The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) provides grant funding to eight regions in Pennsylvania to serve students experiencing homelessness through the Education for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness (ECYEH) program. ECYEH’s priorities include identifying and tracking the number of students experiencing homelessness and providing supports such as school enrollment assistance, uniforms, transportation, backpacks/school supplies and other needs, and referrals. This brief provides information about progress toward the goals of the ECYEH grant program and priorities of SDP staff.

Key findings include:

• ECYEH identified a larger percentage of homeless students in 2021-22 as compared to 2020-21, but comparable to numbers identified prior to the pandemic.
• The most frequent living arrangement for students identified as homeless is “doubled up.”
• Students experiencing homelessness were absent more often, and scored lower on standardized assessments, than other SDP students.
• ECYEH supported other programs to help students, including the Teen Evolution Experience Network (TEEN) and a new tutoring initiative.