High-Need Students: Foster Youth DID YOU KNOW? • Foster youth are four times more likely to transfer schools than the general student population. Youth attend an average of six schools while in care, losing 4-6 months of learning with each transfer. Who Are California’s Foster Youth And How Are They Identified? Foster youth are any youth, regardless of where they live, with either an open dependency/foster care or a delinquency/probation case. Foster youth have been removed from their parents care because of abuse or neglect. Once in the care of the State of California, we all share in the responsibility to ensure their educational needs are met. (Education Code § 48853.5) Obviously, we are failing to meet their needs: two years after aging-out of care, half of these youth are incarcerated, homeless, or on welfare. School districts and child welfare agencies are required by LCFF to work together to identify foster youth.
• 29% of foster youth are proficient in English, compared to 53% of the general population; 37% of foster youth are proficient in Math, compared to 60% of the general population. • 40% of foster youth earn a high school diploma, compared to 72% of the general population. A major factor in foster youth drop-out rates is lack of credits.
WHY IT MATTERS • Schools and child welfare agencies must work together to keep foster youth from having to repeatedly transfer schools. • Foster youth need remedial academic services to raise their achievement levels. • Foster youth must be awarded partial credits for all work completed prior to a school change.
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