Necessary, But Not Sufficient: The McKinney-Vento Act and Academic Achievement in North Carolina

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Improvements Act of 2001 (MCKV), which provides funds to local educational agencies (LEAs), is almost a decade old, yet no evaluations of its academic effectiveness have been reported. Using a systems theory framework, the authors answer the question...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Children & schools 2012-07, Vol.34 (3), p.179-185
Main Authors: Hendricks, George, Barkley, William
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Comparative Analysis
Comprehension
Control Groups
Disadvantaged Youth
Educational Testing
Experimental Groups
Federal Legislation
Grade 5
Grade 6
Grants
Homeless People
Homelessness
Mathematics Tests
North Carolina
Pretests Posttests
Program Effectiveness
Program Evaluation
Reading Comprehension
Reading Tests
School Districts
School finance
School Social Workers
Scores
Statistical Analysis
Stewart B McKinney Homeless Assistance Act 1987
Students
Systems Approach
Systems Theory
Teaching
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Summary:The McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Improvements Act of 2001 (MCKV), which provides funds to local educational agencies (LEAs), is almost a decade old, yet no evaluations of its academic effectiveness have been reported. Using a systems theory framework, the authors answer the question of whether homeless students in grade 6 from LEAs that received MCKV funding scored better in reading comprehension and mathematics on end-of-grade (EOG) test scores than did those from LEAs that did not receive MCKV funding. Data from 2006 and 2007 were provided by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. About 20 percent of the state's LEAs received MCKV grants, which created a treatment group (funded LEAs) and a control group (nonfunded LEAs). Using untreated control group designs with matched pretests (grade 5 EOG test scores) and posttests (grade 6 EOG test scores), 2 × 2 analyses of variance with repeated measures failed to reject the null hypotheses. The authors did not support the hypotheses that MCKV grants improved the academic achievement of homeless students. There was no significant difference in the funded and nonfunded EOG test scores.
ISSN:1532-8759
1545-682X
DOI:10.1093/cs/cds007