Beginning Teacher Challenges Instructing Students Who Are in Foster Care

Children in foster care compose a population of students very vulnerable to school failure. Placement and school instability and lack of collaboration between the school and child welfare agency are some of the barriers that impede their school performance. This study focused on the classroom context and questioned beginning general and special education teachers in urban schools about their experiences instructing students living in foster care. Findings revealed that foster youth present serious challenges to beginning teachers that go largely unaddressed because of lack of information about the child, lack of teacher preparedness for such challenges, and lack of supports by the school and collaboration with the child welfare system.