SchoolHouse Connection, the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness (ICPH), Civic Enterprises and America’s Promise Alliance launched Education Leads Home, a first-of-its-kind national campaign focused exclusively on addressing the needs of the 1.3 million homeless students enrolled in America’s public schools.  The campaign, which seeks to focus on homeless students at every stage of academic development, set three goals for the country: young children experiencing homelessness will participate in quality early childhood programs at the same rate as their housed peers by 2026, high school students will reach a graduation rate of 90 percent by 2030, and post-secondary students will reach an attainment rate of 60 percent by 2034.

According to the report Hidden in Plain Sight, students experiencing homelessness are 87 percent more likely to dropout of school than their stably housed peers.  New research states that without a high school diploma, youth are 4.5 times more likely to experience homelessness later in life. Furthermore, more than 95 percent of jobs created during the economic recovery have gone to workers with at least some college education, while those with a high school diploma or less are being left behind. Inspired by perspectives from families and students, Education Leads Home will focus on raising awareness of the challenges faced by this population of students. The campaign will encourage high-quality learning practices aimed to eliminate disparities in access to quality early childhood programs, work toward raising high school graduation rates, and create more pathways to postsecondary attainment.  For more information, visit www.educationleadshome.org or follow the conversation on Twitter as we live tweet the panel talk on March 6 at SXSW EDU, The Invisible Million: Homeless Students in the U.S. You can also join the conversation using #EDULeadsHome or #InvisibleMillion.