Yes, according to the amended McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, homeless students are enrolled in Franklin County Schools.

Homeless students are defined as children who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. (This includes foster children waiting for placement.)

“Homeless” children may live in any of the following.

· Dwellings that lack electricity, water, and other basic services;

· Transitional units, motels, or emergency shelters;

· Crowded or temporary arrangements with other families.

 

 

Consider homeless
students as students
“at promise”
rather than
students at risk.

 

 Understanding Homelessness

     Homeless Students  in Franklin County?

*  Homeless families don’t describe themselves as homeless since they consider it a temporary state.

* Homeless students can be over-achievers and under-achievers.

* Parents in homeless families are afraid of “Big Brother”.

* These students frequently seem very mature in a hip, worldly way.

* Older siblings are often care givers and need a childhood.

* Homeless feel isolated.

*  

 

Teaching Franklin County’s Homeless Students

     Resources for More Information

Danny Smith > Franklin County Homeless Liaison > 931-967-0626 > smithd09@k12tn.net

Jenny Crabtree > Fk. Co. Federal Programs > 931-967-0626 > crabtreej2@k12tn.net

Julie McCarger, EdD > Executive Director > TN Dept. of Education >  615-532-6297

Christie Lentz > Project Director >  TN Dept. of Education Field Service Center > 931-381-7055 > christieLentz@state.tn.us

TN Dept. of Education Title X, Part C—Homeless Education > http://www.state.tn.us/education/fedprog/fphomeless.shtml

National Coalition for the Homeless >  http://www.nationalhomeless.org

U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development >  http://www.hud.gov

     Effective
                                    Strategies

* Be passionate; be wildly passionate as an advocate for these kids.

* Establish relationships.

* Build self-confidence and a positive self-concept. (Self-esteem and self-control are closely related.)

* Engage these students in constructivist, problem-based learning activities that match their active, hands-on learning styles.

* Set high standards and high expectations. “What hurts us more is you teach us less.”

* Plan opportunities for these active, imaginative problem solvers to shine.

* Give them a reason to work hard for intrinsic rewards.

* Learn to isolate the behavior from the person and look for opportunities to give specific praise.

* Modify homework requirements.

* Prepare these highly mobile students for the next transition.

 

 

Education

breaks the

cycle

of poverty.

* The emotional trauma of homelessness tends to equate to low self-esteem.

* Homeless students often crave attention and need to belong.

* Homeless families are often poor and highly mobile.

* They respond to highly charged, drama-based motivation.

* The students want you to be someone they can trust and share what’s going on but they have been trained to not tell.

* Half don’t graduate.

 

* Homeless children have a poor ability to conceptualize.

* These students tend to have poor organizational skills.

* Homeless students need loose structure with stability.

* They need a personal space.

* They are possessive of their belongings.

* It may take four to six months for mobile students to recover academically from a transfer.

* Baggage includes poor health care,  and family issues.