Special Education Services for Students With Disabilities Experiencing Homelessness: A Systematic Review

• In Event: Addressing Persistent Inequities in Education Through Cultural Historical Research

Abstract

Purpose
According to the National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE, 2020), students with disabilities accounted for 18% of all homeless students in 2020, a 15% increase from the previous school year. Existing studies exploring homelessness and children with disabilities primarily centered on federal laws and policies safeguarding their educational rights (Gargiulo, 2006; Walter-Thomas et al., 1996; Sullivan-walker et al., 2017). We join this conversation by offering a systematic literature synthesis that aims to integrate the existing research on school-aged students with disabilities who are homeless.

Theoretical Framework
We use cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) as a theoretical framework to identify contradictions within and between activity systems (i.e., schools, shelters, families, etc.) in providing timely special education services for students with disabilities experiencing homelessness. This systematic literature synthesis addresses one research question: What do the contractions/tensions among activity systems seeking to support homeless students with disabilities reveal about the nature of services offered?

Methods
The first author conducted systematic searches in five electronic databases: APA Psyclnfo, Education Source, Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), MEDLINE, and CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Author 1 used the terms ((disability*) or (disabilities*) or (disabled*) or (special needs*)) and ((homelessness*) or (houseless*) or (unstably housed*) or (unhoused*)) and ((education*) or (school*) or (learning*) or (teaching*) or (classroom*) or (education system*) or (student*)).

Data Sources
A total of 655 peer-reviewed academic journals and 34 dissertations were found. After removing the duplicated results, the abstracts of the resulting 517 were reviewed to identify studies for inclusion. After the screening process, a total of 23 studies (10 conceptual studies and 13 empirical studies) were identified for this synthesis review.

Results
The findings illustrate how deeply ingrained ableism, capitalism, and bureaucratic policies mediate public education systems, legislations, and deficit-oriented epistemologies toward homeless students with disabilities, thereby exacerbating their marginalization within our society. Three systemic challenges emerged in the study: (1) the predominance of disability identification and special education system rooted in a medical perspective that pathologizes disabilities without considering social and historical contexts, (2) legislations embodying a discrete system as a bureaucratic response to policy issues while failing to acknowledge the interconnected nature and dynamics among activity systems, (3) deficit-oriented policies and epistemologies among teachers that perpetuate the invisibility of homeless students and their families in school-family collaboration.

Scholarly Significance
This study represents the first systematic literature review on school-aged students with disabilities in homelessness in the U.S. public education system. By employing CHAT, the study contributes to situating the multifaceted but persistently unmet needs of homeless students with disabilities as products of historically, culturally, and sociopolitically accumulated contradictions in our society. Furthermore, this study challenges the dominant discourse that blames victims of a society that pathologizes disabilities and poverty. Drawing upon the contradictions the findings surfaced, this paper calls for opening the ‘third space’ (Gutierrez et al., 1995) that fosters actions across boundaries between seemingly independent yet interconnected systems (Engeström, 2001; Engeström & Sannino, 2021).

Authors

• Yehyang Lee, Syracuse University

• Tamara Handy, Teachers College, Columbia University