Resources (General)

• College Preparation Checklist
  This checklist, developed by the Department of Education, is for students of all ages who haven't attended college or trade school, and parents of students in elementary and secondary school. It includes a “to do" list, starting with elementary school, to help students prepare academically and financially for education beyond high school.
  

• Materials from 2011 NDTAC National Conference Available Online
  The 2011 NDTAC National Conference: “Leading and Managing Change for Program Improvement” took place June 1-3, 2011, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The conference brought together State Title I, Part D, coordinators; experts in the field; and U.S. Department of Education and DTAC staff to discuss Federal and State Title I, Part D-focused activities, including successful administration, evaluation, and other practices related to educational programming for youth who are neglected, delinquent, or at risk of academic failure. Given the diverse changes that are occurring throughout the country at the Federal, State, and local levels, the conference planning committee identified “change” as the overarching theme for this conference. With that theme in mind, the conference focused on three strands: responding to change, promoting change through the use of effective practices, and making change proactively within existing systems. Visit The National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Children and Youth Who are Neglected, Delinquent, or At-Risk (NDTAC) to access conference presentations, handouts, and activities.
  

• Child Welfare/Education Collaborations – State Examples
  The Fostering Connections Act builds on prior law by adding a new requirement that case plans ensure the educational stability of the child in foster care and by also requiring Title IV-E state plans show that each child receiving a Title IV-E foster care, adoption or guardianship payment is a full-time school student, or is incapable of attending school due to a documented medical condition. NRCPFC compiled these documents as a tool for State peer-to-peer sharing about successful education and child welfare collaborations to meet these requirements. Some of the information was relayed directly to NRCPFC in response to a survey of State Foster Care Managers and outreach by NRCPFC. Other information was retrieved from the “Fostering Connections Implementation State Survey” available on the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators website.

• Child Welfare/Education Collaborations (Highlights)
  This document highlights child welfare/education collaborations in Delaware, Nebraska, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. (December 2010)

• Child Welfare/Education Collaborations (Full Review)
  This document provides information on the status of efforts to meet the education requirements of Fostering Connections in 35 States and the District of Columbia, providing information on policies, practices, and approaches to collaboration between systems. (December 2010)

• Improving Educational Continuity and School Stability for Children in Out-of-Home Care
  This report from the Casey Family Programs Breakthrough Series Collaborative (BSC) presents the lessons learned from a project that brought together nine public child welfare agencies and their associated school systems to test practice changes that would ultimately improve educational continuity and school stability for children in out-of home care. The nine participating jurisdictions tested practice strategies and tools on a small scale, shared lessons learned, and implemented the most successful of those strategies throughout their systems. Strategies fell into three categories: Cross-systems strategies, such as co-locating agency personnel in the school system and including education information in court reports; school stability and mobility-focused strategies, such as increasing transportation options to allow children to stay in their home schools; and, advocacy strategies, such as using data collection to improve education outcomes. (December 2009)
  
  
• Addressing the Unmet Educational Needs of Children and Youth in the Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Systems
  Georgetown Public Policy Institute's Center for Juvenile Justice Reform released this paper, written by Peter Leone, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, and Lois Weinberg, California State University, Los Angeles, CA. This paper reviews educational barriers encountered by youth involved in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems and describes recent legal and policy reforms. Promising practices and evidence-based interventions to improve educational outcomes for these system-involved youth are also provided. (May 2010)
  
  
• Meeting the Education Requirements of Fostering Connections: Learning from the Field
  This brief, authored by Margaret Flynn-Khan and available on the Finance Project website, aims to help agency leaders, policymakers, judges, and their partners understand and respond effectively to the education requirements of Fostering Connections by reflecting on lessons learned from a decade of initiatives to improve education outcomes for youth in and leaving foster care. It focuses on how policies and practices implemented in response to Fostering Connections can provide the foundation for collaborative education supports that lead more youth in foster care to complete high school and pursue and succeed in postsecondary education. The brief is organized in alignment with lessons learned from innovative education projects around the nation. Namely, child welfare agencies, education agencies, and courts all have critical roles to play in supporting education achievement for youth in foster care. Moreover, success is a function of the strength of collaboration across these systems. Following an overview of the requirements of Fostering Connections, the brief includes a framework for effective cross-system coordination and highlights actions that leaders of the child welfare system, education system, and courts can take to promote education success for youth in care. The brief also provides examples of existing state and local efforts to improve the education continuity and stability of older youth in foster care. Note: This resource is offered as informational material only and is NOT meant to be used for guidance in implementing federal policy. NRCPFC does not interpret federal legislation or state policy. (October 2010)
  
  
• Beyond the Basics: How Extracurricular Activities Can Benefit Foster Youth
  Extracurricular activities can play an important role in youths’ overall academic performance, as it can enhance the school experience and often has positive effects on attendance, motivation, academic achievement, and behavior. Despite this fact, few states have laws that support foster youth participation in these activities, and there are few existing policies guiding caregivers and others involved with foster youth on how to support their involvement in these activities. Foster youth need emotional and practical support from caregivers and caseworkers, flexibility on the part of teachers and coaches, and state laws that protect their right to fully participate in school-related activities. This article, by Stephanie Klitsch, discusses how extracurricular activities can benefit foster youth and offers recommendations for changes that can support their participation. (Youth Law News, October-December 2010.)
  
  
• Foster Care and Education - Tools and Resources for Improving the Education Success of Children and Youth in Foster Care
  This guide from the National Working Group on Foster Care and Education identifies key resources and tools designed to help attorneys, CASAs/GALs, child welfare practitioners and administrators, educators, foster parents and kinship caregivers, judges, policymakers, parents and other family members, and youth themselves understand the diverse issues affecting a child’s education, and ways to advocate and ensure positive educational outcomes for children and youth in foster care. It also provides basic information, facts, and figures on foster care and education as well as information on the National Working Group on Foster Care and Education.
  

• Grappling with the Gaps: Toward a Research Agenda to Meet the Educational Needs of Children and Youth in Foster Care
  Expert viewpoints about improving educational outcomes for children and youth in foster care are summarized in this report, prepared by WestEd and commissioned by Ready to Succeed, a multi-year California based initiative to improve school readiness, school success, and data sharing across education, child welfare, mental health, and judicial systems. This report sets the groundwork to suggest new research priorities for improving policies and practices related to the educational outcomes of children and youth in foster care. It summarizes what a group of influential leaders said about our understanding of school readiness, school success, and data sharing, and the research needed to address the education disadvantages that children and youth in foster care often face. (April 2010)
  

Resources on Early Childhood Education

• Need for Early Intervention Services Among Infants and Toddlers in Child Welfare
  The Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers (P.L. 99-457), now known as Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), was established by the federal government in 1986 "to encourage states to expand opportunities for children less than 3 years of age who would be at risk of having substantial developmental delay if they did not receive early intervention services." After the child is assessed to determine the need for services, an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) is developed in collaboration with the child's caregiver. A legal document, the IFSP is written to identify goals and individualized supports and services that will enhance the child's development. Little research is available to help us understand how many infants and toddlers involved in maltreatment investigations are in need of Part C services or to what extent such children have already been served under Part C and/or are later referred to special education services and have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). This research brief examines the need for and provision of an IFSP during the first 3 years of life among infants and toddlers involved in investigations of child maltreatment.
  
  
• Q&A: Head Start and Early Head Start for Children in Out-of-Home Care
  This resource from the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education is a “Question & Answer Factsheet” addressing issues including eligibility for Head Start and Early Head Start and access to these programs for children in foster care. (2008)

Guides on K-12 Education

• Accessing Educational Supports for Youth In Out-of-Home Care
  Child welfare agencies may be able to help minimize delays in school enrollment and provide other supports to children and youth in foster care through the McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Act. McKinney-Vento ensures that children are entitled to continued enrollment in their home school or immediate enrollment in a new school. The act also provides a stream of federal funding for an array of supports, including but not limited to tutoring, transportation, and cash assistance to ensure the participation of homeless children and youth in elementary and secondary school. Although the act was developed for children who are homeless, communities nationwide have applied McKinney-Vento eligibility to young people who have run away from a foster home, group home, or other placement, and children in a number of temporary living arrangements including shelters, foster homes, group homes, and evaluation centers. Each school district is required to appoint a McKinney-Vento liaison. Your state education coordinator can give you the contact information for your local liaison. A list of state coordinators is available from the National Center for Homeless Education at http://www.serve.org/nche/states/state_resources.php
  
  
• A Better Education for Children in Care – Practice Guides
  These eight fact sheets are mainly specific to the United Kingdom, but contain some universal wisdom about educational issues for children in foster care and highlight some promising practices being tried “across the pond.” (September 2003)
  
  
• Blueprint for Change: Education Success for Children in Foster Care
  This document from the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education describes eight goals for youth and benchmarks for each goal that would indicate progress toward achieving educational success. Included are national, state, and local examples of policies, practices, programs and resources to improve educational outcomes for children in foster care. (2008)
  
  
• Q&A: Blueprint for Change: Education Success for Children in Foster Care
  This resource from the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education is a “Question & Answer Factsheet” about the Blueprint for Change (a detailed framework that includes goals and benchmarks for children and youth that will help ensure their education success). It answers questions about the development of the Blueprint, its target audience, and how it should be used. (2008)
  
  
• Ensuring Educational Rights and Stability for Foster Youth
  California's Assembly Bill 490 has been cited as a model for addressing the educational needs of foster youth, ensuring that foster youth have stable school placements, placement in the least restrictive educational placement, access to the same opportunities to meet academic achievement standards to which all students are held, and access to the same academic resources, services and extracurricular and enrichment activities as their peers. The National Child Welfare Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues has pulled together training materials to help educators, parents and caregivers, attorneys, hearing officers, probation officers, social workers, and agency staff put AB 490 into practice.
  
  
• Foster Children and Education: How You Can Create a Positive Educational Experience for the Foster Child
  When it comes to succeeding in school, foster children face unique challenges and obstacles that have them lagging behind their peers. This kit, designed primarily for use by caseworkers and educators, lays out those challenges and offers some simple, inexpensive lessons and tools that can enhance the educational experience of children in foster care. The lessons — including how to facilitate school registration and how to increase adult attendance at parent/teacher conferences — can be adapted for use in any community. They are drawn from the experience of Safe and Smart, a joint project of the Vera Institute and the New York City Administration for Children's Services that placed caseworkers in schools to support foster children. (January 2004)

• IDEA Parent Guide
  This guide from the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) takes you through the special education process - a process that is the same regardless of a child's particular difficulties or disabilities. Within the guide, special emphasis is placed on the category of specific learning disability. The guide includes parent perspectives, terms you'll find helpful to know, and practical materials for parents such as Checklists, Sample Letters, Charts, and Questions to Ask. (2004)
  

• Make a Difference in a Child's Life: A Manual for Helping Children and Youth Get What They Need in School
  With the support of Casey Family Programs, TeamChild developed an education advocacy manual and training for foster parents, social workers, and others involved with foster youth to help them be more effective advocates for this at-risk population. This 201-page manual is a valuable resource for anyone who wishes to advocate for a child's education. Included are chapters covering basic education rights, special education law, discipline, and resources for young people transitioning to adulthood. Also included is an extensive resource guide with links to Washington State and federal education law. Much of the law cited in the Manual is specific to Washington State, although the special education chapters and the general advocacy resources may be helpful to others around the country. (January 2008)
  
  
• Asking the Right Questions: A Judicial Checklist to Ensure That the Educational Needs of Children and Youth in Foster Care are Being Addressed
  This Technical Assistance Brief from the Permanency Planning for Children Department of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Justices provides a field-tested checklist that judges can use to make inquiries regarding the educational needs of children and youth under their jurisdiction with the goal of positively impacting their educational outcomes and preparing them for adulthood. (April 2005). The checklist itself can be downloaded at:
  
  
• Questions to Ensure That the Educational Needs of Children and Youth in Foster Care are Being Addressed
  This guide from the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) takes you through the special education process - a process that is the same regardless of a child's particular difficulties or disabilities. Within the guide, special emphasis is placed on the category of specific learning disability. The guide includes parent perspectives, terms you'll find helpful to know, and practical materials for parents such as Checklists, Sample Letters, Charts, and Questions to Ask.
  
  
• A Road Map for Learning: Improving Educational Outcomes in Foster Care
  This guide from Casey Family Programs is for everyone working towards successful educational outcomes for youth in foster care or out-of-home care. The book provides a modular framework for achieving collaboration across the federal, state, and local legal, educational, and child welfare systems. Emphasizing the needs of K-12 students, it contains resources for parents, caregivers, teachers, and child welfare professionals. (2004)

Resources on K-12 Education

• Conversation with an Educator
  Lynne Steyer Noble is Associate Professor of Education at Columbia College in South Carolina and is both a biological and adoptive parent. She has fostered many children, has trained foster and adoptive parents and caseworkers for the South Carolina Department of Social Services, and has made adoptive placements through her private adoption agency. She is truly the epitome of the term “resource parent.” In her role as an educator, but with her experience as a parent, she talked with Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support about children in foster care in the school setting. (March 2005)
  
  
• Educating Children in Foster Care
  This report from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) provides some background about the academic performance of children in foster care and describes what researchers have identified as major systemic obstacles to these children's academic success. It also examines what the Child and Family Services Reviews are saying about state performance in this area and describes some promising state initiatives to address foster children's educational needs. (December 2003)
   
• Educating Children in Foster Care: State Legislation 2004 - 2007
  This report from NCSL, a companion to the one above, reviews state legislation enacted between 2004 and 2007 to improve the educational experiences and opportunities of children and youth in foster care. It also provides information on laws and policies regarding early learning and foster care which were not included in the first report. (March/2008)
   
• Educating Children in Foster Care: McKinney-Vento and No Child Left Behind Acts
  This report contains recommendations from Casey Family Programs and the National Education Association regarding ways to improve the educational outcomes of children and youth in out-of-home care. (2007) 

• Educational Alternatives for Vulnerable Youth: Student Needs, Program Types, and Research Directions
  Non-college-bound youth and those who have not done well in traditional public schools have largely been left behind by the high-stakes assessment movement and its high academic standards. This report examines the need for alternative education for such vulnerable youth and describes the numbers and characteristics of young people who disconnect from mainstream developmental pathways. It suggests the beginnings of a typology that defines and organizes the varieties of educational alternatives. Youth leaving foster care are one of the vulnerable populations included in the discussion. (November/2003)

• The Educational Experiences of Children in Out-of-Home Care
  This report presents findings from a mixed-method study assessing the educational performance and experiences of youth in out-of-home care. Data from Chapin Hall's Integrated Database on Child and Family Services in Illinois were used to track the educational performance, school mobility, and participation in special education of CPS students in foster care. In addition, qualitative interviews with caseworkers, foster parents, and school staff throughout Illinois provided valuable insights into the context and processes underlying the educational experiences of students in care. (2004)
   
• Educational Outcomes for Children and Youth in Foster and Out-of-Home Care
  Facts and statistics from the National Working Group on Foster Care and Education (October/2006)
   
• Lessons Learned: Education Stability Conference
  This report from the proceedings of a conference on improving education stability and outcomes for foster children and youth held in October 2006 by the Education Law Center and Juvenile Law Center summarizes discussions and recommendations. It highlights the difficulties foster youth face when they change placements and must change schools and the need for education stability; analyzes components of a successful State model for education stability are then analyzed; considers strategies for facilitating seamless transitions between schools and different ways of funding transportation, encouraging cooperation between child welfare and education systems, and collecting data on youth in foster care. (October 2006)
   
• Mythbusting: Breaking Down Confidentiality and Decision-Making Barriers to Meet the Education Needs of Children in Foster Care
  This publication from the American Bar Association, Center on Children and the Law answers common questions by individuals involved with the child welfare system, including judges, children's attorneys, parents, foster parents, youth, caseworkers, and court appointed special advocates (CASAs). It provides context and explains why there is a need to address the education needs of children in foster care, debunks myths about confidentiality and decision-making, explains the federal laws that affect confidentiality of education records and decision making, and suggests strategies to overcome confidentiality and decision-making hurdles when addressing the needs of children in foster care. (2005)
   
• School Support for Foster Families
  This digest discusses factors that influence the ability of foster children to achieve academically and offers some strategies that schools can employ to improve their educational success and emotional well-being.
   
• What Keeps Children in Foster Care from Succeeding in School? Views of Early Adolescents and the Adults in Their Lives
  This study, published by the Vera Institute of Justice in July 2002, draws on interviews with foster children and adults to better understand how being in foster care affects a child's education on a day-to-day basis, and how the adults around these children can help them perform more successfully in school. (July 2002)
   
• Q&A: Credit Transfer and School Completion
  This resource from the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education is a “Question & Answer Factsheet” addressing issues related to credit transfer and school completion by youth in out-of-home care. The document includes examples from around the country of how credit calculation and grade requirements for highly mobile students have been addressed, as well as recommendations for what states can do to address the challenges that prevent youth in care from transferring credit or graduating.
   
• Q&A: Surrogate Parent Programs
  This resource from the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education is a “Question & Answer Factsheet” addressing issues including when and how a surrogate parent is appointed, the key components of an effective surrogate parent program, and questions related to state level surrogate parent programs.
   
• Q&A: Mobility Issues and Special Education for Children in Out-of-Home Care
  This resource from the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education is a “Question & Answer Factsheet” addressing mobility issues and special education for children in out-of-home care, including issues such as special education evaluation, records, transportation, and advocacy.
   
• Q&A: Collecting Data to Improve Educational Outcomes for Children in Out-of-Home Care
  This resource from the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education is a “Question & Answer Factsheet” discussing the importance of collecting data on the educational performance of children in care, statistical data that the education system collects regarding children in out-of-home care, statistical data the child welfare system collects, the types of data education and child welfare systems should collect, what you can do to encourage your jurisdiction to collect data on educational outcomes for children in out-of-home care, and examples of data collection efforts that have improved student outcomes.
   
• Q&A: Information Sharing to Improve Educational Outcomes for Children in Out-of-Home Care
  This resource from the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education is a “Question & Answer Factsheet” related to information sharing to improve educational outcomes for children in out-of-home care; it covers topics such as confidentiality laws, examples of methods agencies have used to share data without triggering parental consent requirements, circumstances under which personally identifiable information can be shared with other agencies, and examples of information sharing and collaborative efforts that have improved educational outcomes.
  
  
• Helping Your Children Succeed in School
  Children who have been in foster care often face difficulties succeeding in school. Children may act out or have trouble learning due to fear or sadness. They can fall behind if they switch schools. And they are likely to be placed in special education. Parents may not know how to access school-based services and may be intimidated by school personnel. In this issue of Rise magazine, parents write about how they advocate for the supports their children need to succeed in school. Rise magazine is written by and for parents involved in the child welfare system. Its mission is to help parents advocate for themselves and their children. (2009)
  

Guides on Post-Secondary Education

• Providing Effective Financial Aid Assistance to Students from Foster Care and Unaccompanied Homeless Youth (Version 2.0)
  NASFAA, the California Community College Chancellor’s Office and Casey Family Programs have released this updated guide for compliance with the current FAFSA. The publication provides information for anyone who helps youth from foster care and unaccompanied homeless youth to secure financial aid for postsecondary education or training programs. (September 2011)
  
  
• Foster Youth: Tips for Completing the FAFSA
  Each year the National Association of Financial Aid Administrators updates a Tips for Foster Youth Worksheet on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).This 2008 guide is for financial aid administrators in helping youth in foster care complete the FAFSA. It addresses difficulties that youth in foster care and wards of the court may experience when filling out the FAFSA. This site contains many other helpful resources on student financial aid. (2008)
  
  
• It's My Life: Postsecondary Education and Training
  A resource guide from Casey Family Programs for child welfare professionals to help young people from foster care prepare academically, financially, and emotionally for postsecondary education and training success. (2006)
  
  

• Student Ambassadors Blog about College Life
  Forestdale, a Queens, New York nonprofit group that provides social service to families, has launched an initiative in which five students, who have been in foster care and are now in college, are writing for a year about college life to help others in foster care stay on track and graduate.
  
  Also, see the NYDailyNews.com article on the “Student Ambassadors” (June 30, 2011).
  

• College Access, Financial Aid, and College Success for Undergraduates from Foster Care
  This report from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators first describes the nature of the foster care system and how the overall experience of youth in foster care harms their ability to access higher education. Next, the report uses two data sources from the National Center for Education Statistics to compare the demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, financial aid packages, college enrollment status, and persistence and degree attainment rates among undergraduate students who are from foster care with those who are not. Finally, the report concludes by providing recommendations for policymakers and practitioners to make higher education accessible to more youth in foster care and to improve the rate at which this group persists and subsequently completes their degree programs. (July 2006)
  
  
• College Cost Reduction and Access Act (P.L. 110-84)
  This legislation includes the Fostering Adoption to Further Student Achievement Act amendment, making it possible for teens in foster care to be adopted without losing access to college financial aid. The definition of "independent student" has been expanded to young people in foster care at any time after age 13.
   
• Educating Youth In Care: The First Year of Education and Training Vouchers
  In 2001, the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Provisions added a sixth purpose to the existing Foster Care Independence Act (FCIA) that called for the availability of Education and Training Vouchers. These Vouchers were funded in Fiscal Year 2004 for the first time and offered students money to continue their education. This program has impacted the way states provide post-secondary education services to adolescents in many ways. The National Child Welfare Resource Center for Youth Development has analyzed how states have implemented the program and have evaluated what areas seem to be working for states and areas that should be focused on for additional study. (2004)
   
• Educational Opportunity for Youth in Care
  Just like other youth finishing high school, teens aging out of foster care are looking to the future and setting goals. Many want the opportunity to obtain higher education, but face serious obstacles without the support of their families. The Child Welfare League of America reviews what some states are doing to support foster and adopted youth in earning their college degrees. (May/June 2002)
   
• Higher Education Opportunities for Foster Youth: A Primer for Policy Makers
  This Institute for Higher Education Policy report argues that foster youth are the most disadvantaged group when it comes to opportunities for higher learning. Out of the 150,000 who have graduated from high school and are college qualified, only some 30,000 are attending postsecondary education. The report recommends several key policy changes to address such obstacles as low educational expectations, frequent disruptions and changes in school placements, underdeveloped independent living skills, and lack of access to mental health care and treatment. (December 2005)
   
• Supporting Success: Improving Higher Education Outcomes for Students from Foster Care
  Few students from foster care ever gain access to higher education programs, let alone graduate from college. Only 7 to 13 percent of students from foster care enroll in higher education. About 2 percent obtain bachelor’s degrees, in contrast to about 26 percent of adults in the general population. Young people from foster care often report that few people in their lives ever expected them to attend and succeed in college. They seldom receive the guidance and stable supports needed to prepare for higher education. Too often, unemployment, underemployment, and homelessness face young adults after they age out of the system. Colleges, policymakers, and advocates have begun to address this issue with calls for policy advances, practice innovations, and influential advocacy. Casey Family Programs’ framework—Supporting Success: Improving Higher Education Outcomes for Students from Foster Care—provides program development tools for administrators, student support services staff, advisors, and advocates. It helps education professionals define a plan for improving their institution’s support for students from foster care. Postsecondary institutions may also find the customizable Program Planning and Improvement Guide useful for assessing current supports and identifying opportunities for growth. A Microsoft Word file, the guide is intended to be a working document. It may also generate reflections and questions to guide the planning effort. (December 2010)
   
• Q&A: Tuition Waivers for Post-Secondary Education
  This resource from the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education is a “Question & Answer Factsheet” covering topics related to tuitions waivers for post-secondary education, including why some states offer tuition waivers to foster youth, schools at which tuition waivers can be used, and expenses that tuition waivers cover. (2008)
  
  
• Helping Former Foster Youth Graduate from College: Campus Support Programs in California and Washington State
  Campus support programs provide financial, academic, and other types of supports to help former foster youth succeed in college. However, relatively little is known about the impact of these programs on college retention or graduation rates. This Chapin Hall study by Amy Dworsky and Alfred Perez lays the groundwork for an impact evaluation by examining program implementation from two different perspectives. Researchers conducted telephone interviews with the directors of 10 campus support programs in California and Washington State. The interviews covered a variety of domains, including the population served, referral sources and recruitment, the application process, the provision of services and supports, program staff, relationships with stakeholders, and data collection. In addition, participants from 8 of the 10 programs completed a web-based survey that asked about their perceptions of and experiences with the program. The survey included questions about students’ demographic characteristics, referral and recruitment, the application process, reasons for participating in the program, services and supports received, unmet needs, contact with staff, and recommendations for improvement. The report concludes with several recommendations for moving forward with a methodologically sound impact evaluation of campus support programs for former foster youth. (2009)
  
  
• 25 Tips to Afford College
  Produced in both English and Spanish, 25 Tips to Afford College provides viewers with easy-to-digest information about grants, loans, jobs, and public service options that will help them pay for college. Topics and tips include budgeting, scholarships, apartment vs. dorm, carpooling, community college, summer school vs. summer job, the FAFSA form, taking more credits, HOPE credit, AP classes, sibling discounts, online registration, application fee, work study programs, transferring credits, tax breaks, CLEP tests, and starting a 529 account. 25 Tips to Afford College is available on the America’s Promise Alliance website; it was underwritten by the Selective Service System, and will be distributed to public television stations and their web sites nationally by the National Education Telecommunications Association (NETA). (April 2010)
  
  
• Does Extending Foster Care beyond Age 18 Promote Postsecondary Educational Attainment?
  Although foster youth approaching the transition to adulthood have postsecondary educational aspirations similar to those of young people in the general population, for too many foster youth with these aspirations, a college education remains an unfulfilled dream. Previous analyses of data from the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth (the Midwest Study) suggested that young people may be more likely to pursue their postsecondary educational goals if they are allowed to remain in foster care until age 21 rather than 18, as has traditionally been the case. This Chapin Hall issue brief reviews the data that were initially reported and presents more-recent data from the same longitudinal study regarding the relationship between postsecondary educational attainment and extending foster care until age 21. The authors, Amy Dworsky and Mark Courtney, also explore possible barriers to educational attainment that may confront these young people. (March 2010)

State Reports and Resources
Visit the National Child Welfare Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues for a full page devoted to educational issues of vulnerable children, including those in foster care and homeless, searchable by state.

• California
• Education for Foster Children: Removing Barriers to Academic Success
  In California, approximately 10 out of every 1,000 children are in foster care and approximately 72% of these children are school age. As foster children enter emergency shelter care and then move back to their own homes or into longer-term foster care situations, the primary job of the social worker is to protect children's immediate safety and ensure their emotional well-being. Concern for meeting foster children's educational needs is clearly within the social services domain of child well-being, yet it is the school system that ultimately is responsible for ensuring that all children receive appropriate education. (April 2001)
  
  
• Ready to Succeed: Changing Systems to Give California's Foster Children the Opportunity They Deserve to be Ready for and Succeed in School
  This report from the California Education Collaborative for Children in Foster Care describes the Collaborative’s charge and products, briefly summarizes some of the relevant research that the group considered in developing its recommendations, and identifies specific recommendations in three areas: school readiness, school success, and data sharing. (2008)
   
• Foster Youth Education
  Mental Health Advocacy Services provides a number of useful documents, including a study of school stability, a handbook for parents and caregivers, recommendations for improving education for youth in foster care, a guide to the educational liaison model, and barriers to improving educational outcomes. (2008)
   
• Study of Policies, Procedures, and Practices Affecting the Education of Children Residing in Group Homes
  This study examined policies, procedures, and practices affecting the education of children residing in licensed children's institutions (group homes) throughout California. The information in this handbook will help them better understand the education system and how schools operate; be better informed to make important decisions about their child’s or youth’s education; and better able to play a larger role in their schooling. (March 2003)

• Colorado
  Advocating for the Educational Needs of Children in Out-of-Home Care: Training Curriculum for Child Welfare
  The Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy has developed this training curriculum and caseworker manual for the State of Colorado Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS. These materials are designed to provide child welfare caseworkers and their supervisors with an understanding of the relevant educational policies, processes, assessments and plans; methods for monitoring outcomes and services; and tools to enable them to advocate for the educational needs of children in the child welfare system. The curriculum covers educational needs from birth through age 21 and is currently being adapted for use by educators and foster parents. The Appendix contains a toolkit of checklists such as tips for participating in an IEP meeting and what foster parents can do to promote educational success at home. (Updated April 2010)
  
  
• Florida:
  Everybody’s a Teacher: How to Help Children and Youth in Foster Care Get the Best Education Possible. Backpack.
  Developed by the Florida Department of Children and Families, the Everybody’s a Teacher initiative is designed to encourage individuals and communities to become involved in the education of children and youth in foster care and address issues that often stand in the way of their doing well in school. The backpack toolkit includes information on: strategies for encouraging a community conversation to improve educational outcomes for children in foster care; using an Action Plan to record the choices that reflect the community conversation; mythbusting and providing information about foster care youth; including young people in planning and in presentations; using national, State, and local data to provide a baseline to measure improvement; and using ice breakers to spur group interactions. Answers to frequently asked questions about foster care youth and education are offered, as well as ideas for people who want to help, sample discussion questions for community conversations, and resources for professionals. A sample PowerPoint presentation, Action Plan, invitation, press release, agenda, and ground rules are also provided, as well as talking points for a video on the educational challenges faced by foster youth.
  

• Illinois
  Behavior Problems and Educational Disruptions Among Children in Out-of-Home Care in Chicago
  This study from Chapin Hall explores the intersection of placement in foster care and the emotional disturbance (ED) classification. It suggests that it is critical that both the education and child welfare systems work to identify problems early in a child's educational career and that interventions must address not just the problematic behaviors, but also the core problems underlying children's behavioral issues. (2005)
  
  
• Iowa
  Education Success for Children in Child Welfare
  Basic information and practice tips for caseworkers. (February 2008)
   
• Maine
  The Maine School Transfer Policy and Practice for Children in Care provides child welfare caseworkers with guidelines and strategies that support positive educational outcomes for children in the custody of the state of Maine. It includes strategies that guide the enrollment in and transfer between schools that ensure a smooth transition to a new school that is sensitive to the individual needs of each child. (November 2005)
   
• Minnesota:
• High School Graduation and Child Welfare: A Description of the Education Status of Older Minnesota Adolescents in the Academic Year After Substantiated Child Maltreatment Findings
  This report provides information on the educational outcomes of older adolescents who have had contact with the child welfare system in Minnesota, over 30 months, prior to the 2002-2003 academic year. Very few of these youth were in out-of-home placement, and it is likely that many of them no longer had active county case workers when their educational status was reviewed. The report also provides descriptive data on the study group that show similarities between them and national educational outcome trends observed for longterm foster care youth -- a different, but related population. (2006)
   
• Child Welfare, High School Graduation, and Economic Outcomes: Follow-Up on the Economic Outcomes of Young Adults Who Had Substantiated Maltreatment Findings Prior to Their Senior Year of High School
  This study is a follow-up to a previous report on the high school graduation outcomes of adolescents involved in the child protection system in Minnesota. This new analysis explores the economic outcomes of the cohort of former high school seniors, examining their wages and public assistance use two years after they left high school. (2006)
   
• New Mexico:
  Best Practices - Education Advocacy
  This bulletin outlines best practices and describes the roles of caseworkers, judges, attorneys, court staff, and CASA volunteers. (June 2005)
   
• New York
  Advocates for Children works on behalf of children who are at greatest risk for school-based discrimination and/or academic failure, including children in foster care children. Their website contains a number of resources including:
• brochures such as "Special Education Advocacy Tips for Child Welfare Professionals" and "Foster Care: Students! Know your educational rights while in foster care in NYC" and
• reports such as "Project Achieve: A Model Project Providing Education Advocacy for Children in the Child Welfare System"
   
• Pennsylvania
  The Education Law Center and the Pennsylvania School Reform Network offer a number of reports and resources concerning educational issues affecting children in foster care and juvenile justice placements, including:
• Educating Children "At Risk:" A Handbook for Caseworkers, Probation Officers and Family
• Lost in the Shuffle Revisited: The Education Law Center's Report on the Education of Children in Foster Care in Pennsylvania
• Common Myths About the Education of Children in Foster Care
• Special Education & Children with Disabilities Aged 3-21 Living in Out-of-Home Care
   
• Texas:
  Report Card on the Education of Foster Children
  This policy brief from the Center for Public Policy Priorities looks at the education of foster children. Although it is focuses on Texas, it contains both policy and practice recommendations for improving educational outcomes for children in foster care. (February 2008)
   
• Washington
• Educational Attainment of Foster Youth: Achievement and Graduation Outcomes for Children in State Care
  This study from the Washington State Institute for Public Policy finds that at both the elementary and secondary levels, the educational attainment of foster students in Washington falls significantly behind other students. Furthermore, foster students are likely to experience additional risk factors related to poor school outcomes. As directed by the Legislature, this study also suggests alternatives for sharing information about the educational experiences of foster students. (November 2001)
   
• Social Worker's Practice Guide to Education for Children and Youth in Foster Care
  This guide is intended to be a resource for Children's Administration social workers to increase their collaboration with schools and to increase education stability and achievement for children and youth in out-of-home care.
   
• Students in Foster Care: What School Staff Need to Know
  This short brochure provides basic information about children in foster care, school stability, and how schools and school staff can help. (Revised June 2010)
   
• West Virginia
  Reaching Every Child: Addressing Educational Attainment of Out-of-Home Care Children in West Virginia
  West Virginia's Out-of-Home Education Task Force was formed to develop a future oriented, problem-solving approach with key leadership from the multiple agencies and providers involved in providing residential and educational services to children in placements away from their families. The overall purpose of the Task Force was to ensure that the best educational and transitional programs and services are being deployed in an effective and efficient manner by identifying issues, analyzing them and offering possible solutions. This document, agreed to by all Task Force members, specifies the purpose and expected outcomes of its work. (July 2005)
  

Curriculum

• 306: Achieving Positive Educational Outcomes
  This online curriculum from Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program is designed to train Pennsylvania child welfare professionals on helping children achieve positive educational outcomes. It includes materials for conducting a 6-hour workshop that addresses: the Education Screen, education records, education stability and prompt enrollment, special school settings and situations, progress towards promotion and graduation, preparation or postsecondary education, the need for special education evaluation, evaluating the adequacy of special education services, determining the special education decision-maker, and the need for accommodations for a disability or physical or behavioral health condition. Each topic includes a list of learning objectives and materials needed for the workshop, trainer instructions and notes, overheads, and handouts. A PowerPoint presentation is also included. (2011)
  

• Improving Educational Services for Foster Youth Living in Group Homes
  The purpose of this curriculum from the California Social Work Education Center is to provide child welfare workers with some very practical tasks and knowledge to be able to effectively assist the children on their caseload enroll in school. Although much of the focus has been on group home youth who often present the greatest challenge in terms of school enrollment and attendance, the material will be applicable to children in all types of out-of-home placement. Since the enrollment and advocacy process is often a three-way collaboration between the child welfare agency, the school district, and the foster or group home, the curriculum is broken down to illustrate the various responsibilities of these parties. (2005)

Teleconferences

• Educational Stability for Children and Youth in Out-of-Home Care
  On March 31, 2006, the NRCPFC and CWLA hosted a teleconferences for state foster care and adoption managers on educational issues. To listen to the audio files and download the handouts, visit our archived teleconferences page.

Webcasts

• Improving Educational Outcomes for Children in Foster Care: What States Can Do
  This webcast from the NGA Center for Best Practices brought together experts to discuss the problem of poor educational outcomes for children in foster care and what states, and governors in particular, can do to improve these outcomes.
   
• Clearing the Path to School Success for Students in Out-of-Home Care
  This interactive webinar provides a framework for local liaisons, educators, and child welfare advocates to ensure immediate, appropriate school enrollment for students "awaiting foster care placement" under the McKinney-Vento Act, as well as for other students in out-of-home care. The webinar's emphasis will be practical, using a case study to help schools and child welfare agencies understand their respective roles and responsibilities for the school success of students in care.

• Educational Stability for Children and Youth in Foster Care
  This annotated bibliography was compiled in March 2006 for an NRCPFC teleconference by the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information/National Adoption Information Clearinghouse. For newer titles added to the Clearinghouse database, click: http://basis.caliber.com/cwig/ws/library/docs/gateway/SearchForm
  

• Educational Needs of Youth in Foster Care by Emily Shaffer (April 2008)
  

• Child Welfare Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues
  This page is dedicated to the topic of educational needs of vulnerable children, including those in foster care or homeless. You can search by type of document and/or by states.
  
  
• Legal Center for Foster Care and Education
  The Legal Center FCE serves as a national technical assistance resource and information clearinghouse on legal and policy matters affecting the education of children in the foster care system. The Legal Center FCE provides expertise to states and constituents, facilitates networking to advance promising practices and reforms, and provides technical assistance and training to respond to the ever-growing demands for legal support and guidance. It sponsors conference calls that focus on important and timely topics of interest to advocates working in the field of foster care and education.
  
  
• Center for Child Welfare and Education
  This center is a partnership between Northern Illinois University and the Department of Children & Family Services.
  
  
• The National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Children and Youth who are Neglected, Delinquent, or At-Risk
  The overarching mission of NDTAC is to improve educational programming for neglected and delinquent youth.
  
  
• California Foster Youth Education Task Force
  The California Foster Youth Education Task Force is dedicated to improving educational outcomes for foster youth in California by bringing together subject matter experts representing more than 35 organizations and agencies to engage in cross-systems collaboration. Publications are available for free download from their website.