Migrant Education in Missouri

1
Migrant Education in Missouri

• Timothy Ford
• Identification and Recruitment Specialist
• Region 3Jackson, Platte, and Clay Counties

Migrant English Language Learning Program
2
Migrant Education in MissouriIndex

• Title I, Part CEducation of Migratory Children
• Who is Eligible?
• Qualifying Employment
• Migrant Education in the U.S.
• Migrant Work in Missouri
• The Migrant English Language Learning Program
• Conclusion

3
Title I, Part CEducation of Migratory
Children

• Program Purpose
• Reduce educational disruptions
• Provide educational services (including
  supportive services)
• Help migratory youth to meet State content
  standards and State performance standards
• Design programs to overcome educational
  disruption, cultural and linguistic barriers,
  social isolation, and other associated obstacles
• From Public Law 107-110 of the No Child Left
  Behind Act of 2001. Title 1, Part C, 20 U.S.C.
  6391 Sec. 1301.

4
Who is Eligible?

• Title I, Part C eligibility
• 3 to 22 years of age (inclusive)
• a migrant agricultural worker or migrant fisher
  OR has a parent, spouse, or guardian who is one
• performs, or has a parent, spouse or guardian who
  performs, qualifying agricultural or fishing
  employment
• has moved across school district boundaries
  within the preceding 36 months to seek or obtain
  temporary or seasonal employment in agricultural
  or fishing work
• (2001). Department of Elementary and Secondary
  Education. Administrative Manual. 53.
• See also IASA, Title I, Part C, Sec. 1309.

5
Qualifying Employment

• Any temporary or seasonal agricultural or fishing
  work can be considered qualifying employment if
• it constitutes a principal means of livelihood
  for the workers and their families.
• Principal Means of Livelihood or (PMOL) means
  that the family relies on this work to sustain
  itself.
• For example A school teacher who makes
  30,000/year makes 500 picking apples during the
  summer would not qualify.

6
Qualifying Employment
7
Migrant Education in the U.S.

• Nearly 700,000 children identified as Migrant
• Dropout rates range from 45-90
• 15 of farmworkers have completed 12 or more
  years of school
• 75 of migrant farmworkers have family incomes of
  less than 10,000 annually
• 25 of migrant students enroll 30 days or more
  after the school year begins
• Mehta, K. et.al. (2000). Findings from the
  National Agricultural Workers Survey A
  demographic and employment profile of United
  States farmworkers. Washington D.C. U.S.
  Department of Labor.
• National Commission on Migrant Education (1992).
  Invisible children A portrait of migrant
  education in the United States. Washington D.C.
  U.S. Dept. of Education.
• Research Triangle Institute. (1992).
  Descriptive study of chapter 1 migrant education
  program. Research Triangle Park, NC Author.
• United States General Accounting Office (1998).
  Child labor in agriculture Changes needed to
  better protect health and educational
  opportunities. GAO/HEHS-98-193.

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Migrant Education in the U.S.

• Obstacles to achievement
• Discontinuous education due to moving
• Social and cultural isolation
• Language barriers
• Strenuous work outside of school
• Extreme poverty
• Poor health
• Strang, E. et al. (1993). Services to migrant
  children Synthesis and program options for the
  Chapter 1 Migrant Education Program. Prepared
  under contract for the U.S. Dept of Education by
  Westat, Inc., Rockville, MD.

9
Migrant Work in Missouri

• Largest concentrations of migrant workers
  coincide with processing plants in these
  counties
• Sullivan (Premium Standard Farms, Milan, MO)
• Pettis (Tyson, Sedalia, MO)
• McDonald (Tyson Simmons, Noel, MO)
• Barry (Tyson, Monett, MO)
• Montineau (Cargill, California, MO)

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Migrant Education in Missouri

• Traditional migrant workthat of picking crops
  such as apples and melonscan be found in
• Lafayette County (Lexington, MO)
• Dunklin County as well as most of Missouris
  Bootheel

11
The Migrant English Language Learning Program
(MELL)

• Combines existing No Child Left Behind Title I,
  Part C (Education of Migratory Children) with
  Title III (Language Instruction for LEP and
  Immigrant Students)
• State is divided into 9 regions corresponding to
  the Regional Professional Development Centers
  (RPDCs)

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The Migrant English Language Learning Program
(MELL)

• Each region has an Instructional Specialist an
  Identification and Recruitment Specialist
• IDR Specialist
• Determining presence and eligibility of migratory
  youth
• Identifying and disseminating information
  regarding supportive services
• Instructional Specialist
• Determine the presence of migratory and ELL youth
• Enhancing school districts capacities to develop,
  implement, and sustain content and language
  instruction education programs

13
Conclusion

• Migrant children are one of the most
  educationally vulnerable subgroups in the U.S.
  and the greatest at risk for school failure
  (Gibson Bejínez 2002 Platt, Cranston-Gingras
  Scott, 1991 Romanowski 2002 Salerno 1991).
• Missouris new MELL program whose Specialists
  cover all counties of Missouri, hopes to increase
  the number of identified migrant students as well
  as increase the quality of education for migrant
  students already identified

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Contact Information

• Tim Ford
• Identification and Recruitment Specialist
• Penn Valley Community College, Pioneer Campus
• 2700 E. 18th Street, Suite 261
• Kansas City, MO 64127
• [phone]