Oregon ranked best in country for educating homeless students
Homeless children in Oregon have a better chance of succeeding in school than their counterparts in any other state, according to a new ranking released Friday.
The report by the New York City-based Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness found that Oregon ranked at the top when measuring how effectively school districts identify homeless children and enroll them in school. One area in which the state does especially well, the institute said, is its handling of homeless preschoolers.
It's important for homeless students to be identified, the report says, so those students can be connected to resources and school districts can "ensure that homelessness does not disrupt their learning."
Josef Kannegaard, a policy analyst at the Institute, said one example is school instability among homeless children. "Once a student is identified as homeless, there's a greater likelihood they'll be able to stay in one school even if their family is moving around," he said.
More specific areas measured in the report underscored the high representation of homeless students in Oregon's early childhood programs, including the federal programs Head Start and Early Head Start.
Dona Bolt, the state director of the federal McKinney-Vento program, which provides support and funding for homeless student education, said there's a "concerted effort on the part of local programs" to identify young homeless children in the state. In Oregon, homeless preschoolers, for example, are placed at the top of the waitlist to get into Head Start programs.
"When kids are experiencing homelessness that young, it's even more essential that they have positive early learning experiences," she said. "Homelessness is a trauma, and we're beginning to understand the lasting effects of that."
Bolt said the state's successes can be credited more broadly to strong collaboration between the different agencies that support homeless Oregon ranked best in country for educating homeless students | OregonLive.com: