The+Life+of+an+American+Homeless+Student

__The Life of an American Homeless Student __Annie Walsh, Sarah Bard, Brianna Accetturo, and Damani Myers



I . Description of Problem or Issue
Homelessness. This issue is becoming ever more common, but we often forget about the effects that being homeless has on a person. The emotional, physical, social and health problems that are caused by this epidemic is very harmful to an adult, but what do these issues do to a child? Children who are enrolled in school and live in shelters or in rundown environments, are affected even more by these issues. It has been found that more likely than not, homeless students grades suffer, they are more inclined to illnesses and their socialization skills with, peers, teachers and others in the community are effected. Fortunately there are foundations made to help these students overcome their unfortunate situation, and help them to overcome the obstacles that they are and will face in school and in the "real world". We often think of the homeless as living on the streets or waiting to be let into a shelter, while this is true in lots of cases, the federal definition of homelessness that is used by all U.S. public schools goes as follows: Children or youth who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.

**II. Research Summary ** *Damani's Research: Many homeless children face adverse school challenges. They change schools multiple times in a year, this effects how the children learn. Many homeless school children change schools three times; but there are those who had changed schools five times in one school year. All of these school changes prevents the homeless children from fully learning a topic, this in turn forces to be left be hind year after year. These students repeat grades multiple times, and they also preform poorly on standardized tests. Homeless school aged children face harder school years then the average school aged child. There education is cut short and disjointed many years, and they need help to do better and have a brighter future.

Annie's Research: Through the cumulated research that i found, I was able to learn much about this issue. The social and emotional challenges that these children face are directly connected to their performance in school. Whether they are able to adapt effectively to their new environments, given the proper support and tools to help them reach their goals not only academically, but also socially. Gaining friendships and trust in people is difficult for these children, and they face differing issues everyday. If these children's emotional issues are not met and looked at with great understanding and emotional support, than these students will keep falling farther behind, but also they will keep loosing their place in the world. These children are faced with adverse emotional struggles and social issues that are often overlooked unless you are a part of a foundation, or some sort of test or are a researcher. These children need to be thought of and their needs need to be met, or else there will be continuous students who are lost in the system. Especially with the ever growing number of people becoming homeless due to the economy's low status, while these children should have been looked at before now, this change in our economy may be the point where we are able to see how many students are actually affected by this unfortunate issue.

Sarah's Research: There is a large population of homeless students, and it is not slowing down and is in fact increasing. Through my research I found out that schools are having a hard time keeping up with aiding this population of students. I also discovered through my research though that there are still ways for the students to get the help that they need. I learned that there are many different ways that schools still help these students. Some of these ways include tutoring, medical referrals, mentoring programs, help with obtaining school supplies, and aiding in finding these students transportation to their original schools even if they have to move out of town. I also learned that outside of school there are many additional organizations that aid homeless students. These organizations help to supply them with necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter that schools cannot give to these children.

**III. Group Project Overview ** 1. We will introduce and talk about our topic, Homelessness among school age children, by using a power point. [|Edc final project-2.ppt] 2. We will then talk about our individual sub-topics.
 * Health
 * social effect
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">education
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">programs

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3. For our lesson we will test the class on what they have learned through our presentation by playing a game of Jeopardy.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">IV. Visual Representation

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">V. Annotated Bibliographies <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Sarah Bard:  <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Where can these students find help? Programs in Schools for Homeless Students <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Brianna Accetturo: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 105%;">How Does Being Homeless effect School Aged Children's Health? Health Effects of Homelessness on Students <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Annie Walsh: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 105%;">How Does Being Homeless Effect School Aged Children on the Social and Emotional Levels of Development in and out of School? Social Effects of Homelessness on Students <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Damani Myers: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 105%;">How Does Being Homeless Effect a School Aged Children's Schooling and Grades? Academic Effects of Homelessness on Students