Control Funding Formula and attendant Local Control and Accountability Plans included designating youth in foster care as a separate , underperforming category that must be monitored annually . The first step in this process requires any district serving more than 15 students in foster care to identify strategic goals and allocate the necessary resources to address their specific needs .
Although these policy-level changes are critical to transforming the lives of youth in foster care , to date , only a small percentage of districts have specified goals and targeted resources exclusive to this population ( Huff , 2015 ). Experts assert that this is a direct result of not only limited knowledge about youth in foster care , but limitations in knowledge regarding best practices to meet their needs . Bridging this knowledge base is critical for California as we move into year four of LCFF implementation . Clearly , schools and districts need support in understanding the needs of this population , clarifying goals , allocating supplemental resources , and providing training to stakeholders .
Invisible children in transition
Until recently , children in foster care were largely invisible to school personnel and administrators . This invisibility is often attributed to the transitory nature of these students ’ lives , in that they often must move from one home to another and from one school to another . This is significant when one considers that approximately 56 percent to 75 percent of students in foster care change schools when they first enter into the system ( National Working Group on Foster Care and Education , 2014 ).
According to one study , one-third of students in foster care had changed schools five or more times before they reached 18 years of age . In California , approximately 10 percent of students in foster care moved to three or more schools ; as a result of these transitions , valuable health and educational information is all too often missing ( Barrat and Berliner , 2013 ). While policy is in place , examination of year two of the LCAP indicates data sharing continues to be a significant issue ( Huff , 2015 ).
Recommendation No . 1
Commitment and advocacy by caring adults , which permeates the
lives of most children , is noticeably absent for many children in foster care .
Ensure that school and health information is readily available to personnel responsible for implementing instructional , counseling and related services to foster youth and children upon their entrance into school :
• Develop and implement a cohesive system of communication between the Department of Children and Family Services and the local education agency .
• Allocate resources to provide support to the foster youth liaison for each district , which will better enable them to coordinate information gathering , sharing and dissemination to school personnel .
• Develop and implement a statewide database that centralizes these students ’ pertinent health and educational records , so that records can be accessed at the local school level ( Huff ).
Strictly academic – placement decisions ; underlying literacy needs ; early intervention and pre-screening : Because many students in foster care suffer from trauma , teachers need to implement tailored instructional practices that address not only existing academic gaps but social-emotional needs that underlie students ’ behavioral challenges .
This is critical to these children ’ s success . Academic gaps place these students at risk for school failure and often result in special education placements at three times the rate of the general student population . In California , a disability – especially under the category of emotional disturbance – was twice as likely to occur for students in foster care as their peers . Grade retention , which is more likely to affect children from this population , is also noteworthy because foster youth have a greater risk of dropping out of school than other students ( Barrat and Berliner ). When seeking to implement recommendations to reduce dropout rates , school leaders should bear in mind research findings not only linking grade level retention to dropout rates , but research indicating high rates of retention for students in foster care .
Retention – at any grade – increases this outcome . But retention at transitional grades – 1 , 6 and 9 – significantly impacts the likelihood an individual will leave high school before completion ( Courtney , Terao and Bost , 2004 ). During the 2009-10 school year in California alone , 8 percent of students in foster care dropped out of school , and only 58 percent of students in foster care graduated from high school compared to 84 percent of students , in general ( Barrat and Berliner ).
Another strong predictor of dropout rates is an individual ' s literacy level . In short , the ability to read in English , is one of the strongest predictors of school completion . Lower levels of literacy exist for students in foster care . When compared with English language learners and students with disabilities , students in foster care have similar academic ( e . g ., lower math performance ) and literacy challenges . This literacy need is prevalent for the 46 percent of children in foster care who are under 7 years old , according to the U . S . Department of Health and Human Services .
Almost half of kindergartners examined from one study were considered at risk for reading difficulties , and 54 percent tested below the 23rd percentile in pre-reading skills ( Pears , Heywood , Kim and Fisher , 2011 ). In fact , half of the adults who age out of foster care have a seventh grade reading level ( Courtney et al .). Limited literacy places young adults at risk for a multitude of poor outcomes , including , underemployment , homelessness , substance abuse and even incarceration .
Alarmingly , only 39 percent of children in foster care receive early intervention ser-
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