Using a Person-Centered Approach to Examine the Impact of Homelessness on School Absences
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Using a Person-Centered Approach to Examine the Impact of Homelessness on School Absences James P. Canfield1 Willie Elliott2
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Joesph Nolan2 • Dana Harley1 • Ashley Hardy2
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Published online: 15 September 2015 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015
Abstract Brought on by increasing levels of economic vulnerability, homelessness is a pressing issue for our schools. Homeless students often miss an inordinate amount of school days and are thought to fall at the farthest end of a ‘‘continuum of poverty.’’ Theoretically they have worse outcomes than their peers, though the past 20 years of literature have found inconsistencies in these comparisons. Thus the literature suggests analysis to compare types of students based on outcomes rather than demographic categorizations, a person-centered approach. Using this approach, a comparison of the number of absences for homeless students and their housed peers is made through quantile analysis. Using school administrative data collected over one school year for an entire school district we found that homeless students as an aggregate do not miss significantly more days of school than their poorest peers. However, we found homelessness and poverty dramatically increase the number of absences for children who are in the higher percentiles of absences meaning homelessness has a greater impact on those who miss more days of school in general compared to regular attendees. Findings from this study indicate that homelessness may exacerbate problems rather than cause them. Implications for practice are discussed and directions for future study are proposed. Keywords Homeless Homelessness Attendance Absences Quantile regression McKinney-Vento
& James P. Canfield [email protected] 1
School of Social Work, University of Cincinnati, 1626 W. French Hall, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
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Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, USA
Children and youth experiencing homelessness are at high risk for poor educational outcomes ranging from belowgrade level reading and math scores, to high rates of dropout, and to poor attendance (Berliner, 2009; Buckner, 2008; Buckner, Bassuk, & Weinreb, 2001; Di Santo, 2012). Accounting for 40 % of the total homeless population, the number of children and youth experiencing homelessness is expected to grow as the US comes out of the housing and mortgage crises (Rukmana, 2008). Conceptually, homelessness is often thought to be an experience of transience, meaning homeless children and youth often move between housing situations, which in turn leads to much unplanned school mobility (Julianelle & Foscarinis, 2003). This unplanned and unexpected moving between schools is often thought to be a driving factor behind poor academic outcomes for homeless children and youth. Specifically, transience place homeless children at high risk for poor attendance and is highlighted as an area to address in policy and subsequent practice with this population. Attendance is a traditional concern for schools, dating back to the onset of compulsory
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