Residential Instability and the McKinney-Vento Homeless Children and Education Program

Abstract

This brief describes the McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program (ECHY), summarizes the research, and outlines future research questions of concern to policymakers.

The text below is an excerpt from the complete document. Read the full brief in PDF format.

Introduction

As homelessness increased among families and children during the 1980s and 1990s, policymakers created, and strengthened, the McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program. This response came in part because a growing body of evidence showed that residential instability (e.g., frequent moves, doubling up, homelessness) is associated with poor academic outcomes among children (Rafferty 1998; Rafferty, Shinn, and Weitzman 2004; Rubin et al. 1996). The McKinney-Vento EHCY program aims to mitigate the effects of residential instability through the identification of homeless children in schools and the provision of services, including expedited enrollment, transportation to school, tutoring, and mental and physical health referrals. The program has been in place for more than two decades, yet policymakers know little about how schools identify homeless children, the specific services that individual children receive, and how these relate to academic outcomes.

In August 2009, with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Urban Institute completed a study that looked at the McKinney-Vento EHCY program in the Washington metropolitan region. As part of this reconnaissance, we reviewed the literature on how residential instability affects academic outcomes among children; collected descriptive data on the extent of homelessness in the region's schools; and convened a group of homeless liaisons, state coordinators, and advocates to discuss local implementation of the program and types of data collected by program staff. This brief summarizes the literature and data collected during this reconnaissance and provides questions for future research on residential instability and the McKinney-Vento EHCY program.

(End of excerpt. The full brief is available in PDF format.)

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

Usage, posting and reprint of materials on the UI web site:

Most publications may be downloaded free of charge from the web site in PDF format. This information may be used and copies made for research, academic, policy or other non-commercial purposes. Proper attribution is required.

Copyright of the written materials contained within the Urban Institute website is owned or controlled by the Urban Institute. Posting UI research papers on other websites is permitted subject to prior approval from the Urban Institute—contact paffairs@urban.org.

If you are unable to access or print the PDF document please contact us or call the Publications Office at (202) 261-5687.