TDNet Discover

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine how variations in Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) grant funding related to the academic outcomes of homeless students in five central Florida school districts. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the study used a correlational, cross-sectional design. The research question explored how allocations for Instructional Support Per Pupil Expenditures (PPE) and Whole-Child and Access Support PPE predicted homeless student math and reading proficiency, controlling for Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL) percentages. Data included district-level funding allocations and aggregated proficiency rates from the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST), collected from publicly available grant plans and assessment reports. Descriptive statistics summarized the variables, assumption tests confirmed normality, linearity, homoscedasticity, and multicollinearity, and multiple linear regression in JASP tested the relationships. Results showed high explanatory power for both models, but no predictor was statistically significant. Findings suggested that while funding collectively explained variance in outcomes, neither allocation category predicted proficiency on its own. The study concludes that program quality and implementation may be more critical than funding amounts. Future research should expand the sample size, employ longitudinal designs, and incorporate qualitative or mixed-methods approaches to examine how funding strategies and implementation practices influence student achievement.