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Homeless youth face many barriers that limit success in the educational process. Subgroups of homeless youth frequently experience the educational process differently depending upon their residential context. Recent years witness the federal government's expanding the definition of homelessness to include youth living doubled-up. This residential formation involves multiple families forced to live together as a result of economic crises. Although the largest subgroup of the homeless youth population, they are the least studied. This 7-month multiple case study of 4 adolescents living in Los Angeles uses data gathered from interviews, observations, and document analysis to explore how this residential context shapes educational participation. In particular, the division of labor and presence of a head of household influence how youth participated in school. Findings suggest (a) families have multiple ways of arranging doubled-up residences, and, (b) how the families structure the doubled-up residences influences educational participation.

Research with homeless youth requires negotiating with Institutional Review Boards (IRB), school districts, and social service agencies. Youth that are homeless live a life different from the researcher, thus issues of trust and caring need to be considered before asking a vulnerable young person to share his or her story. The authors share insight learned from a qualitative study of the educational barriers of homeless youth that highlight these issues. The overarching finding is that homeless youth are invisible and silenced in a social service system overwhelmed with red tape and bureaucratic procedures. The authors suggest that program developers, researchers, and policymakers give voice to homeless youth by listening to the stories they tell and then enacting policies that build on their recommendations.

Living doubled-up is a form of homelessness that can go undetected by schools, yet the toll it takes on the lives of students is significant. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to determine how students who live in doubled-up homeless families differ from low-income students who live in permanent housing with regard to demographics, academics, and behavior problems. The study used records from a Northern California school district and a nonexperimental research design to determine how student homelessness predicts various school-related outcomes. Results indicated that doubled-up homeless students earned significantly lower grade point averages (GPAs) and were less likely to graduate on time than students in permanent housing. Doubled-up homeless students were also more likely to have truancy problems. Previous research has mainly focused on more visible forms of student homelessness (e.g., living in shelters, cars, or hotels). Given that this group has been largely avoided by research, our study suggests that this group warrants consideration. School districts need to identify students living in doubled-up families and seek ways to improve their academic experiences.

College transition and support programs have emerged over the past century as important tools that institutions can employ to improve student outcomes. With the variety of approaches used, a common language is needed to discuss why and how programs relate to institutional goals and relate to student outcomes. In this article, we present and discuss the College Transition and Support Program Typology as a way of understanding how programs are similar and different in their approach to addressing barriers and creating opportunities for student success. The typology centers on student needs, focus, duration, and timing as important program dimensions. We then apply the typology to a comprehensive college transition program to illustrate the dimensions. The final section discusses a set of criteria for practitioners to consider when designing a program and making choices about what type of transition initiatives may be most suitable for one's campus and student needs.

Postsecondary institutions often create support programs to encourage the academic success of underserved students. Comprehensive college transition programs have been posited as one approach that provides wraparound support for the first 2 years students attend college. In this article, we use validation theory to explore how a Comprehensive college transition programs can create academically validating experiences for underserved students, many of whom are first-generation and racially minoritized. Our study confirms that how program elements are implemented is more important that what elements are included within a support program. The overarching finding that emerged is that programs can be designed to provide reassurance along with allowing second chances, which creates the space for vulnerability and risk taking to occur. This process creates the context for academically validation experiences for underserved students.