Group 10

Name : 1. MOH. GOFALDI (A031191138)

2. EUODIA BELINDA PATABANG (A031191092)
Theme : EDUCATION

Number of Homeless Student Rises to New High, Report Says

Some children lost a stable home when a parent succumbed to opioid addiction.
Others were forced to stay in hotels after hurricanes or fires destroyed their homes.
Still others fled abuse or neglect.

More than 1.5 million public school students nationwide said they werehomeless at
some point during the 2017-2018 school year, the most recent data available,
according to a report from the National Center for Homeless Education released last
week.

It was the highest number recorded in more than a dozen years, and experts said it
reflected a growing problem that could negatively affect children’s academic
performance and health.

“The ripple effect here is real,” said Dr. Megan Sandel, a director of the Grow
Clinic at the Boston Medical Center, who said housing instability was associated
with developmental delays in children and children in fair or poor health.

The center, which is based at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is
funded by the United States Departement of Education, issued the report on
Jan.29.Its findings came as a housing affordability crisis sweeps the nation and
homelessness continues to rise.

The report compared the 2017-2018 school year with the 2015-2016 school year
and found a 15 percent increase in the number of student nationwide who
experienced homelessness

The 2017-2018 number was more than double the nearly 680,000 homeless
students reported in 2004-2005, the first school year examined by the center, its
director, George Hancock, said.

The report also showed a 137 percent increase, to more than 102,000, in the number
of students who while homeless reported staying in “unsheltered” places, such as
abandoned buildings and cars.

The center compiles figures submitted annually by states to the federal government
that inclued students who said they were homeless for even brief periods during the
school year. Homelessness could mean sharing homes with other families during
times of economic hardship or spending a night in homeless shelter.
The numbers influence the ditribution of federal and state funds fpr homeless
programs. They capture only what was reported by state or local officials. Numbers
from Vermont, for example, were not inclueded for the 2017-2018 school year
because the state did not provide them in the time.

Texax reported the largest increase over the three scool years, with the number of
homeless student dobling, to more than 231,000 in 2017-2018. Fourteen states
reported a decrease.

The report did not offer reasons for the changes but experts pointed to diverse
factors that may have helped drive the totals in a troubling upward direction.

‘It is complex, depending in where you are in the country,” said Barbara Duffield,
the executive director of School House Conenection, a nonprofit based in
Washington that supports youths who are homeless.

Severe natural disasters could drive the increases, particulary in Texax and Florida,
which had a 32 percent rise, Ms. Duffield said. Both states were hit hard by storms
that ravaged thousands of homes.

She said a lack of affordable housing, the opioid and methamphetamine addiction
crises, and fluctuations in local economic conditions-a factory shutting down,
leaving parents unemployed and unable to pay rent, for example – all influence the
rises in homeless students.

In many cases, districts have been getting better at identifying which student are
homeless.

“we definitely see that when school districts pay more attention, when they invest
in training, when they get out into the community, then the numbers also go up,”
Ms. Duffiled said.

In Santa Rosa Country, Fla., which is on the Gulf Coast, the school district
identified more than 1,000 students of a total population of nearly 28,000 as having
experienced homelessness in the 2017-2018 school year.

The majority live with other families, also known as “double up,” said Karen
Barber, the districts director of federal programs. She said most homeless students,
she said. But rising housing cost have kept the figures higher than they should be,
she said.
“we’re not moving the needle as much as we could because of the lack of
affordable housing,” she said. “that really is the biggest issue.”

She said district staff look for “red flags” that might indicate a student is homeless,
such as recurring tardiness or an unpaid meal balance.

Ms. Duffield said many students are often “living in fear and shame.” Some
families do not report homelessness because they think it would constitute child
abuse or neglect.

“people don’t let their school officials know when they’ve been homeless,” said
when they’ve been homeless,” said Marybeth Shinn, a professor at Vanderbilt
University who researches homelessness.

The annual numbers in the center’s report most likely underestimate the problem.
For example, they do not include private school student. An audit by California in
November found that public school districts significantly undercounted the number
of homeless students.

Professor Shinn said the data also left out children who were not yet in kindergarten
and who make up a signification portion of the overall number of homeless
children.

The numbers, she siad, do not capture the impact homelessness may have on
children throughout their lifetimes.

“the questions is: what are the long-term effect of homelessness on children, as
opposed to the very immediate effects?” she said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/us/Homeless-students-public-schools.html
 Adverb
Noun Verb Adjective
Time Place Manner Frequency
last
Some week
children here negatively forced stable
a dozen
district staff years nearly destroyed poor
people in the time significantly stay homeless
portion likely affect higher
factor look for fear
fluctuations indicate shame
affordability researches affordable
population underestimate unable
tardiness include opposed
impact found recurring
lifetime abuse abandoned
performance neglect immediate
homeless
shelter capture diverse
condition constitute
succumb
hit
decrease
provide
ravaged
increase