Chapter 1: College and Career Readiness for Students Impacted By Homelessness, Housing Insecurity, and Students in Foster Care

According to the National Education Association (NEA, 2022), the number of students reportedly experiencing homelessness over the past three years has increased to more than 1.5 million. Most notably impacted by a 20–23% increase were students in grades five, six, eleven, and twelve (NEA, 2022). Homelessness is multifaceted, as it can be chronic, episodic, or transitional in nature (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2021), and often intersects many other social issues (Low et al., 2017). Furthermore, it is “not limited by ability, gender, age, race, religion, or socioeconomic status” (Sullivan-Walker et al., 2017. p.155). In fact, children and youth are among those most significantly impacted by homelessness (Sullivan-Walker et al., 2017). Consequently, it is plausible that at least one student enrolled in a public-school either has been or is currently impacted by homelessness (Sullivan-Walker et al., 2017).