Reality Check: Homeless Students

Everyone - Texas Legislators, I'm looking at you - needs to get real about what goes on with public school students in their everyday existence outside of the school day. I've said it before - one of my reality checks as a new high school teacher back in the distant past of the 1980's was that everything that goes on in society and that you read about in the media, goes on in public schools or affects school children - assault, incest, abuse, poverty, accidents, illness, homelessness, etc. It ALL plays out in classrooms across Texas every single day.

Which leads me again to my question - why are we embarking on a plan to make every single Texas high school student pass twelve stakes tests to graduate from high school (instead of the current four)? Call me crazy, but this is going to put too much pressure on children and cause the dropout rate to increase.

The Houston Chronicle describes the very real and very pervasive problem of childhood homelessness. None of what they reported is any surprise, in any way shape of form, to any public school teacher:

Locally, social service providers have been keeping a tally. So for this year, there are 5,404 homeless children, up from 2,891 last year, according to the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County. These are children 17 and younger who live with a parent in any place that's not fit for habitation. Both counts are considered to be vastly underrepresented, the organizations said.

The story about the high school student is of particular concern to me.

Malcolm, 16, lives at Star of Hope's emergency center in Houston with his mother. The teenager, who guards his emotions, said he worries about whether he and his mother will find a home before their time runs out at the shelter. He also worries about his mother's health because she has diabetes and other health problems.

"She's trying hard to find a home," he said. "I've been trying to help the best way I can, doing whatever she needs me to do. I tell her I love her, and things will get better."

Malcolm's mother, Sheffield, who didn't want her last name used, has a disability and has struggled to find a permanent home since moving to Houston from Lake Charles, La., last year. The family had been living with friends until last month. She said Malcolm shows signs of depression because of their circumstances but he doesn't like to discuss it. But he talks often about having a house with his own room.

"It makes me sad that we're in this situation," Sheffield said, crying.

Note how the reporter points out the multiple issues one student has - this is what we see in a huge number of our high school students (many at risk factors for one kid) - homelessness, a parent with health problems, depression.

Folks, this our reality in Texas public schools. Malcolm is not an outlier. Let me be perfectly clear - with his multiple at-risk factors, he is more the norm than folks outside of public education realize. Pink Dome folks need to get a grasp on this as they head into session in January and once again make education policy that is intended to make kids college and career ready. These kids need a fair chance to check the "I graduated from high school box." I'm not talking about dumbing down anything, but adults can certainly make decisions that take the pressure off of 14-18 year old children and give them a fair chance to progress through high school, and grow and mature into productive adults.