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College & Workforce Readiness

Report: Homeless Students Less Likely to Graduate Than Other Low-Income Children

By Alyson Klein — February 14, 2019 1 min read
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Homeless students are less likely to graduate from high school than other low-income children, and the general population, according to a nonprofit group’s analysis released Thursday.

Education Leads Home, a national campaign focused on improving outcomes for homeless children, analyzed graduation rate data for the 2016-17 school year in 26 states. It found that just 64 percent of homeless students graduate from high school, compared to a national average of 77.6 percent for low-income students and 84.1 percent for all students.

We will be getting more data on homeless student performance soon. The Every Student Succeeds Act for the first time requires states to break out test performance for homeless students, military-connected children, and foster children. Graduation rates for the 2017-18 school year will be available next year.

This 2016-17 school year saw the highest number of homeless students enrolled in public schools on record, according to a press release on the data from Education Leads Home. That could be because more states are doing a better job of tracking which students are homeless. “For this reason, it is also worth considering that states reporting higher numbers of homeless students or lower graduation rates may actually be the states that are taking the problem most seriously,” the release notes.

Education Leads Home is a collaboration among nonprofits including the SchoolHouse Connection, Civic, the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness, and America’s Promise Alliance.

Image: Getty Images