Interesting article describing the realities of homeless students. First study of homelessness and test scores by Cutili examines not only lower scores but the reasons behind them. Interesting comments by students who somehow find time to do homework. There is a subset of homeless students (45%) who scored average or better than average. Researchers say more studies are required to find out what is being done to support these students in schools.
Our Title I teachers may be teaching homeless students, although they may not be so informed. School administrators can keep this information confidential. If you have taught homeless students before, how have you helped them succeed?
Note: Try using the audio feature on this website. Really neat!
Study: Homeless students in Minneapolis score lower in math reading tests. 10.30.12 Tim Post, Minnesota Public Radio, MPR News.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/10/30/education/study-homeless-students/
I agree with Elizabeth Hinz,who said it is key that homeless students need to stay at the same school for an entire year. We see so many students in our schools who would classify as "highly mobile" and I believe it would make a difference if students stayed at the same school year round. I can't imagine shifting from school to school so often. Not only does a student have to find new friends, but they also have to learn the new rules, the routine, and the teachers.
ReplyDeleteThe subset of students in Minnesota is incredibly interesting. I would like to know what they're doing to have such an increase in test scores.
I am really interested in the idea of resiliency because it connects so well to what we do with Title I students. Many of our high achievers would be considered resilient- they have various risk factors and are identified as at-risk, but overcome those risk factors and score better than they are predicted to do. As much as we read and discuss this topic as teachers, sometimes I wonder how much we can really get from this type of study that just tracks students’ stats over time without really getting to know what their lives are like. This is not an experiment- for example, they are not teaching homeless students about study skills and then determining that yes, it raises the rate of resiliency. They are just observing them how they are. It makes me wonder if we can really have an impact on whether students are resilient or not. In the study, they explain that, “factors such as differences in attendance rates, gender, race, and receiving special services were sometimes related to achievement… however a great deal of variability remained even when these factors were accounted for.” I think this study opened the door for follow-up research on this population of students, specifically those identified as academically resilient and those who outscored their peers even when variables were controlled. I would be interested to learn specifically what factors influence resiliency. I think a matched-pairs design would be the best design for this type of research, because it would allow us to see what specific differences in students’ lives lead to different outcomes. Then, we could work to replicate some of the same conditions for students who are homeless but not scoring as well. Thanks for the interesting read.
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