Growing Up Homeless in Los Angeles: Student Homelessness and Educational Outcomes

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

Abstract

This paper describes homeless students in LAUSD schools and how experiencing homelessness affects their outcomes. Using nine years of student-level administrative data we track students from K through 8th grade and examine the differential effects of being homeless during a short term versus being persistently homeless. We find that homeless students are more likely to be Hispanic, black, and more disadvantaged on a variety of indicators compared to non-homeless students. Using propensity score weighting methods, our preliminary findings suggest a strong negative relationship between being homeless and math achievement and attendance, and that current and transitory homelessness have larger impacts than past and persistent homelessness.

Authors

• Soledad De Gregorio, University of Southern California

• Tasminda Dhaliwal, Michigan State University

• Ann Owens, University of Southern California

• Gary Painter, University of Southern California