To Avoid Student Turnover, Parents Get Rent Help

[flashl]

FLINT, Mich. — Because he has moved so often, 9-year-old Richard Kennedy has already attended four different schools in Flint. In his mother’s latest rental house the other day, he described how it felt to enter an unfamiliar classroom.

“My mind gets mixed up,” he said softly. “They’re always starting with different stuff than what I know.”

He could only nod, tears welling up, when asked if it was hard to make new friends.

The frequent dislocations may help explain why he is being held back in the fourth grade, and why his 11-year-old sister, who has attended eight different schools, can barely read. No one doubts that the constant turnover of students here is taking a huge educational toll on those who move too much and, less obviously, those who stay put, too.

NY Times

Substitute the stress and chaos of living in different locations month-to-month with living in a car or a shelter, the effort to educate the 'confused' unreachable or unteachable student intensifies.