Objective: Homelessness can have a deleterious impact on educational opportunities for children. The US government has enacted the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (MVA) to combat the challenges that children experiencing homelessness face when attempting to obtain education. Despite the importance of this policy, studies examining perceptions of its implementation are scant and research is needed to determine what hinders or facilitates school social workers' understanding of MVA implementation as a public policy. This study examines school social workers' perceptions of MVA implementation and proposes a conceptual model for understanding of school social work practice with homeless school children. Method: Data were collected at a regional school social work conference using a 77-item questionnaire which included sections on barriers to practice with children experiencing homelessness and measures on school social workers' experience, awareness, geographical location of practice, and a validated instrument designed to measure perceptions of MVA implementation. In addition, several cross tabulations were analyzed to attain a deeper understanding of respondents' characteristics. Results: Findings indicate that barriers do not individually influence perceptions of MVA implementation; however, when grouping barriers into those "general to homelessness" and those "specific to school" there is a significant association with levels of perceived implementation among respondents. Membership in a group of practitioners perceiving higher levels of barriers indicated significantly lower levels of perceived MVA implementation. Awareness of homelessness mediated the relationship among geographic location, practitioners' levels of experience, and their perception of MVA implementation. Conclusion: Findings from this study support a proposed conceptual model for school social work practice with this population. Implications for practice and future research are presented and discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Social Work in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2012. / April 2, 2012. / Homeless education, Homelessness, McKinney-Vento Act, Measurement, Policy / Includes bibliographical references. / Martell L. Teasley, Professor Directing Dissertation; Patrice Iatarola, University Representative; Bruce A. Thyer, Committee Member; Stephen Tripodi, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_182797 |
| Contributors | Canfield, James P. (James Park) (authoraut), Teasley, Martell L. (professor directing dissertation), Iatarola, Patrice (university representative), Thyer, Bruce A. (committee member), Tripodi, Stephen (committee member), College of Social Work (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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