The Mckinney-Vento Act: Moving Beyond Aspirations to More Effective Implementation

The purpose of this quantitative research study is to investigate teachers\u27 knowledge of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (McK-V; the Act) and their perceptions of how to best meet the needs of the population of homeless students in schools. The literature base has shown that implementation of the Act has been largely inconsistent due to the lack of formal implementing regulations and a lack of awareness on the part of many educators. A professional development presentation was developed for teachers in order to increase their knowledge, and following the use of a pre/post/ delayed post-test survey, ascertain the impact of the presentation on educator awareness. The primary goal of the research was to not only obtain insight on current levels of staff awareness but also develop plans going forward to improve service delivery. Research data and analysis were conducted with the following research questions in mind: (1) Will a professional development workshop on the McKinney-Vento Act significantly increase teacher\u27s knowledge of the provisions and requirements of the McKinney-Vento Act? (2) Will a professional development workshop on the McKinney-Vento Act significantly increase teacher knowledge of best practices for meeting the needs of students who are homeless in the classroom? (3) Will a professional development workshop on the McKinney-Vento Act significantly increase teacher perceptions of self-efficacy to work with and meet the needs of students who are homeless? This study includes a discussion of the significant findings related to each research question and future implications of the findings