Education Research on Homeless and Housed Children Living in Poverty

Abstract

This commentary on articles by Masten, Fantuzzo, Herbers, and Voight (and their colleagues) summarizes the findings of each study and discusses their respective contributions. The author of this comment relates his own experiences in conducting similar research with homeless and other low-income youths and reports lessons he has learned that can be relevant to these investigations. Future research in this area, whether in the educational sphere or in other realms, would benefit from a clearer definition of key terms, an expanded awareness of contextual factors that influence study findings, and the taking of additional steps to refine and analyze explanatory variables that are presumed to influence outcomes.