education and personalized for every district in the state, answers questions regarding the rights of parents and their children to a free public education, contains a brief excerpt from the McKinney Act stating the purpose of the Education for Homeless Children and Youth program, and gives information on whom to call with questions.  Its distribution includes all Baltimore County homeless education liaisons, shelters, principals, and secretaries.

Homeless Education: Background and Programs. This pamphlet contains facts about homelessness in Baltimore County and homeless programs in BCPS as well as homeless services available to Baltimore County Schools.  It is distributed to every school in the BCPS system and service agencies located within the BCPS boundaries.

Information Sheet About Educating Homeless Students.  Updated each year, this sheet provides quick reference to information, including: The McKinney definition of homelessness; BCPS procedures for homeless students, such as providing Title I services, a waiver of proof of residence, immunization, or other records; and priority placement in early childhood programs as well as contact/resource information.  

� The states and districts included in this guide were selected based on (1) the recommendations of experts in the field, (2) current literature, (3) geographic diversity, and (4) location in a mix of urban, suburban, and rural districts.

� National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth and the National Coalition for the Homeless.  (1999).  Making the grade:  Successes and challenges in providing educational opportunities to homeless children and youth (page 7).  Washington, DC: National Coalition for the Homeless.

� Phillips, C.M., Wodatch, J.K., & Kelliher, C.T. (forthcoming).  Access and achievement:  Reducing barriers for homeless children and youth.  A Follow-up Study to the 1995 National Evaluation of the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program (page 8).  Washington, DC:  U.S. Department of Education.  

� Phillips et al., forthcoming, 33.

� National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth and the National Coalition for the Homeless,1999, 8.

� Phillips et al., forthcoming, 12. 

� National Coalition for the Homeless. (1999, June).  Education of homeless children and youth. (NCH Fact Sheet # 10) [On Line].  Available: nch.ari.net/edchild.html.

� Phillips et al., forthcoming, v.

� Phillips et al., forthcoming, 23.

� U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program.  (2000).  Report to Congress:  Fiscal Year 2000 (page 8).  Washington, DC:  Author. 

� Lowe, 2000, 39. 

� Lowe, 2000, 42.

� Vissing, Y.  (1996).  Out of sight, out of mind:  Homeless children and families in small town America.  Lexington, KY:  The University Press of Kentucky. 

� The states and districts included in this guide were selected based on (1) the recommendations of experts in the field, (2) current literature, (3) geographic diversity, and (4) location in a mix of urban, suburban, and rural districts.

� National Coalition for the Homeless.  (1999, April).  The McKinney Act (NCH Fact Sheet # 18) [On Line].  Available: nch.ari.net/mckinneyfacts.html.  

� National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth and the National Coalition for the Homeless.  (1999).  Making the grade:  Successes and challenges in providing educational opportunities to homeless children and youth (page 7).  Washington, DC: National Coalition for the Homeless.

� Phillips, C.M., Wodatch, J.K., & Kelliher, C.T.  (forthcoming).  Access and achievement: Reducing barriers for homeless children and youth (page 10).  Washington, DC:  U.S. Department of Education.

� Phillips et al, forthcoming, 8.  

� Phillips et al., forthcoming, 33.

� National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth and the National Coalition for the Homeless,1999, 8.

� Phillips et al., forthcoming, 12. 

� National Coalition for the Homeless. (1999, June).  Education of homeless children and youth. (NCH Fact Sheet # 10) [On Line].  Available: nch.ari.net/edchild.html.

� Statistics provided by the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program office, April 2000. 

� Anderson, L.M., Janger, M.I., & Panton, K.L.M. (1995).  An evaluation of state and local efforts to serve the educational needs of homeless children and youth (page xi).  Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

� Phillips, C.M., Wodatch, J.K., & Kelliher, C.T. (forthcoming).  Access and achievement:  Reducing barriers for homeless children and youth.  A Follow-up Study to the 1995 National Evaluation of the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program (page v).  Washington, DC:  U.S. Department of Education.

� Connecting Title I and the McKinney Homeless Act:  Providing services for homeless children and youth.  (2000, May).  Title I Monitor, (5)5, 14-17.

4 Title I Monitor, 2000, May, 14-17.

5 States may choose to submit consolidated state plans to the U.S. Department of Education for certain programs, including the Education of Homeless Children and Youth Program.  By submitting a consolidated plan, a state can obtain funds under many federal programs through a single consolidated plan, rather than through separate plans or applications.

� Phillips, C.M., Wodatch, J.K., & Kelliher, C.T.  (forthcoming). Access and achievement:  Reducing barriers for homeless children and youth.  A follow-up study to the 1995 National Evaluation of the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program (page 13).  Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

� Phillips et al., forthcoming, 13.

� Anderson, L.M., Janger, M.I., Panton, K.L.M. (1995).  An evaluation of state and local efforts to serve the educational needs of homeless children and youth (page 12).  Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

� Phillips et al., forthcoming, 10.

� Phillips et al., forthcoming, 10.

� Vissing, Y.  (1998, November).  Homeless children:  Addressing the challenge in rural schools (EDO-RC-98-1).  ERIC® Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools.

� Homes for the Homeless and the Institute for Children and Poverty.  (1999).  Homeless in America: A children’s story (page 14).  New York: Author.

� Phillips, C.M., Wodatch, J.K., & Kelliher, C.T.  (forthcoming). Access and achievement:  Reducing barriers for homeless children and youth.  A follow-up study to the 1995 National Evaluation of the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program (page iii).  Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

� National Center for Homeless Education.  (2000).  National Symposium on Transportation for Homeless Children and Youth Proceedings (pg. 10).  Greensboro, NC: Author.

� National Center for Homeless Education, 2000, 21

� Phillips et al., forthcoming, 23.

� National Center for Homeless Education 2000, 32.

� National Center for Homeless Education, 2000, 29-30.

� National Center for Homeless Education, 2000, 34.

� U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.  (2000).  Report to Congress: Fiscal Year 2000 (Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program [Title VII, Subtitle B of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act]) (page 7).  Washington, DC:  Author.

� Phillips, C.M.,Wodatch, J.K., & Kelliher, C.T.  (forthcoming).  Access and achievement: Reducing barriers for homeless children and youth.  A follow-up study to the 1995 National Evaluation of the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program.  Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

� U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Report to Congress: Fiscal Year 2000, 8.

� Phillips et al., forthcoming, 34.

� Anderson, L.M., Janger, M.I., & Panton, K.L.M.  (1995).  An evaluation of state and local efforts to serve the educational needs of homeless children and youth (page xi).  Washington, DC:  U.S. Department of Education.

� Anderson et al., 1995, 63. 

� Anderson, L.M., Janger, M.I., & Panton, K.L.M.  (1995).  An evaluation of state and local efforts to serve the educational needs of homeless children and youth (page 70).  Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

� Phillips, C.M.,Wodatch, J.K., & Kelliher, C.T.  (forthcoming). Access and achievement: Reducing barriers for homeless children and youth.  A follow-up study to the 1995 National Evaluation of the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program (page 12).  Washington, DC:  U.S. Department of Education.

� Phillips, C.M., Wodatch, J.K., & Kelliher, C.T.  (forthcoming). Access and achievement:  Reducing barriers for homeless children and youth.  A follow-up study to the 1995 National Evaluation of the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program (page 6).  Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

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