Homeless Status

Homeless Status: WISEdata

Homeless status is an indication of whether a student is homeless.

Homeless students lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence and include students who:

1. are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; or are abandoned in hospitals;
2. have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (within the meaning of section 103(a)(2)(C));
3. are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
4. migratory children who qualify as homeless because the children are living in circumstances described in (1) through (3) above.

Homeless status is submitted only when it is true. When the student doesn't meet one of the above situations, the student is identified as not qualifying as homeless. For more information about "fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence", see below. The definition of homeless status provided above is based on Section 725 (2) of McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, Subtitle VII-B, reauthorized by Title IX, Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (42 U.S.C. 11434A(2)). Students who meet the McKinney-Vento definition should be coded 'Y'. Those who do not should be coded 'N'.

If homeless information is submitted on a student, then the student's record will display a Homeless value in the Student Details in WISEdata. If no homeless information is submitted, this value would automatically be No and will not display anything in WISEdata.

Start the homeless program association once you have verified the student meets the definition of homelessness. The end date may be entered when exiting the school, left blank, or submitted with the last day of the school year, e.g., 6/30. The important point about the time period submitted for the homeless program association is that two homeless records cannot overlap within the same school during a given school year. If, during the school year, a student transfers from District A to District B and the student’s homeless status changes (District A = not homeless; District B= homeless), the student’s current homeless status will display for District A, not the previous value. 

USES: Homeless status will be used to meet disaggregated data requirements of the United States Department of Education (ED) using the Education Data Exchange Network (EDEN). At a minimum, disaggregated enrollment, dropout, graduation, and assessment data will be provided. The primary purpose of the data will be to determine the status of the education of homeless students in general and to evaluate the effectiveness of programs supported by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (under ESSA Title IX, Part A). This data element is required for all students in all WISEdata records regardless of whether or not the district receives McKinney-Vento grant funds.

FAQs, Details, and Points to Note

1. Homelessness Questions: Questions about homeless status for WISEdata purposes should be answered based on this webpage and definitions provided by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Please contact your district homeless liaison for clarification or further guidance before entering a student as homeless in WISEdata. A list of district homeless liaisons is available on the Department of Public Instruction's (DPI) 
   Education for Homeless Children and Youth website. If you have further questions regarding the definition of homeless status, please contact an EHCY state coordinator.
2. School Enrollment Period: During each school term, each school enrollment period should be considered separately for purposes of submitting a student's homeless status to DPI. Note that if a student in school A is homeless at any point during school term X, continues at school A for school term X+1, but is not ever homeless during school term X+1, then the student is counted as homeless in school A during school term X and is not counted as homeless in school A during school term X+1.
3. Reporting Homeless Data: When DPI submits district-level homeless data to the ED, all WISEdata records for every school in the district will be considered, and counts will be cumulative and unduplicated across the district. In other words, if during the school term a student transfers within the district from school A to school B to school C, and if the student was homeless while enrolled in school A and school B, but not homeless while enrolled in school C, then the student will be counted once as homeless on district level reports. (The student will also be counted as homeless on school-level reports for school A and school B if school-level reports are required.) 
4. Homeless Status vs. Homeless Served: Homeless Served typically refers to the fact that a district has applied for and receives the McKinney-Vento subgrant. Homeless Served (as a recipient of the McKinney-Vento subgrant) counts are reported for children aged birth-5 (not in 5-year-old kindergarten) as part of the WISEgrants ESEA End of Year report. Previously there was a requirement to report Homeless Served information for children of all ages, but this is no longer required federally as of the 2016-17 school year. You can contact the Education for Homeless Children and Youth DPI consultant for more info on Homeless Served: see the bottom of the DPI Homeless page. Homeless Status is defined above and is submitted when districts identify a student as homeless.
5. Migrant Status: See Migrant Status Data Collection and Reporting for more information about determining if a student is migratory. This term is defined by section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
6. End Dates: When entering an end date for homeless status, you should adhere to your district's policy. If your district does not have a policy regarding homeless status dates, then you may use the exit date or the last day of school for that school year. The important point about the time period submitted for the homeless program association is that two homeless records cannot overlap within the same school during a given school year.
7. Homeless Data Elements (2019 going forward): Starting in the 2018-19 school year, Homeless Status is no longer collected as a student characteristic that's submitted when true. Homeless Status is collected as a new program with two new program attribute fields of Homeless Primary Nighttime Residence and Homeless Unaccompanied Youth. The student Homeless Program Association record includes a Program Type of Homeless and Program Name of Education for Homeless Children and Youth. It will track if a student was homeless at any point during a given school year and the education of the homeless student. Every school a student attends while identified as homeless should submit the student as homeless; multiple schools will submit this data if the student has multiple enrollments during the year.
   • Begin Date: When the Homeless program is submitted as true, you will be required to enter a Homeless Begin Date that identifies when the student first became homeless during the current school year in the school of current enrollment.
   • End Date: A Homeless End Date will be entered when the student is no longer identified as homeless or exits. The Homeless End Date should also be within the current school year. The Homeless program association will link to and reference the student's school and student records. 
   • Homeless Primary Nighttime Residence Type: This field will be required when a student is submitted as true for the Homeless program association. You will document homeless children and youth as individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. The acceptable primary residences to submit include: Shelters and transitional housing, Doubled up, Hotel/Motels, Unsheltered.  A student’s primary nighttime residence is determined at the time of the initial identification of homelessness. This means districts do not need to re-collect the Primary Nighttime Residence after the student is initially identified as homeless.
   • Homeless Unaccompanied Youth: This field will be required when a student is submitted as true for the Homeless program association. You will document homeless children and youth who are not in physical custody of a parent or legal guardian.
8. Homeless Reporting Use Cases:
   1. Student Enrolled in Same School and Homeless for Entire School Year: The district in which the student is enrolled will submit the student Homeless Program Association, linking the student to the Education for Homeless Children and Youth program and the school where the student is enrolled. Submit the Begin Date as the date the student was first identified as homeless within the enrollment period; this may or may not be the enrollment start date. You would also enter a value for the Homeless Primary Nighttime Residence Type field and the Homeless Unaccompanied Youth field. Because the student is homeless for the entirety of the school year, you would not need to enter an End Date.
   2. Student Enrolled in Same School for Entire School Year but Homeless Temporarily: The district in which the student is enrolled will submit the student Homeless Program Association, linking the student to the Education for Homeless Children and Youth program and the school where the student is enrolled. Submit the Begin Date as the date the student was first identified as homeless within the enrollment period; this may or may not be the enrollment start date. You would also enter a value for the Homeless Primary Nighttime Residence Type field and the Homeless Unaccompanied Youth field. Because the student is homeless for a specified period of time, you need to update the student's record with a Homeless End Date when the student finds permanent residence, which can be any time during the enrollment period.
   3. Homeless Student Transfers Schools in Same District: The first school where the student is enrolled (School A) when the student is first identified as homeless will submit the student Homeless Program Association, linking the student to the Education for Homeless Children and Youth program and the school where the student is enrolled.
      • School A will submit the Begin Date as the date the student was first identified as homeless within the enrollment period; this may or may not be the enrollment start date. You would also enter a value for the Homeless Primary Nighttime Residence Type field and the Homeless Unaccompanied Youth field. School A leaves the End Date null because the student hasn't yet found permanent residence.
      • When the student transfers to School B within the same district, School B then submits the student Homeless Program Association, linking the student to the Education for Homeless Children and Youth program and the school where the student is enrolled. School B will submit the Begin Date as the date the student enrolled, as the student has continued to be homeless. End Date is null for School B as well because the student has still not secured permanent residence.
   4. Homeless Student Transfers Districts: The first school where the student is enrolled (School A in District A) when the student is first identified as homeless will submit the student Homeless Program Association, linking the student to the Education for Homeless Children and Youth program and the school where the student is enrolled.
      • School A will submit the Begin Date as the date the student was first identified as homeless within the enrollment period; this may or may not be the enrollment start date. You would also enter a value for the Homeless Primary Nighttime Residence Type field and the Homeless Unaccompanied Youth field. School A  initially leaves the End Date null because the student hasn't yet found permanent residence. If a student leaves your district, submit an exit date of the last day they received services along with the correct exit type. You would not keep the student enrolled for WISEdata purposes, but may certainly track the student locally as needed. Demographic data would not be changed unless a WISEdata validation would require it.
        • When entering an end date for homeless status, you should adhere to your district's policy. If your district does not have a policy regarding homeless status dates, then you may use the exit date, or the last day of school. This depends on what you need to track locally based on your school policy. There are internal processes with some SIS vendors, where they push over the end dates, so please reach out to your vendor to see how they handle this scenario.
      • When the student transfers to School B within a different District B, School B then submits the student Homeless Program Association, linking the student to the Education for Homeless Children and Youth program and the school where the student is enrolled. School B will submit the Begin Date as the date the student enrolled, as the student has continued to be homeless. End Date is null for School B as well because the student has still not secured permanent residence.
      • NOTE: Two homeless records cannot overlap within the same school during a given school year.
   5. Student Homeless at School A but Not at School B After Intra-district Transfer: The first school where the student is enrolled (School A) when the student is first identified as homeless will submit the student Homeless Program Association, linking the student to the Education for Homeless Children and Youth program and the school where the student is enrolled.
      • School A will submit the Begin Date as the date the student was first identified as homeless within the enrollment period; this may or may not be the enrollment start date. You would also enter a value for the Homeless Primary Nighttime Residence Type field and the Homeless Unaccompanied Youth field. School A submits the Homeless End Date as the date the student finds permanent residence and must be within the enrollment period.
      • School B does not need to submit Homeless information data for the student because the student has not been identified as homeless during the enrollment period with School B.
   6. Student Homeless at School A in District A but Not at School B After Inter-district Transfer: The first school where the student is enrolled (School A in District A) when the student is first identified as homeless will submit the student Homeless Program Association, linking the student to the Education for Homeless Children and Youth program and the school where the student is enrolled.
      • School A will submit the Begin Date as the date the student was first identified as homeless within the enrollment period; this may or may not be the enrollment start date. You would also enter a value for the Homeless Primary Nighttime Residence Type field and the Homeless Unaccompanied Youth field. School A submits the Homeless End Date as the date the student finds permanent residence; this date must be within the enrollment period.
      • School B in District B does not need to submit Homeless information data for the student because the student has not been identified as homeless during the enrollment period with School B.​​​​
9. Students Awaiting Foster Care Placement: The term “awaiting foster care placement” was removed from the definition of homeless under the McKinney-Vento Act when it was reauthorized under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This change went into effect beginning December 10, 2015. Students “awaiting foster care placement” are no longer identified as experiencing homelessness and do not qualify for services under McKinney-Vento. Districts should not be entering these students into the Student Information System under the Homeless tab. For more information on the foster care provisions in Title I of ESSA, please see the Out-of-Home Care and Educational Stability website.

See also:

Education of Homeless Children and Youth

 

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