In Massachusetts, over 20,000 K-12 students are identified as experiencing homelessness each year. Research suggests that students experiencing homelessness comprise approximately 5-10% of a school and school district’s economically disadvantaged population. As such, public schools are federally mandated to identify and support students experiencing homelessness. Despite the continual growth of charter schools, there is little research to document their fidelity and effectiveness in meeting federal requirements for addressing student homelessness. Such information is critical to ensuring that one of the most vulnerable student populations is granted access to education across public school contexts.

This report uses website and handbook audits of public charter schools across the state to examine (1) how families learn about support services and their federal rights when experiencing homelessness and (2) who is designated as student support personnel at each school.

This report is the first in a series of upcoming policy reports and briefs on supporting students experiencing homelessness in Massachusetts charter schools.

Key Findings
Enrollment estimations project that charter schools in Massachusetts significantly under-identify and/or under-enroll students experiencing homelessness.

Nearly 60% of MA charter schools do not state both the federal definition of homelessness and the educational rights of students experiencing homelessness on their websites or in their family handbooks.

Most charter school homeless liaisons in Massachusetts hold a senior administrator (e.g., principal) or operations (e.g., chief operating officer) position in their school/charter network and average over five functional roles within their charter network/school.