Advancing Educational Stability, Continuity, and Success: A Policy Agenda for Highly Mobile Youth in the U.S.

Highly mobile youth (HMY) include approximately 1.9 million school-age students in the U.S., a broad category for students experiencing homelessness (1.2 million), the foster care system (391,000), migrant youth (274,000) and young people who have been detained in the juvenile legal system (25,000).This policy brief in collaboration with WestEd builds on our initial overview of HMY by offering actionable strategies for federal and state policymakers. We focus on the unique needs of HMY as they face heightened challenges after the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing political shifts in 2025.Our systems are not designed to meet the complex realities of HMY. The brief offers a policy agenda to change that. We hope this work supports efforts to build more equitable, responsive systems that center the well-being and opportunity of HMY nationwide.Learn more on the CTS website.