• IThe Migrant Education Program (MEP) is a federally funded program, authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The complete text of ESSA  (PDF) is located on the U.S. Department of Education Web page. MEP is administered in all 50 states including Hawaii, Alaska, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. MEP is authorized by Part C of Title I and is designed to support high quality and comprehensive educational programs for migrant children to help reduce the educational disruption and other problems that result from repeated moves.
  

To assist States in supporting high-quality and comprehensive educational programs and services during the school year and, as applicable, during summer or intersession periods, that  address the unique educational needs of migratory children.

To ensure that migratory children who move among the States are not penalized in any manner by disparities among the States in curriculum, graduation requirements, and challenging State academic standards.

To ensure that migratory children receive full and appropriate opportunities to meet the same challenging State academic standards that all children are expected to meet.

To help migratory children overcome educational disruption, cultural and language barriers, social isolation, various health-related problems, and other factors that inhibit the ability of such children to succeed in school.

To help migratory children benefit from State and local systemic reforms.

 

A child is considered "migratory" if the parent or guardian is a migratory worker in the agricultural, dairy, lumber, or fishing industries and whose family has moved during the past three years. A "qualifying" move can range from moving from one residence to another or across school district boundaries due to economic necessity. A young adult may also qualify if he or she has moved on his own within the past three years to engage in qualifying work or sought to obtain qualifying work (with a history of qualifying moves). The eligibility period is three years from the date of the last move. Eligibility is established through an interview conducted by a Migrant Education recruiter who visits both home and employment locations where migrant workers are employed. The law states that migrant education services are a priority for those students who have made a qualifying move within the previous one-year period and who are failing, or are most at risk of failing to meet state academic standards, or who have dropped out of school.

 

The term ‘‘migratory child’’ means a child or youth who made a qualifying move in the preceding 36 months —

as a migratory agricultural worker or a migratory fisher; or

with, or to join, a parent or spouse who is a migratory agricultural worker or a migratory fisher.

Migratory Agricultural Worker and Migratory Fisher

The terms "migratory agricultural worker" and "migratory fisher" mean an individual who made a qualifying move in the preceding 36 months and, after doing so, engaged in new temporary or seasonal employment or personal subsistence in agriculture or fishing soon after the move. If the individual did not engage in such new employment soon after the move, the individual must have actively sought such new employment, and have a recent history of moves for temporary or seasonal employment in agriculture or fishing.

 

The term "qualifying move" means a move due to economic necessity —

from one residence to another residence; and

from one school district to another school district, except —

in the case of a State that is comprised of a single school district, wherein a qualifying move is from one administrative area to another within such district; or

in the case of a school district of more than 15,000 square miles, wherein a qualifying move is a distance of 20 miles or more to a temporary residence.

Section 1304(b)(3) requires State Education Agencies (SEA)s to use Migrant Education Program funds to promote interstate and intrastate coordination of services to migrant children.  This effort must include, but is not limited to, providing educational continuity through the timely transfer of pertinent school records, including health information. Interstate and intrastate coordination helps reduce the effects of educational disruption that migrant children incur as a result of repeated moves.

Interstate coordination refers to collaborative activities undertaken by two or more States to improve the education of migrant children in those States.  Ideally, this term refers to the collaborative activities that two or more States assume to improve the education of migrant children who move between those States.

Intrastate coordination refers to efforts involving two or more local operating agencies within a State to improve educational services to migrant children in that State.  The SEA may facilitate these efforts among local operating agencies or the local operating agencies may conduct them directly.

 

Finding and enrolling eligible migrant children is a cornerstone of the Nebraska Migrant Education Program (MEP) and its importance cannot be overemphasized. The Nebraska MEP is responsible for the proper and timely identification and recruitment of all eligible migrant children and youth in the State. This includes securing pertinent information to document the basis of a child’s eligibility. Ultimately, it is the state’s responsibility to implement procedures to ensure that migrant children and youth are both identified and determined to be eligible for the MEP.

 

The primary purpose of the Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA) is to guide the overall design of the Migrant Education Program (MEP) on a statewide basis. The CNA helps state education agencies (SEAs) and local operating agencies (LOAs)/local educational agencies (LEAs) prioritize the needs of migrant children by determining the specific services that will help migrant children achieve the State’s measurable outcomes and performance targets.

 

Parental involvement is an integral part of all Title I programs, including the MEP.  Research shows that parents play a significant role in the academic achievement of their children.  Therefore, it is important for parents and schools to develop partnerships and build ongoing dialogues to improve student achievement.  Title I supports parental involvement by enlisting individual parents to help their children do well in school.  In order to receive Migrant Education Program (MEP) funds, State Education Agencies (SEAs) and the local operating agencies must implement programs, activities, and procedures that effectively involve migrant parents.  An SEA must: 1) develop its comprehensive State plan in consultation with parents; 2) consult with parent advisory councils (PACs) regarding programs that are one school year in duration; and 3) plan and operate the MEP in a manner that provides for the same parental involvement as is required in section 1118.

SEAs and local operating agencies (LOAs) must consult with parent advisory councils in planning and operating the MEP if they operate programs of one school year in duration.

The Migrant Education Program (MEP) is authorized under Title I, Part C of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, reauthorized in 2015 as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Note that existing regulations established under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) were used for the completion of the Service Delivery Plan (SDP) process as regulations for ESSA had not been established at the time of this report. The purpose of the MEP is to meet the unique educational needs of migratory children and their families to ensure that migrant students reach challenging academic standards and graduate high school. Specifically, the goal of state MEPs is to design programs to help migratory children overcome educational disruption, cultural and language barriers, social isolation, health-related problems, and other factors inhibiting migratory children from doing well in school and making the transition to postsecondary education or employment [Title I, Part C, Sec. 1301(5)].

In order to identify and address these unique educational needs, State Education Agencies (SEAs) that receive Title I, Part C funds must develop a statewide SDP based on a recent Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA). Specifically, the SDP addresses the following (pursuant to Title I, Part C, Sec. 1306 and 34 CFR 200.83): • Provides for the integration of services with other ESEA programs; • Ensures that the state and its local operating agencies identify and address the special educational needs of migratory children; • Reflects collaboration with migrant parents;  • Provides migratory children with opportunities to meet the same challenging state academic content standards and challenging state student academic achievement standards that all children are expected to meet; • Specifies measurable program goals and outcomes; • Encompasses the full range of services that are available for migratory children from appropriate local, state, and federal educational programs; and • Reflects joint planning among local, state, and federal programs. Section 200.83(b) of the regulations requires the SEA to develop its comprehensive state SDP in consultation with the state migrant education parent advisory council (PAC), with the parents of migrant children in a format and language that the parents understand. Committee members shared meeting results with the State Migrant Education Advisory Committee (SAC) (of which the majority are migrant parents or students) and provided the SDP committee with feedback from parents