Supporting Unhoused Students: A Blueprint for MA Schools

July 2023

Within Massachusetts alone, 23,000 students are experiencing homelessness. And, with the expiration of COVID-era protections like an eviction moratorium and rental assistance, many experts predict that number will increase.

Child and family homelessness is associated with a host of negative outcomes including poor physical and mental health, lower academic performance, higher rates of absenteeism and grade retention, and hindered social and emotional development.

Research shows that school-based efforts to support students experiencing homelessness make a difference. But schools cannot be expected to do this work alone. District administrators and educators can carry out this work more effectively by working closely with community-based organizations with expertise in issues of homelessness and housing stability.

This blueprint, intended to guide schools and districts in developing school-community partnerships to support homeless youth and their families, combines research-based best practices with lessons learned from homelessness programs nationwide. It details the process schools can undertake to design and implement a program, providing tools and templates to support this process along the way.

Blog

Rethinking Grading

March 28, 2024

Schools have assessed student learning and growth with essentially the same grading system for more than a century. Since this system was created, the field has learned so much more about the way students learn, the systemic inequities embedded in the design of traditional grading and assessment, and what type of learning leads to success in life. Grading should be aligned with what we know about the learning process, child and adolescent development, and the demands of career, college, and community life. But traditional grading is so deeply ingrained in our culture, that making changes to this system can seem like an insurmountable task. That’s why we partnered with DESE and reDesign to support five unique high schools as they interrogate their traditional grading practices and make shifts toward new systems that better measure student learning and growth.