The federal government enacted the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (MVA) to equip schools with services to help alleviate the many barriers students experiencing homelessness face in pursuit of educational opportunities. Educational agencies use federally mandated liaisons to uphold the provisions of the MVA. Despite the homeless liaisons' importance in facilitating the policy, few studies have examined how liaisons perceive their service area's response to homelessness. This study explored homeless liaisons' perceptions of MVA implementation in their service areas. Researchers invited every homeless liaison in three southern states to complete an online survey focusing on perceptions of MVA implementation and their service area's response to homelessness. Of the 369 practitioners identified as a homeless liaison solicited for study participation, 32 percent completed surveys. Results indicated significant differences in perceived implementation in the level of collaboration with teachers and school administrators, liaisons' job titles, school's receipt of federal Education for Homeless Children and Youth funding, and awareness of homelessness in terms of general awareness, interaction, policy, and needs. Findings indicate that collaboration and awareness are major factors that affect perceptions of implementation. Furthermore, the results indicate that liaisons must take steps to ensure a collaborative environment to implement the MVA.

The number of children experiencing homelessness continues to rise at alarming rates. Schools are on the front lines of service delivery and face numerous barriers in an attempt to meet the educational and psychosocial needs of these children. This study explored the perceptions of homeless liaisons in three states about the implementation of the McKinney Vento Act within the school districts. While no differences were found across the states, significant differences were found between rural and urban geographic densities in the perceived implementation of the federal legislation. The significant differences relate to collaboration within the community and resonate with the lack of resources available to the families experiencing homelessness in rural areas.

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This study examined the relationship between school social workers’ perceived effectiveness and their perceived levels of competency (knowledge and skills), collaboration, and school culture when providing services to homeless students. A quantitative descriptive research design was employed in this study. Specifically, this study provided insight on how these select factors influence school social workers’ perceived effectiveness in providing services to homeless students. The study sample consisted of 103 school social workers and homeless liaisons who serve the metropolitan Atlanta. Respondents participated in the study by completing the “School Social Workers’ Perceived Effectiveness Survey” that was disseminated via email or in person. All respondents participated in the study voluntarily. Data analysis was conducted at three levels. The first level presented descriptive findings associated with demographic information and school social work experience of the respondents. The second level utilized crosstabs to examine the relationship between the dependent variable, perceived effectiveness, and each of the independent variables (competency, collaboration, and school culture). The third level of analysis was analytical procedures which tested the hypothesis under this study. This section used Spearman’s Correlation Coefficient to determine the strength of the relationship between the dependent variable and each of the independent variables. This study found a positive, strong correlation between school social worker perceived effectiveness and skill-set, competency, collaboration, and school culture. There was a positive moderate correlation between school social worker perceived effectiveness and knowledge. The conclusions drawn from the findings of this research suggested that all of the independent variables showed a significant correlation with the dependent variable. The study findings proved to be useful for school social workers, policy makers, school administrators, homeless students and their families, and other school-based staff.

This study examined the impact of homelessness and the ability of homeless students to remain in their school of origin on the academic achievement of fourth through eighth grade students in Brevard County, Florida. To determine effects of homelessness, homeless students were compared to non-homeless students who qualified for free lunch utilizing developmental scale scores and learning gains from 2011 FCAT Reading and Mathematics. To determine effects of remaining in school of origin, homeless students who changed schools were compared to homeless students who did not change schools utilizing the same assessment data. Independent t-tests and chi-square tests of association were used with .05 significance levels. Findings showed that homeless and non-homeless students had no significant differences in reading scores, and homeless students had significantly higher mathematics scores. However, significantly fewer homeless students made an annual learning gain in reading and math learning gains were statistically equal. Remaining in school of origin also had no significant impact on reading and math developmental scale scores, but a significantly lower percentage of homeless students who changed schools made annual learning gains in reading and mathematics. These results led the researcher to develop a theory called the Weighted Saddle Effect, caused by homeless mobility, to describe the difficulty homeless students had in making annual learning gains commensurate with their developmental scale scores. Recommendations for policy included school districts ensuring transportation to school of origin was available for all homeless students as mandated by the McKinney-Vento Act

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