Oklahoma has seen one of the largest increases in homeless students in the nation. Look at how the homeless student population has grown, or in a few cases shrank, in each state.
Source: U.S. Department of Education
Oklahoma is not alone in dealing with a rising number of homeless students.
Data from the U.S. Department of Education show there were nearly 1.2 million homeless students in the country in 2011-2012, the latest year for which figures are available. That reflected a 24-percent increase since 2009-2010.
By contrast, Oklahoma saw a 34 percent increase, the 13th largest growth in the nation.
North Dakota had the biggest increase, followed by Michigan and South Dakota.
While Oklahoma counts homeless students only in public schools, the U.S. Department of Education also includes students who are home-schooled and in private schools.
Republish this article
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Most of Oklahoma Watch’s content is available for republication by other news media in print and digital form. Please follow these terms for republication:
* Reporters’ bylines and photographers’ credit lines should be accompanied by “Oklahoma Watch.”
* Include the Oklahoma Watch logo (found here).
* Use the following credit line at the end of the story, with oklahomawatch.org hyperlinked online:
“Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.”