21 percent higher than the national average

Learn4Life, a network of 80+ public charter high schools, announced that for the 2024-25 school year, 89 percent of its homeless and housing insecure students graduated. That’s a three percent increase from the previous year and significantly higher than the national average of 68 percent.

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Learn4Life provides critical resourses and personalized learning for homeless students

“Charter schools like Learn4Life tend to have more autonomy to create tailored programs, which can benefit homeless students who need individualized support,” explained Shellie Hanes, superintendent. “Our schools are smaller, which helps foster strong relationships between staff and students, making it easier to identify and respond to housing challenges.”

In California, more than 240,000 homeless students were enrolled in its public schools in 2024–25, a 9.3% increase from the previous year.* More and more young people, through no fault of their own, are housing insecure, either living on the streets, in a car or couch surfing with friends or relatives. It’s embarrassing and stressful to be a teen without a home.

November is Homeless Youth Awareness Month, a good time to sound the alarm about this critical situation. Youth experiencing homelessness are 87 percent more likely to drop out of high school, plus they tend to develop chronic health conditions and use alcohol or drugs.

Learn4Life provides a trauma-informed approach to meet the special needs of students suffering from homelessness and housing insecurity. “Our entire staff receives homelessness awareness training and ongoing professional development designed to support the needs of these students. We know how to identify housing-insecure kids and help them with all the challenges that come with that,” Hanes added.

She points out that Learn4Life’s teachers and counselors regularly check in to see how students are doing and provide encouragement. “For many of our homeless and traumatized kids, our schools become their home, so we do everything we can to help them gain life skills and resiliency while giving them a sense of belonging.”

The students are connected to both in-school and community support services, ranging from free backpacks, school supplies, clothes and hygiene items, to transportation, health care, mental health services and food assistance. School social workers are available to help families find housing and navigate services and financial aid applications. “We provide them the support they need to graduate with the skills, experiences and opportunities to be successful in college or a career,” Hanes said.

For more information, visit www.Learn4Life.org

*https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sg/homelessyouth.asp

About Learn4Life

Learn4Life is a network of nonprofit public high schools that provide students personalized learning, career training and life skills. Each school is locally controlled, tuition free and gives students the flexibility and one-on-one attention they need to succeed. Serving more than 64,000 students through a year-round program, we help them prepare for a future beyond high school. For more information, please visit www.learn4life.org.

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