Homelessness and Educational Well-Being

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

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Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed study seeks to take a careful look at the characteristics of a policy relevant population of children with homeless experiences and the relations between these experiences and their educational well-being. This study will employ innovative theoretical and methodological approaches which address critiques of the existing body of research. By using a comprehensive, developmental epidemiological conceptual framework and a state-of-the-art municipal, integrated data system, this study will examine children's early homeless experiences from birth through the end of third grade. It will do so for a policy-relevant 3rd-grade cohort of public school children in the poorest of the 10 largest cities in the US-Philadelphia. The population-based approach for the integration of administrative records across all public service systems allows for careful control of other child and family risk factors that are known to co- occur with homelessness. Furthermore, the longitudinal nature of the data allows for a careful look at the multiple developmental pathways between early risks, homelessness, and multiple educational outcomes.