School Closures Hit Homeless Students Hard, Study Finds

Nationwide, the push to shutter low-performing or financially unsustainable schools is starting to conflict with the even sharper rise in homeless students, some research is beginning to suggest.

The latest of those studies, released last week by the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness in New York City, zeroes in on New York City, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the school system to close or phase out the 20 schools identified as among the city’s lowest-performing 10 percent of schools and replace them with new small schools this school year. Researchers found that the closings often disproportionately affected schools attended by homeless students and that those students, arguably among the system’s most vulnerable, received little support for making the transition to a new school.

“The system can be very complex for a student who may be in a shelter or doubled up and living with friends,” said Alexandra E. Pavlakis, a senior policy analyst for the Institute and author of the report. “If a school is phasing out, it can be a complicated [process] to get a school that...