Discussion 2

Poverty and high mobility are not a good combination making the educational outcomes for homeless students much worse than for mobile-only or poverty-only students - while those students' outcomes are not great either.  So awareness, etc. is important. (2) Also, the effects of experienced trauma on learning is devastating.  Homeless and foster care students experience trauma just in the act of losing their homes - often multiple times, and these students often lose family, friends and support systems which exacerbates the effects of trauma, not to mention experiences of life on the streets, in shelters, in strangers' homes and at the hands of systems that view trauma caused behavior as "bad" behavior that requires discipline measures rather than therapeutic interventions.  How can these children be supported in an effort to keep them on track, in the K-12 school system, and avoid dropping out of school like many of their non-homeless peers?  Use the course readings and additional external research to support your answer.