December 2006 Let Us Meet You Where You Are: Securing the Educational Accomplishments of Migrant Students (SEAMS) HACER In collaboration with: The Minnesota Department of Education, Migrant Education Program & SEAMS Committee Members About Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER): HACER’s mission is to provide the Minnesota Latino community the ability to create and control information about itself in order to affect critical institutional decision-making and public policy. General support for HACER is provided by the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) and Minnesota-based philanthropic organizations. Executive Director: Rafael Ortiz, J.D., M.P.P. HACER 330 HHH Center, 301 19th Avenue South Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 (612) 624-3326 www.hacer-mn.org This report is not copyright protected. HACER grants permission for the reproduction of all or part of the enclosed material, except that information reprinted with permission from other sources. HACER would appreciate acknowledgement, however, as well as two copies of any material thus reproduced. Funding for this project was provided by The Minnesota Department of Education. The content of this report is solely the responsibility of HACER and does not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Education. Suggested reference to this report is: Erdmann, J., Rodriguez, M., Golub, E., Banks, A., and Ortiz, R. (2006, December) Let us meet you where you are: Securing the educational accomplishments of migrant students. Minneapolis, MN: HACER. We are grateful to the Department of Education and all who contributed to the making of this report: HACER Staff and Consultants: Jared A. Erdmann, M.P.H., Michael Rodriguez, Ph.D. Elisabeth Golub Alyssa Banks Rafael Ortiz, J.D., M.P.P. HACER interns: Leslie Locke Kandace Creel Joseph Shansky SEAMS Steering Committee Members 2 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .........................................................................................................................................6 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................................................20 SEAMS: A NEEDS ASSESSMENT PROCESS ..............................................................................................................20 OVERVIEW OF MINNESOTA’S MIGRANT EDUCATION PROGRAM .............................................................................21 THE MIGRANT STUDENT PROFILE..................................................................................................................24 MIGRANT FAMILIES.................................................................................................................................................24 MIGRANT STUDENTS ...............................................................................................................................................27 SEVEN AREAS OF CONCERN ....................................................................................................................................29 Educational Support in the Home ......................................................................................................................30 School Engagement............................................................................................................................................30 Educational Continuity ......................................................................................................................................31 Instructional Time..............................................................................................................................................31 English Language Development ........................................................................................................................32 Health.................................................................................................................................................................32 Access to Services ..............................................................................................................................................34 STRENGTHS AND PROMISING PRACTICES.................................................................................................................34 DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................................................................35 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.............................................................................................................................36 DEFINITIONS............................................................................................................................................................36 THE SEAMS STEERING COMMITTEE.......................................................................................................................37 FOCUS GROUPS........................................................................................................................................................38 KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEWS.................................................................................................................................43 SITE VISITS..............................................................................................................................................................46 PARENT SURVEY .....................................................................................................................................................46 MEASURING READING, WRITING AND MATH ACHIEVEMENT..................................................................................48 PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATING MIGRANT STUDENTS ............................................................................49 EFFECTS OF MIGRATION ON MIGRANT FAMILIES ....................................................................................................49 What Service Providers Said..............................................................................................................................49 What Parents Said..............................................................................................................................................50 What Students Said.............................................................................................................................................53 EDUCATIONAL PRIORITIES FOR MIGRANT STUDENTS..............................................................................................55 What Service Providers Said..............................................................................................................................55 What Migrant Parents Said................................................................................................................................57 What Students Said.............................................................................................................................................58 MIGRANT EDUCATION IN MINNESOTA.....................................................................................................................59 What Service Providers Said..............................................................................................................................59 What Parents Said..............................................................................................................................................64 What Students Said.............................................................................................................................................66 READING, WRITING AND MATH ACHIEVEMENT .......................................................................................69 DATA COLLECTION..................................................................................................................................................69 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA)..................................................................................................69 Basic Skills Test (BST) .......................................................................................................................................70 Minnesota Automated Reporting Student System (MARSS)...............................................................................71 General Functions of the State Education Databases........................................................................................72 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURES................................................................................................................................72 Achievement Levels............................................................................................................................................73 MINNESOTA COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT (MCA)...............................................................................................74 MCA Student Demographics..............................................................................................................................74 MCA Reading Achievement Results ...................................................................................................................76 3 MCA Mathematics Achievement Results............................................................................................................86