Wisconsin 13th Among States In Identifying Homeless Students

Wisconsin ranks 13th among states in identifying students who experience homelessness according to a study from the New York-based Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness. It’s first among states in the Midwest.

The institute’s chief of staff, Liz Cohen, said identifying homeless students is important because they face learning challenges that students in permanent homes — even those living in poverty — don’t have.

“There’s a different experience for kids who are having housing instability,” Cohen said. “It’s important to understand that so that we can appropriately and properly support these kids and make sure that they can achieve, since we believe strongly that education is the best way to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.”

The study ranks states on five measures. Cohen said Wisconsin ranks particularly high in identifying pre-school and pre-kindergarten students dealing with housing instability.

“There is a state coordinator, for instance, for working on issues pertaining to homeless children in early childhood education, which is not something that’s required by the federal law,” Cohen said. “That’s something Wisconsin’s obviously chosen to do, so we think that’s really promising.”

The institute estimates there are 1.3 million homeless children in the United States.

State Department of Public Instruction data shows about 18,500 school-age children experienced homelessness in Wisconsin during the 2015-16 school year, a slight increase from the year before.