As Homelessness Rises, Achievement Suffers
When students don’t know where they’ll be sleeping at night or where their next meal is coming from, “obviously, they’re not thinking about homework,” Anita Vertkin, tells the Boston Globe. Vertkin is a caseworker at Boston’s Youth Harbors, a nonprofit group created last October with $100,000 in federal stimulus funds. It’s currently working to help 25 students. It’s not even scratching the surface. As the Globe reports, homelessness among high school students is rapidly increasing, not only in Boston, but across America. Nationally, 794,617 K-12 students were homeless in 2007-08, up from 679,724 the year before, with 39 states reporting increases. A 2005 Massachusetts study bears out Vertkin’s claim. It found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that homelessness and poor academic results were linked. For instance, in the math portion of a statewide test taken that year, 85 percent of the general student population passed, but only 45 percent of homeless pupils did.
The problem is particularly acute for 18-year-olds, says the Globe. They’re no longer eligible for foster care or other state and federal programs. Also they typically avoid shelters, which tend to be filled with adults, many of whom have mental health or substance abuse problems. Why are they on the streets? Some are booted out by families who think 18-year-olds should take care of themselves, others are fleeing abusive homes. Says Vertkin: “They’re still children. All of a sudden, everything is pulled from under their feet, and they’re told to fend for themselves.”
Filed under: K-12 Education News
