Education and Child Welfare System Efforts to Improve Educational Outcomes for Youth in Foster Care: Identifying Opportunities to Enhance Cross-System Collaboration

The educational outcomes of youth in foster care are far worse than those of other students, in part because of fragmentation within and misalignment between the education and child welfare systems. In this report, the authors examine these barriers, along with opportunities to promote cross-system collaboration. High staff turnover, limited preservice training on educational stability, and geographical dispersion were identified as common challenges.