Students on the Move

Moving a lot is hard on school kids. And millions of children in the United States have unstable housing.

A growing body of research finds that repeatedly uprooted children are more likely to struggle in school and more likely to drop out. But there are ways to help them succeed.

This APM Reports documentary focuses on two groups of kids who often change addresses — homeless kids and children of migrant farmworkers — and explores efforts to help these students do well in school.

They sleep in cars, motels and relatives' houses, and they're more likely to drop out of school and spend their lives in poverty. Due to the lack of affordable housing, the U.S. has more of these children than ever before.

Thanks to a loophole in U.S. child labor laws, farmworker kids can pick crops as young as age 10. But education offers a path out of poverty, if the kids can stay in school.

Students on the Move is one of three audio documentaries this season from the Educate podcast — stories about education, opportunity, and how people learn.

Support for this program comes from Lumina Foundation and the Spencer Foundation.