Educating youth who don’t have a place to sleep

Abstract

Because housing instability can make it difficult for students to attend school, students experiencing homelessness (SEH) may become chronically absent. For this reason, SEH have lower graduation rates than their housed counterpants. Germany’s second-chance schools give students an opportunity to catch up on their learning so they can take final exams and earn diplomas. Kerri Tobin and Matthias Fischer studied 12 second-chance schools and found that they hold to four basic principles to counter the consequences of irregular attendance: low barriers, flexibility, a needs orientation, and positive motivation. While some of these principles may be difficult to implement in traditional U.S. and German schools, educators can adopt a more positive and compassionate attitude to encourage students to continue attending school, even when it’s difficult.