Across the United States, public schools nationwide face dilemmas. The choices schools make must be effective, serve students and have the best outcome. Well known problems such as bullying, special educational needs, budget cuts, new standards and job cuts. Some problems are well known to the public, while others remain in the background. According to the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY), the U.S. Department of Education collected data stating that “during the 2008-2009 school year, 954,914 homeless children and youth were enrolled in public schools ”. This problem affects the child socially, mentally and, most importantly, academically. The National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY) defines homelessness as “a lack of permanent housing resulting from extreme poverty and/or unsafe or unstable living environments” (NAEHCY, 2011, p. 2). In 2004, all states were required to report data collected on children and youth enrolled in any educational services to the Consolidated State Performance Report (Bowman, Dukes, Moore, 2012, p. 6). The table presented below shows the reports for the 2004-2010 school years. Number of homeless students reported by the States in the CSPR2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010655,591 906,680* 679,724 794 617 956.914 939.903I The National Center on Family Homelessness (NCFH) conducted research and collected data and found CSPR reports during a three-year search. (Bowman. ET al., 2012). In the 2006-2009 school years, “41% increase in the number of homeless students enrolled in schools nationwide” (Bowman...... middle of paper ......2). Summary of the state of the research: On the relationship between homelessness and academic achievement among school-age children and youth (ED-04-CO-0056/0002). Retrieved from the U.S. Department of Education website: http://www.serve.org/ncheCarter. Samuel, C. (2000). No excuses; lessons from 21 high-performing, high-poverty schools. Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation.Murphy.Joseph, F. & Tobin.Kerri, J. (2011, November). Homeless people come to school. How Homeless Children and Youth Can Succeed, 93(3), 32-37. Retrieved from http://kappanmagazine.org National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. (2011). Facts about homelessness education. Retrieved from http;//naehcy.org/facts.htmlW&B School of Education. (2012). History of the McKinney Act. Retrieved from http://education.wm.edu/centers/hope/resources/mckinneyact/index.php