A record 1,258,182 homeless students enrolled in public schools in the 2012-13 school year, a nearly 8 percent increase from the previous year’s levels, new U.S. Department of Education data released last week show.
About 75 percent of homeless students were “doubled up,” sharing homes with other families, schools reported. Another 16 percent lived in shelters, 6 percent lived in hotels or motels, and 3 percent went without shelter, the data show.
For the first time, the Education Department required schools to report whether homeless students were living with their parents or on their own. The report classified nearly 76,000 homeless students as “unaccompanied.”
