COORDINATING HOUSING WITH EDUCATION

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HUD-GREATSCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP

OVERVIEW

HUD’s commitment to improving educational outcomes for children living in poverty

HUD-GreatSchools Partnership – Providing low-income parents with access to high-quality information about local schools

Demonstration of www.greatschools.com web-based tool for parents

District of Columbia Housing Authority’s local partnership efforts with GreatSchools 

Wrap Up/Q&A

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Problem Statement: Only 1 in 10 students from low-income communities graduates from college, and children living in low-income communities are already two to three grades behind their higher income peers by the time they reach fourth grade. 

In 2009, more than half of fourth and eighth graders who attended high-poverty schools failed the national reading test, compared to fewer than one in five students from the same grade levels who attended low-poverty schools. (Schwartz 2010)

Studies show that lower-income families are often “information poor” regarding school selection. (Teske et al. 2007)

HUD’S COMMITMENT TO IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN IN POVERTY

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HUD’S COMMITMENT TO IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN IN POVERTY

Lack of information on school quality was a key reason that HUD-assisted families in Baltimore did not send their children to higher-performing schools. (DeLuca and Rosenblatt 2010) 

Providing access to information about schools can “dramatically improve the quality of the public schools that families select.” (Ellen and Horn 2011) 

“As the public education system—particularly in urban areas—continues to increase the amount of choice available to households in the public school system, HUD-assisted households will be more likely to take advantage of these increased opportunities if they are well informed of their options” (Ellen and Horn 2011) 

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HUD’S COMMITMENT TO IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN IN POVERTY

HUD Response:  HUD Strategic Plan FY2010-2015

Utilize HUD assistance to improve educational outcomes and early learning and development.  HUD aims to improve educational outcomes for those living in HUD-assisted housing by optimizing our own location-based policies and partnering with nonprofit organizations, schools, and other federal agencies  to  ensure greater access to high-quality early learning programs and schools, effective adult education, broadband Internet, and other technology.  

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HUD’S COMMITMENT TO IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN IN POVERTY

Major Initiatives

HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods program, which awarded communities $65 million in FY 2010 and FY 2011to transform distressed HUD-assisted housing into sustainable, mixed-income neighborhoods, extends the neighborhood transformation efforts beyond public housing to link housing intervention with education. Congress recently showed bipartisan support for expanding Choice Neighborhoods with a $120 million appropriation for FY 2012.

The White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, linking HUD to DOJ’s Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Fund, ED’s Promise Neighborhoods, HHS community health centers, and Treasury CDFI opportunities.   

Earlier this year, HUD awarded Public  Housing Authorities  (PHAs) a combined $15 million from HUD’s Capital Fund Education and Training Community Facilities Program to create early childhood education and adult training facilities for public housing residents.  

The HUD-GreatSchools  partnership (non-funded) aligns with HUD’s goal to increase the number of HUD-assisted households with school-aged children who have acces to schools scoring at or above the local average.  

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WHAT IS THE HUD-GREATSCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP

On 11/8/11 HUD joined forces with GreatSchools, a national non-profit educational resource for parents, to give parents living in public housing or who receive HUD Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Rental assistance greater access to local school information that will help them make more informed decisions about where to live and where to send their children to school.  

 GreatSchools’ supports parents through a wide variety of web-based resources available at  www.GreatSchools.org.  Their flagship offering is a database of school performance information for more than 200,000 PreK-12 public, charter, and private schools in the U.S.  The website also has information on how parents can help their children achieve success in PreK-12.

Its free and easy to use!  By typing in a zip code, mailing address, or city and grade level, parents receive local listings of schools, performance ratings, which schools include special education/afterschool programs, and more!  

While the information is web-based, the HUD-GreatSchools partnership is a hands on approach.  The Partnership will work with the nation’s  3,200 PHAs to provide handouts of local school listings, and other helpful information to parents, as they are receiving housing assistance.

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HUD-GREATSCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP 

Objectives:   By providing HUD-assisted families with access to school-related information, we hope to:

Enable parents to make informed educational choices for their children;

Empower parents to become further involved in their children’s education; and

 Increase the number of HUD-assisted households with school-age children who have access to schools scoring at or above the local average.

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HUD-GREATSCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP

Targeted Population

Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) households with school age children  --  commonly referred to as Section 8 or HUD-assisted housing in the private market:

 -   1,916,701 current active households

 -   4,736,522 current active members

  -  1,639, 557  school-age children (ages 5-18)

Public Housing households:  commonly referred to as families who live in public housing units or non private market housing:

979,831 current active households

2,125,631 current active members

566,379 school-age children (ages 5-18)  

Managed by the nation’s 3,200 PHAs

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HUD-GREATSCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP – TARGETED POPULATION

34.6%

26.7%

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The Way it Works

Utilizing the existing www.GreatSchools.org resource,  HUD will work closely with its greatest leverage -- the nation’s 3,200 PHAs,  to develop a local information sharing process for residents with school-age children. 

 Per a letter on 12/8/11 to all PHA Executive Directors , the Assistant Secretary for HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing strongly advised PHAs to take 2 basic steps:

Provide printouts of local school listings found on the website, and other supplemental information to all HCV households when families first obtain a voucher or during their annual recertification.  This will assure that parents and guardians have timely access to details regarding local schools, and an opportunity to explore school options while choosing a place to live.  

Include the GreatSchools  URL, www.GreatSchools.org  on the PHA website as a valuable resource to parents and other community members visiting their site.

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The Way it Works

PHAs have the capacity to reach low-income parents where they are through various means:

Tenant admissions office;

Local resident meetings;

E-newsletters/mail outs/text messages

Local case managers/resident service coordinators;

*Local service providers, faith-based and non-profit entities;

*Community Colleges/Universities; and

*HUD Neighborhood Network Centers (free community computer facilities); 

* HUD is also supporting PHA local outreach efforts through HUD’s:  Center for Faith- Based/Non-Profit Partnerships;  Office of University Partnerships; and Multi-Family/Public Housing Neighborhood Network Centers. 

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Reaching Families Where They Are 

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HUD-assisted family with school-age children

PHA

Tenant/HCV Admissions Office

Case Managers

Local Service Providers:  Faith-based/non-profits

Local Health Clinics

Community Colleges and Universities

Parent/ Family Mentoring/ Support Services

HUD Neighborhood Network Centers

The Way it Works

GreatSchools Collateral:  

To make this a valuable, invested experience for all PHAs, local service providers, and parents,  GreatSchools worked closely with HUD to develop/provide the below customized  materials to all PHAs:

 a video tutorial, tailored to PHAs and parents;

A script for PHAs: (in English and Spanish) for easily translating  the features of the website to parents;

GreatSchools fact sheet  handout (in English and Spanish) which lists five easy steps to choosing a new school;

Top 10 tips for parents handout (in English and Spanish);

School Chooser Workbook for parents (in English and Spanish), for any parent new to the process of choosing a school

GreatSchools  administers two existing on the ground programs in Washington, DC and Milwaukee, WI for further engaging low-income parents in their children’s education.  The DC and City of Miliwaukee PHAs have established local partnerships with GreatSchools, and also serve on their local advisory Boards.  

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Marketing and Outreach

The Partnership will achieve its goals mainly through events and creative communication around the www.GreatSchools.org website and PHA customized resources. 

Through webinars, events, training materials, and other printed materials, the Partnership will engage HUD-assisted families and support PHA staff in assisting residents to gain access to the best information available to make educational decisions that best fit their child’s needs.

Although the partnership primarily focuses on working with PHAs to reach HCV and public housing households, this is a HUD-wide approach to reach any HUD-assisted family with school-age children.  

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Where we are today

Exploring options to track the reach/impact

	HUD-GreatSchools Partnership Proposed Metrics:

Number of PHAs using the www.greatschools.org website and supplemental materials

Number of PHAs who placed URL link on their websites

Number of PHAs distributing informtion to HCV recipients with school-age children

Number of HCV recipients who received local school listings and supplemental inforamtion as a print out

	Secondary Metrics:

Degree to which parents used the website

Degree to which parents used it to locate a school for their child or found it helpful in becoming more involved in their child’s education.

Working with the U.S. Department of Education to enhance the partnership

Connecting PHAs and parents to additional resources/tools  (i.e. Step Up for Students, a non-profit that administers the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income students (K-12) to attend private schools)  

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The HUD-GreatSchools partnership is a perfect marriage! 

For more information or to join us refer to:

Featured spotlight on www.findyouthinfo.gov

www.hud.gov

www.greatschools.org

Maria-Lana Queen, HUD:  Maria-Lana.Queen@hud.gov

Natanya Levioff, GreatSchools:  Nlevioff@greatschools.org

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THANK YOU!  

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