Strategies to Improve Data Collection on New York's Homeless Students: A Report to NYS-TEACHS and the New York State Education Department

The Annenberg Institute prepared this report to assist New York State in improving the accuracy and efficiency of its data collection on homeless students, required by both the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and New York State law as a first step to ensuring that these students do not encounter barriers to school attendance and educational success. The report offers specific recommendations to strengthen New York State's data-collection system to provide a more accurate understanding of student homelessness and to better serve homeless students across New York. Funded by the NYS Education Department, this study analyzed:

• indicators of the extent of student homelessness
• the legal context for collecting information;
• identification of homeless students across urban, suburban, and rural districts; and
• challenges to data collection, including confidentiality issues.