Project Education Impact: Achieving Educational Success for Washington&apos;s Children, Youth and Young Adults in Foster Care and/or Experiencing Homelessness. Joint Agency Report to Legislature
Author: Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF)
Date: 2019-01-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Foster Care,Homeless People,Outcomes of Education,High School Graduates,Graduation Rate,Postsecondary Education,Educational Attainment,At Risk Persons,At Risk Students,Poverty,Youth,Young Adults,Equal Education,Racial Differences,Educational Strategies,Academic Achievement,Individualized Education Programs,Educational Planning,Educational Policy,State Policy,Statewide Planning

Research nationally demonstrates that children and youth experiencing foster care and/or homelessness achieve academic outcomes significantly below their peers due to trauma and loss, multiple changes in homes and schools, and emotional upheaval. When youth fail to graduate from high school, they are much more likely to live in poverty, require public assistance, experience adult homelessness, and be incarcerated. For the class of 2015, only 41.5% of Washington State youth in foster care and only 38.4% of youth who have experienced homelessness graduated high school on time. A coalition of state agencies and nonprofit organizations began meeting about strategies to improve outcomes in October 2017. A 2018 budget proviso (Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6032) codified their charge, directing the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), in collaboration with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the Office of Homeless Youth (OHY), and the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC), to convene a workgroup with aligned nonprofit organizations to: Create a plan for children and youth experiencing foster care and homelessness to facilitate educational equity with their general student population peers and to close the disparities between racial and ethnic groups by 2027. The Project Education Impact workgroup -- has convened over the past year to advance solutions, including recommending changes to the systems that prevent children and youth from being successful in school. As a result of extensive collaboration and feedback, the Project Education Impact workgroup developed some high-level recommendations for Washington State to achieve the 2027 goal. Those goals are detailed in this report, and include: (1) Making ample investments to support the educational success of children and youth experiencing foster care and/or homelessness; (2) Alignment, coordination, and monitoring policy, services, resources and outcomes to ensure academic success for students experiencing foster care and/or homelessness statewide; and (3) Leveraging data to inform real time, individualized education supports for students as well as longitudinal analysis of education outcomes. In order to maximize impact the recommended immediate next steps for Project Education Impact include: (1) Expanding workgroup to include meaningful partnership with tribal governments, the courts, homeless service providers, and other key stakeholders; (2) Pursuing key policy changes and state investments during upcoming legislative sessions; (3) Convening data sharing subgroup to identify and resolve barriers to public reporting of educational outcomes; and (4) Convening the workgroup to develop mid-term and long-term objectives, review updated educational outcomes, adjust plans, and update key stakeholders and the Legislature by December 31, 2019. [Other Washington State Agencies participating in Project Education Impact include: Washington Department of Commerce's Office of Homeless Youth Prevention and Protection and the Washington State Department of Social &amp; Health Services' Office of Refugee &amp; Immigrant Services (DSHS). Non profit agencies participating in Project Education Impact include: Building Changes, College Success Foundation, Equity in Education Coalition, The Mockingbird Society, and Treehouse.]