Research shows that homeless students are more likely to score lower on standardized tests, suffer from emotional or behavioral problems (Cutuli et al., 2013), often have lower attendance rates (Coker et.al, 2009) and are even more likely to drop out of school (Institute for Children & Poverty, 2003). This is detrimental not only to the student's lives but is critical for educators to address in order to meet school and district goals. This study is an evaluation of the academic context that homeless students face in order to identify organizational gaps in a large urban school district that can be remedied to address the existing gap. This study utilized a gap analysis framework (Clark & Estes, 2008) to examine how the district could best address the goal of improving homeless student school attendance, which is often linked with academic progress and engagement. The framework was used in order to identify barriers in the areas of knowledge, motivation and organization that impedes the school attendance of homeless students, which led to, recommended solutions in these areas.

This qualitative study used mixed methods that included a questionnaire and interviews with eight former homeless students in the school district of focus. Additionally, document analysis was done to provide supplemental information about organizational elements. Findings resulted in emergent themes about attendance knowledge, communication between the organization and homeless students and parents, organization resources and goals, school climate and students' educational awareness. Research based solutions were identified based on the themes from the findings centered around improving organizational communication and the distribution and alignment of resources.