Homelessness and School Choice: How Families Living in Shelter Experience School Choice in New York City

• In Event: Tackling Pressing School Choice and Gentrification Issues in Urban Schools

Abstract

In New York City 1 in 10 public school students were living in temporary housing in the 2018-19 school year. In response to this crisis, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), working in partnership with the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), developed programming to assist families in shelters with the school choice, which varies from optional enrollment in pre-K to compulsory in high school.

In this study, we used in-depth interviews to explore the experiences of families in shelters in NYC with respect to school enrollment and examine the knowledge and perspectives of shelter-based staff working with families. We examine inter-agency collaboration between DHS and the NYCDOE using Harden et al.’s (2006) sequentially structured framework of inter-agency collaboration

Authors

• Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, Gevirtz Graduate School of Education

• Jennifer Jennings, Princeton University

• Sean Patrick Corcoran, Vanderbilt University