Migrant Education ProgramOpening Doors

Migrant Education ProgramOverview• What is the Migrant Education Program?– History– Purpose– Goals

• Student Eligibility Requirements• Expenditures• Identifying and Recruiting

Migrant Education ProgramHistory

• The Farmworker Movement of the 1960s

• Edward R. Murrow’s “Harvest of Shame” report

• 1966 Amendment to Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), Title IC

Migrant Education ProgramHistory• In Plyler v. Doe, U.S. 72 L.Ed.2d 786, 798 (1982)– The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that students cannot be

denied access to public education because of immigration status

• 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Re-Authorization

• 2003 Non-Regulatory Guidance– Guidance on use of Migrant Funds to supplement

Education

Migrant Education ProgramPurpose

Ensure that Migrant children fully benefit from the same public education provided to other children…

Migrant Education ProgramPurpose• Supporting high-quality and comprehensive

educational program for Migrant children in order to reduce educational disruption and other problems that result from the migrant lifestyle

• Ensuring that migrant children who move among the States are NOT penalized in any manner by disparities among the States in curriculum, graduation requirements, and State academic content and student academic achievement standards

Migrant Education ProgramPurpose

• Ensuring that migrant children are provided with appropriate educational services, including supportive services, that address their needs in a coordinated and efficient manner

• Ensuring that migrant children receive full and appropriate opportunities to meet the same challenging State academic content and student academic achievement standards that all children are expected to meet

Migrant Education ProgramPurpose• Designing programs to help migrant children

overcome education disruption, cultural and language barriers, social isolation, various health-related problems, and other factors that inhibit their ability to do well in school, and to prepare them to make a successful transition to postsecondary education or employment

• Ensuring that migrant children benefit from State and local systemic reforms

Migrant Education ProgramGoal

ALL Migrant students reach challenging academic standards and graduate with a high school diploma (or complete a GED) that prepares them for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment.

Migrant Education ProgramEligibility– Age

• Student must be younger than 22 yrs old

– School Completion• Student has NOT

graduated• Student has NOT earned

GED

Migrant Education ProgramEligibility

– Move: Where? When?

•Student and worker moved across school district lines

•Student and worker moved within the past 36 months

Migrant Education ProgramEligibility– Purpose of Move

• Seek or obtain qualifying work

– Qualifying Work• Agriculture/Fishing• Temporary/Seasonal• Principal Means of

Livelihood

Migrant Education ProgramRe-Interviewing• Re-Interviewing WILL happen in FY14-15• Recruiters – let your families know that it is

okay to speak with the interviewer• OSDE will inform Districts of timeframe ahead

of time• Families will be randomly selected

Migrant Education ProgramBenefits

Access to Health-Related Services

Access to Supplemental Education Services

Automatic enrollment in Free School Breakfast/Lunch Program

Migrant Education ProgramExpenditures

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Migrant Education ProgramExpenditures

o LeapPads, Notebook computers, iPods

o Computer lab for Migrant students

o Migrant Summer School Program

o Travel (Migrant students attending supplementary instruction/summer school)

o Migrant student library

o Health services for Migrant students without insurance

o Educational support services for *out-of-school Migrant youth/Dropout intervention and reduction activities

o Expand early childhood services to include three-year-old Migrant children.

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Migrant Education ProgramExpenditures

o Parent resource center (provide computer access and a resource library for parents)

o Training sessions (hire speakers, host parent/teacher cooperative sessions)

o Provide transportation and lodging for parents to attend migrant conferences/trainings

o Parent Action Committee (PAC) involvement activities

o Family literacy programs

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Migrant Education ProgramExpenditures

o Resource Library (software, books, training materials)

o Professional Development (hire speakers, onsite and offsite o trainings)

o Support recruitment activities

o Certified Needs Assessment services

o Communications

o Personnel services (salaries for MEP staff/benefits) ADM

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By: José Henríquez, Statewide Migrant Recruiter

Working for the MEP means knowing you are affecting the lives of the most disadvantaged of our nation’s children. Without the MEP, no one would be looking out for them.

Identification means actively looking for and finding migrant children and youth.

Recruitment means making contact with the family or youth and obtaining the necessary information to document the student’s eligibility and enroll them into the MEP.

The children/youth who are most in need of MEP services are often the most difficult to find.

Children of migratory workers are often invisible, quietly coming and going, and not attracting much attention in a new community.

If these children are not actively recruited, many would not be in school.

Maintain agricultural activities on the radar, watch out for new qualifying activities, and/or who is currently hiring.

Be aware of new families leaving or moving into town; they may go out looking for qualifying work or may move in with a history of working in a qualifying activity.

Finding and recruiting many, Out of School Youth, who travel without their families or in groups of OSYs is especially challenging.

The traditional in-school recruitment model is not feasible, because this population has no contact with the school district.

Recruitment of OSY is most successful when it occurs at work sites, in the field, and at businesses where these youth work, as well as in housing where they live.

ID&R strategies for hard-to-reach and out-of-school migrant children include the following:

Establishing the trust of the family through reliable and helpful assistance.

Asking about older youth in the family and having information about services ready.

Leaving packets of information about ESL (English as a second language) and GED classes with families.

Recruiting in groups so families and out-of-school youth do not feel singled out.

Seeking information from community sources to determine places frequented by migrant families (i.e., service agencies, faith-based institutions, businesses).

Seeking information at employment sites (i.e., from crew leaders, growers, shift managers).

Recruiters need a remarkable array of skills to:

Canvas the migrant community intensively.

Communicate with families, educators, administrators, and workplace decision makers.

Make complicated decisions; and maintain important records.

Research farmers and crew boss names, HR manger, plant owner, etc.

Contact the farmer or agribusiness to inform them that you will be visiting the area and will stop by.

Call farms before to get workforce’s information, ask specific questions:

Is your farm family run?

Do you hire seasonal or temporary workers?

Do you hire locally or bring workers in from another area?

Learn seasonal agricultural cycles through census, local agriculture extensions, crop specialists,4-H leaders, or labor specialists.

Be a diplomat: provide positive information to people who are resistant to the idea of migrant education.

Set up and attend meetings with community agencies.

Plan according to the weather; workers may not be at the farm if raining, but at home.

Use web resources like USDA Crop Scape and Google Earth to find locations of various crops.

Questions?

Migrant Education ProgramContact Information

Becky NixonProgram Specialist

(405) 522-5158Becky.Nixon@sde.ok.gov

Zada FarrisProgram Specialist

(405) 522-4497Zada.Farris@sde.ok.gov

Jose HenriquezStatewide Recruiter

(405) 521-6958 Office(405) 615-1804 Cell

Jose.Henriquez@sde.ok.gov