THE PROJECTS
The HEEL research teams have several projects designed to address the challenges young people face when experiencing homelessness, as well as best practices that schools and other public institutions can implement to support them.
Research Projects
THE ELEVATION PROJECT
Elevating our Minds, Community, and Leadership
Project Summary
Mission: The Elevation Project is a homegrown organization that nurtures and empowers youth from racially and economically marginalized backgrounds in Brockton, MA. We support young people in channeling their gifts and building the skills and confidence needed to create positive futures for themselves and their communities. With a focus on education and servant leadership, our program is rooted in literacy and engages diverse community advocates to cultivate youth learning and development.
Vision: The Elevation Project envisions a healthy, interconnected, and self-sustaining community where the needs of all youth are met, opportunities are abundant, and everyone is equipped with the tools to thrive. We see a joyous and hopeful community of servant leaders committed to creating and sustaining systems that promote wellness and opportunity for the most marginalized. Established in Brockton, Massachusetts, we believe this homegrown effort will be nurtured and sustained by the community’s ever-growing assets—among the most powerful being its people.
The project comprises three interconnected components, in partnership with the Boston College and Holy Cross HEEL labs, various Boston College Departments, Brockton Public Schools, and the greater Brockton community.
Summer Literacy Institute | Teacher Preparation Program
The Summer Literacy Institute (SLI) is a six-week, practice-embedded preparation program for preservice teachers pursuing certification to work in urban schools serving racially and economically marginalized communities. The Institute is designed to bridge research, pedagogy, and practice by grounding teacher preparation in race-conscious frameworks for educational equity while providing sustained instructional coaching and authentic classroom experience. The program is designed to address the persistent theory-practice divide by helping develop teachers’ knowledge, but more importantly, concretely connecting what they know to what they do in the classroom. Preservice teachers work directly with 50 freshmen at Brockton High School. The Institute is a collaborative initiative involving:
- The Housing and Educational Equity Lab at Holy Cross (Dr. Elianny C. Edwards)
- The Housing and Educational Equity Lab at Boston College (Dr. Earl J. Edwards)
- Dr. Ashana Hurd and Boston College Donovan Urban Teaching Scholars Program
- Brockton High School leadership, including Principal Kevin McCaskill
Guiding Inquiries:
Holy Cross Lab: How do preservice teachers define school safety? To what extent (if at all) do they connect their perceptions of school safety with their role as instructors?
Boston College Lab: How do research–practice partnerships centering youth experiencing homelessness and spanning teacher preparation, youth development, and cross-sector collaboration contribute to more culturally responsive and institutionally coherent supports for a diverse cross-section of students?
The Elevation Project Leadership Academy
The Elevation Project Leadership Academy is a four-year, cohort-based enrichment and leadership development initiative designed to support Brockton High School students as they navigate high school and transition into postsecondary education or career pathways. The Academy serves approximately 50 students and is intentionally structured to elevate and respond to the needs of youth impacted by housing instability while remaining inclusive of a diverse student population.
The overarching goals of the Leadership Academy are to:
- Support students in developing the skills, confidence, and civic orientation needed to positively impact their school and broader community
- Ensure each EP scholar has sustained access to high-quality mentoring relationships with college students, faculty, and community professionals
- Increase students’ access to viable, affordable, and high-quality postsecondary educational and vocational opportunities
Partnership Structure
The Leadership Academy is a collaborative partnership among Boston College, the College of the Holy Cross, and Brockton High School. EP scholars receive mentorship from undergraduate students, faculty members, and community professionals affiliated with these institutions.
Dr. Earl J. Edwards, Director of the Housing and Educational Equity Lab at Boston College and Dr. Elianny C. Edwards, Director of the Housing and Educational Equity Lab at the College of the Holy Cross, serve as the project’s lead Principal Investigators.
- The Housing and Educational Equity Lab at Holy Cross
- The Housing and Educational Equity Lab at Boston College
- The Elevation Center, Richard Johnson
- Boston College Woods School of Advancing Studies
- Dr. Karl Bell, Director of Mentoring & Academic Achievement, Pine Manor Institute for Student Success at Boston College
- Brockton High School leadership, including Principal Kevin McCaskill and Assistant Principal Dr. Galvin Adams
Guiding Inquiries
Boston College Lab: How does participation in a multi-year, research–practice partnership–based leadership academy shape how high school students impacted by economic marginalization or housing insecurity navigate educational pathways, mentoring relationships, and postsecondary decision-making?
The Brockton Education and Housing Coalition
The Brockton Education and Housing Coalition (BE&HC) is a cross-sector, community-based research–practice partnership designed to strengthen Brockton’s capacity to support high school students and families experiencing housing instability. Grounded in a race-conscious, systems-oriented approach, BE&HC brings together education leaders, higher education partners, community-based organizations, and public agencies to reduce fragmentation, align resources, and build sustainable infrastructure that supports student academic success and well-being.
The Coalition responds to an urgent local need: Brockton Public Schools serves nearly a 1,000 students experiencing homelessness, including over 200 students at Brockton High School alone. Despite the presence of committed educators and community organizations, support for these students remains highly decentralized, informal, and difficult to navigate. BE&HC is designed to serve as a convening and coordinating body that brings together schools, community organizations, and service providers into a coherent support ecosystem.
Project Overarching Goal:
The overarching goals of the Brockton Education and Housing Coalition are to:
- Strengthen cross-sector coordination among education, housing, health, and social service systems serving high school students experiencing homelessness
- Improve institutional readiness and cultural responsiveness in how schools and community partners identify and support students and families impacted by housing instability
- Build a sustainable, community-rooted infrastructure that reduces reliance on overextended school-based homeless liaisons
- Generate actionable, locally grounded knowledge to inform policy, practice, and future research–practice partnerships
The Brockton Education and Housing Coalition is a collaborative partnership anchored by:
The Housing and Educational Equity Lab at Boston College (Dr. Earl J. Edwards)
The Elevation Center, a grassroots community-based organization in Brockton
Brockton High School, including Principal Kevin McCaskill
Brockton Public Schools, including Jane Zucco, BPS Homeless Liaisons
Guiding Inquiries
Boston College Lab:
How does a race-conscious, community-based research–practice partnership strengthen cross-sector collaboration and institutional coherence in supporting high school students experiencing housing instability?
How do community institutions use coalition-generated knowledge to adapt policies, practices, and resource allocation for students and families experiencing homelessness?
Leadership for Critical Wellness
Moving from School Administrators from Building Leaders to Community Leaders
Project Summary
Leadership for Critical Wellness is a mindset and leadership approach to supporting teachers, students, and families in addressing the needs of the most vulnerable for the greater good of the entire school community. It promotes transformative change in schools by examining the impact of systemic and structural inequities on vulnerable youth, then informing schoolwide and/or districtwide practices. As such, critical wellness leaders seek solutions and support structures that cater to the comprehensive experiences of different student group populations for the betterment of the overall school community.
The Future of Black Educators Summit
The HEEL Labs is currently exploring how ethnically diverse Black educators conceptualize community and educational leadership in Massachusetts.
This work is facilitated through an annual summit entitled “The Future of Black Educators Summit.” At the summit, K-12 educators, undergraduates, graduate students, as well as teachers, principals, and district administrators convene to discuss topics aligned with one or more of the LCW framework.
Collaborators
- Boston College Institute for the Study of Race and Culture
- The Your Neighbor Foundation
- Boston College Black Student Forum
Charter Schools & Student Homelessness
Moving from School Administrators from Building Leaders to Community Leaders
Project Summary
The Charter Schools and Student Homelessness project is an ongoing research initiative led by the Housing and Educational Equity Lab at Boston College that examines how charter schools identify, enroll, and support students experiencing homelessness. Grounded in education policy, equity, and systems analysis, this work responds to a critical but understudied issue at the intersection of school choice, housing instability, and students’ educational rights.
Charter School Website Audit
The project includes statewide analyses of publicly available enrollment and homelessness data, audits of charter school websites and family handbooks, and qualitative research with charter school leaders, homeless liaisons, and practitioners. Through interviews and focus groups, the research centers the perspectives of those tasked with implementing homelessness policy within charter contexts, while also examining how institutional design and funding structures shape what is possible.