Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users, please click the view more button below to purchase a copy of this dissertation from Proquest.
(Some titles may also be available free of charge in our Open Access Dissertation Collection, so please check there first.)
A study of the effects of homelessness upon the academic achievement of elementary school-age children
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact which changes in living environments (i.e., from homelessness, in a shelter unit, to the family's own dwelling unit) have on the academic achievement of school-age children. The study samples seven cases of public school children who were in grades 5 through 8, during the years 1988 to 1991. It compares the academic achievement scores of these children on the same standardized test during two points in their education: when they lived in a sheltered unit and when they returned to the family's own dwelling. The researcher hypothesized that homelessness adversely influences academic achievement in eight academic categories. The academic categories, as defined by the California Achievement Test, are: Word Analysis, Vocabulary, Comprehension, Spelling, Language Mechanics, Language Expression, Mathematics Computation, and Mathematics Concepts and Application. The case study technique is used along with pattern-matching (i.e., quasi-experimental) research methodology to compare and measure the achievement of children during the period in which they were classified as homeless. This study matched the academic achievement score to the norm academic achievement score in order to determine the impact of the homeless experience on each category listed on the California Achievement Test Battery. There were two possible outcomes for academic achievement--a positive performance or a negative performance. All scores over the district mean in each of the categories resulted in a positive, or increase in, performance and the conclusion that homelessness has "no effect" on academic achievement. Scores below the district mean for each of the categories resulted in a negative, or decrease in, performance and the conclusion that homelessness has "an effect" on academic achievement. The results of the study indicate that homelessness has an adverse effect on the academic achievement of school-age children. The study also suggests that if supportive educational services are not received while the school-age child is homeless, when he/she returns to living within a family unit, his/her academic achievement results on the standardized California Achievement Test would tend to show a negative deviation from the district mean.
Subject Area
Elementary education|Education|School counseling|Individual & family studies|Social work|Sociology
Recommended Citation
Attles, Henrietta Shaldonia Evans, "A study of the effects of homelessness upon the academic achievement of elementary school-age children" (1993). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9329560.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9329560