The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:
A Consumer’s Guide to Research
on Homeless Education
National Center for Homeless Education
(NCHE)
Diana Bowman, dbowman@serve.org
Jan Moore, jmoore@serve.org
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Peter Miller, pmmiller2@wisc.edu
NCHE Research Publication
• Summary of the State of Research on the
Relationship Between Homelessness and
Academic Achievement Among SchoolAged Children and Youth
• http://center.serve.org/nche/pr/research_pub.php
• Released in January 2012
• Overview of research on the relationship
between homelessness and academic
achievement among school-aged
children and youth in the US
NCHE Research Publication
• More specifically…
 Reviews child, youth, and family
homelessness from 1980s to present
 Summarizes policies and practices that link
homeless students to educational supports
 Provides overview of research on homeless
students and academic achievement
 Describes common research methods and
challenges related to homeless and highly
mobile populations
 Offers direction for further research
Today’s Session
• Overview of research
• History of research on homeless families
and children
• Challenges in conducting research on
homeless children, youth, and families
• Potential for more good quality studies
• Goals of and directions for future research
• Tips for becoming wise consumers of
research
What information is available to
inform our work?
• Opinions
• Descriptions of and anecdotes about
good practices
• Personal stories about working with
children, youth, and families
• Research studies
 Conduct objective investigation
 Examine data to support, refute, or explain
something
 Show circumstances of what’s been tried
and results of the implementation
Research Characteristics
• Empirical – based on collection of
“data”
• Systematic – involves specific steps
(identifying problem, reviewing literature,
collecting data, analyzing data, and
drawing conclusions)
Research Characteristics (cont.)
• Valid – measures what it is intended to
measure
 Comparable term”trustworthiness”
• Reliable – extent to which results can be
repeated
 Comparable term”credibility”
Research Terms
• Independent variable – what is changed
by the researcher (e.g., types of tutoring
programs)
• Dependent variable – what is measured
(e.g., student achievement)
• Quantitative research – collects data in
the form of numbers (e.g., test scores)
• Qualitative research – collects data in the
form of words by methods such as
observations and interviews
Types of Research Studies
• Experimental – designed to identify
cause-effect relationships between an
independent variable and a dependent
variable
• Descriptive - describes data and
characteristics about the population or
phenomenon being studied. Does not
answer questions about how/when/why
the characteristics occurred
Types of Research Studies (cont.)
• Causal Comparative – uses two
categorical groups (e.g., homeless and
housed) to compare performance on a
specific condition
• Correlational – only looks for relationship
among variables (e.g. math ability and
reading ability); no variables are
categorical
Even when a relationship between variables is
identified, we must first determine if extraneous
variables were adequately controlled before
concluding there is a cause and effect relationship
History of Child, Youth, and Family
Homelessness – Beginning in 1980s
• Increasing numbers of families with
children
• Pressure for government response
 Federally funded housing supports
 Began to address educational barriers for
homeless students: Stewart B. McKinney
Homeless Assistance Act (later renamed
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act)
Two Waves of Research on Homeless
Families and Children
•
•
First wave: mid-1980s thru1991
 Documented scope and dimension of crisis
 Found higher retention, absenteeism,
behavior and emotional problems; lower
test scores
Second wave: began 1992
 Risk continuum: most to least risk 1.)
homeless, 2.) housed but living in poverty,
3.) general population
 Co-occurring risk factors
 Diverse subgroups of homeless students with
unique traits and needs
 Mediating factors affecting homeless
students’ school success
Research Challenges
• Difficulty obtaining significant and
representative samples
 Most research done in large urban area
shelters; does not represent other homeless
living arrangements or geographic areas
 High mobility makes it difficult to maintain a
statistically significant sample size;
participants move, reducing the sample
size and creating a selection bias of lessmobile students
 Lack of longitudinal studies
 Few studies consider academic performance
prior to or after experiencing homelessness
Research Challenges (cont.)
• Findings not generalizable beyond
location, time, and population studied
 Very context-specific, potentially
reflecting:
 Particular location of the study
 Economic trends at the time
 Local demographics
 Availability of resources and support for
homeless families and children
 Local policies and practices
 National policies related to homelessness
at the time
Research Challenges (cont.)
• Viewed homeless children, youth, and
families as homogeneous population
 No consideration of subgroup differences
such as
 Causes, frequency, and duration of




homelessness
Mental and physical health
Personal experiences
Academic achievement
Quality of parenting
Research Challenges (cont.)
• Lack of consensus on whether homelessness
is a condition or marker. Is homelessness a:
 discrete condition that impacts children and
youth’s academic achievement?
OR
 a marker for a constellation of conditions
(poverty, lack of stable housing, mobility, etc.)?
 Studies may not have adequately measured
and/or controlled for the effects of additional risk
factors
Research Challenges (cont.)
• The most practical study methods may
not yield quality data
 Research setting affects data
 Shelter noise and chaos may impact
performance on research instruments
 Self-reported information is usually less
reliable than information provided by
normed tests
 Surveys and interviews (self-reported
information) are often used with homeless
families
Potential for More Good
Quality Studies
• Increased visibility and awareness
 Family homelessness is more visible due to
economic and foreclosure crisis
 Led to heightened awareness of and
interest in homeless issues among the
general public, federal agencies, and
foundations
Potential for More Good Quality
Studies (cont.)
• Improvement in data quality
 SEA and LEA data systems and proficiency in
data analysis are improving
 ED’s CSPR data requirements enable
researchers to study larger samples
encompassing multiple districts, states, and
types of primary nighttime residences
 Use of unique student identifiers is becoming
more widespread, enabling researchers to
conduct longitudinal studies
Potential for More Good Quality
Studies (cont.)
• Increased collaboration on data
collection
 Federal agencies (HUD, HHS, ED, etc.) are
working to improve collaboration in data
collection and sharing
 Youth Point-in-Time Count
 Beginning in January 2013, CoCs are required
to include the number of youth (18-24) seen
during their counts
Potential for More Good Quality
Studies (cont.)
• More targeted research questions
 Limitations of previous research show need to:
 Recognize diversity among homeless families,
children, and youth
 Explore differences among subgroups
• Why do some homeless children succeed
despite challenges and barriers while others
do not?
 Focus research on strengths, not weaknesses
• Why do some students excel academically?
• What interventions create resilience in
students despite challenges?
Goals of and Directions for
Future Research
• Determine factors correlated with
educational success
 Examine homelessness in the context of other
adversities impacting homeless students
 Identify contextual and moderating influences
that have produced inconsistent study results
 Focus on what facilitates resilience
 Past studies focused on deprivation, but many
students succeed despite challenges
 Conduct large multi-site study
 Would provide more comprehensive
understanding of these factors
Goals and Directions for
Future Research (cont.)
• Improve educational practices and
interventions
 Make more systematic efforts to gather,
examine, and apply evidence related to the
effects of policies and programs
 Conduct national conversation among
researchers, educators, and policy makers to
better understand homeless students and
ways to increase their success in school
Wise Consumers of Research:
Good Questions to Consider
• How old is the study? If prior to M-V reauthorization, is it still relevant?
• Is there a clearly stated hypothesis or research
question logically based on the literature review?
• Does the background information/literature
review refer to credible and relevant sources?
• Is a research design stated? Is the methodology
described? Are subjects representative? Are the
comparison groups appropriate?
• Do authors discuss correlational/causation
limitations or cautions in their conclusions?
• Are claims appropriate for the type of study?