Special Report
Equity & Diversity

Educating Students Who Are ‘Invisible’

By The Editors — March 06, 2018 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The American education system has a long list of programs intended to serve students who need something more from teachers than standard instruction. There are trained special educators for students whose disabilities get in the way of their learning. There are special programs for English-language learners, gifted-education services for academically talented children, and targeted funds to support schools educating high numbers of children living in poverty.

But what about the homeless child who also needs special education services? The student caught in the juvenile justice system? The immigrant child living in fear of deportation?

These are arguably among the school system’s most vulnerable students.

In this special report, Education Week takes a close look at these students, their needs, and the challenges schools face in engaging them in learning.

Take, for example, the young woman whose expressive face graces the cover of this report. Willow, whose last name is being withheld in this report, attended—and cut class—in five different regular, alternative, and online schools in her freshman year. She eventually landed in the Wyoming Girls School, a juvenile justice facility in Sheridan, Wyo. Now with a high school equivalency certificate in hand and a scheduled release later this spring, Willow credits the teachers in her prison school with providing the encouragement she never got in the regular school system.

Education Week visited Willow’s school to examine the state of education—and teaching—for the nation’s 50,000 students living behind bars, a population that experts say is often “invisible” in national discussions about improving education.

Indeed, many of the populations examined in this report are hidden—sometimes intentionally so. Students whose families face deportation may not want to share their fears or discuss their home situations with their teachers. And, even though 18 percent of the nation’s homeless students also have disabilities, their learning needs often get lost, disrupted, or postponed as they shuffle from school to school. For similar reasons, the college potential of students in the foster-care system is often unrecognized by both educators and the students themselves.

As Jean Peterson, a Purdue University researcher who studies gifted children who have been through trauma, put it: “A lot of kids in the system don’t see themselves as ‘bright.’ Their intelligence might be put to surviving—getting groceries, taking care of younger siblings.

“Educators need to point out to them, ‘You have not had the easiest life, but look at all you’ve done.’”

For the educators working with student groups profiled in this report, that advice might have wide application.

A version of this article appeared in the March 07, 2018 edition of Education Week as Educating Students Who Are ‘Invisible’

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Equity & Diversity What's Permissible Under Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law? A New Legal Settlement Clarifies
The Florida department of education must send out a copy of the settlement agreement to school boards across the state.
4 min read
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media, March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms under a settlement reached March 11, 2024 between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged a state law which critics dubbed “Don't Say Gay.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media, March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms under a settlement reached March 11, 2024, between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged the state's “Don't Say Gay” law.
Phil Sears/AP
Equity & Diversity Q&A The Lily Gladstone Effect: A Teacher Explains the Value of Indigenous Language Immersion
Students in the Browning public schools district in Montana engage in a Blackfoot language immersion program for all ages.
5 min read
Lily Gladstone arrives at the 96th Academy Awards Oscar nominees luncheon on Feb. 12, 2024, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Lily Gladstone arrives at the 96th Academy Awards Oscar nominees luncheon on Feb. 12, 2024, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Jordan Strauss/Invision via AP
Equity & Diversity What the Research Says Suburban Segregation Is Rising. What States and Districts Can Do
New research finds existing policy levers have failed to stop rising suburban racial segregation.
4 min read
Meghan Kelly, a project manager with the Whirlpool Corp., works with students at Benton Harbor Charter School in Benton Harbor, Mich., on Dec. 3, 2019., to develop apps as part of the goIT computer science program.
Meghan Kelly, a project manager with the Whirlpool Corp., works with students at Benton Harbor Charter School in Benton Harbor, Mich., on Dec. 3, 2019., to develop apps as part of the goIT computer science program.
Don Campbell/The Herald-Palladium via AP
Equity & Diversity District Under Federal Investigation Following Death of Nonbinary Student Nex Benedict
A federal investigation into the Owasso, Okla., district follows the death of a nonbinary student last month.
4 min read
A man in a black baseball cap stands in front of a green building holding a lit candle and a sign that says: "You are seen. You are loved. #nexbenedict
Kody Macaulay holds a sign on Feb. 24, 2024, during a candlelight service in Oklahoma City for Nex Benedict, a nonbinary teenager who died one day after a fight in a high school bathroom.
Nate Billings/The Oklahoman via AP