Photo: Kenny Eliason | Unsplash
Only 59% of homeless students in Washington state, US, graduate in four years compared to 83% of all students. A similar disparity exists nationally as well. A school district in Washington state is supporting homeless students to help keep them on track educationally. North Thurston Public schools has 661 homeless students, who are sleeping on friends’ couches, in vehicles, in shelters or in tents – with or without their families and they are graduating at nearly the same rates as their peers. The district has shown that this feat just requires dedicated and consistent support. Beginning six years ago, North Thurston hired staff, called “student navigators,” whose sole function is to attend to each homeless student’s needs, whether that’s housing or food, feeling like they belong at school, or planning for the future beyond graduation. “If you are worried about whether or not you’re going to be able to eat or where you’re going to sleep, it is very, very hard to concentrate on your Spanish test,” said Leslie Van Leishout, who helped create North Thurston’s student navigator program in an effort to “remove all barriers” for homeless students.
|
|
More:
