Indiana Department of Education -- Education Matters E-News

Spotlight on Migrant Education

When 13-year-old Viviana Alamillo looked around her seventh grade classroom last spring, she noticed she was different. It was not her Mexican heritage that set her apart; rather, other students could understand and complete math problems that she couldn’t. Almillo had always excelled in math, but this year, she fell behind.

Because her parents qualified as a migrant family, staff of the Division of Language Minority and Migrant Education Programs of the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) offered Almillo a tutor.

“I thought I didn’t need a tutor,” she said. “I always thought tutors were for people who weren’t smart. I always got good grades. But before moving here last year, my family and I moved around a lot.”

Almillo is one of about 600 students who received help this summer from 13 tutors across the state covering different regions to help migrant students considered at-risk of falling behind or who are already behind.One such tutor, Maria Phillips, visited Viviana weekly in her Huntington County home to help her and her younger cousins improve their math and language skills.

“It’s really common for migrant students to have gaps in their education because of the moves their families make,” Phillips said. “Viviana is very motivated, and she wants to do well in school. She takes notice in school of how well she does and compares herself to the other students. And if they are doing something she can’t do, she gets frustrated and is challenged to learn what she doesn’t know.”

Tutoring sessions throughout the summer allowed Almillo to catch up on her math skills so she would be ready to start the eighth grade this fall. Though tutoring often resembles the traditional one-room school house – with up to 20 students of different grade levels in one room – tutoring sessions can be one-to-one, depending on the area where the student lives.

Students also learn by helping others, Phillips said. Teaching a concept to someone else requires a higher level of understanding of the subject than acquiring the knowledge for testing purposes. So the one-room environment is a plus because it reinforces what students learn. During Almillo’s summer tutoring sessions, she often helped explain math and language concepts to younger children.

Many migrant children are served by nine funded summer migrant education projects at public schools, said Marisa Aguilar, educational consultant for the IDOE Division Language Minority and Migrant Education Programs.

These programs serve migrants students age 3 to 21, but not graduated, and who move across school district boundaries with a parent or guardian to participate in an agricultural activity within the last three years. Students are selected for the tutoring program based on prior performance or if their families have made many moves throughout the school year.

Tutors receive annual training and travel across the state from May to October, often helping students after school hours. Experienced tutors are paired with new tutors to act as mentors. The tutors also are able to distribute books and materials as part of Reading is Fundamental, a program widely accepted to promote more reading.

Since migrants may move from one part of the state to another, students sometimes have several different tutors throughout the summer. Because the curriculum is designed for migrant students nationally, migrant children can move within the state or from state-to-state and pick up where they left off with their previous tutor, Aguilar said. Almillo was able to stay in the same region as her tutor. “What I noticed was her confidence level rose over the summer,” Phillips said. “That builds self-esteem which will help her as the new school year begins.”

Learn more about language minority and migrant education in Indiana at www.doe.state.in.us/lmmp.

Ed Matters September Lauren Harvey, Darlene Slaby

For the Indiana Department of Education’s (IDOE) Division of Language Minority and Migrant Programs Director Darlene Slaby and Assistant Director Lauren Harvey, providing support to language minority and migrant programs is a matter of making sure all students are offered an equitable education.

How does the Indiana Department of Education’s Division of Language Minority and Migrant Programs support student success?

LH: We help students attain English proficiency and succeed academically. In 2004, we adopted our division’s motto, “whatever it takes.” The motto really speaks for what we do. Our entire Division staff does whatever it takes as a team.

DS: We also help students work toward the goal of getting a high school diploma. Especially for migrant students, the disruption of education can prevent that. Additionally, we host an English as a Second Language (ESL) Task Force that discusses current issues from the perspective of school districts in dealing with language minority and migrant students. We provide very focused professional development opportunities and in-services around the state. We communicate via listservs and the ESL Task Force. We find out what school districts are seeing as problems, such as record translation or student attendance rates. We also host an annual K-12 ESL Conference to provide professional development to over 1,000 educators. LH: We administer State and Federal funding and provide technical assistance to school districts to ensure compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act. We have to make sure that everyone understands that all students have a right to equitable education. These supplemental funding sources allow for services that help fulfill that right. We view these students as part of the overall school community.

DS: The Non-English Speaking Program funds the Indiana General Assembly provides are an investment in the future of the state. It ensures that Indiana has a well-educated, effective workforce that is English language proficient. If students are successful in learning English, there is a stronger probability that they will be effective part of the workforce. Students being successful is really future economic development.

Describe the four areas the Division of Language Minority and Migrant Programs oversees.

LH: There are three federally-funded programs and one state-funded program that make up our division. The Title III, Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Immigrant Students, stems from the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Title III helps students who speak a language other than English. We have students speaking over 200 different languages in Indiana schools, and 80 percent of those speak Spanish. This program helps students get support in subject areas and learn to speak English. Funds are also used for professional development and instructional materials, such as software or books.

DS: Another federal program is Title I, Part C. This program services the children of migrant farm workers who come to our state for qualifying activities. Each year, we provide supplemental funds to approximately 35 school corporations with migrant eligible students. The main purpose of Title I, Part C is to provide continuity of instruction for students who from school district to school district. Part C also provides course completion for secondary students working toward a diploma.

LH: The Refugee Children School Impact Grant comes through the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement and is funded through the Family and Social Services Administration. This grant was sub-granted to three school districts in Indiana this year. These corporations had to demonstrate that they had a significant number of refugee students. These students either don’t have a home country or were forced to leave their home country due to war or persecution. Most are Burmese or Somali-Bantu. Many of the children who come to America don’t have any formal education. They may have never even experienced a classroom. They not only don’t speak English, but they don’t have a background of literacy in their own native language. This is a population that is very challenging to our school districts. The last program is a state-funded source, Indiana’s Non-English Speaking program. The goal of this program is to help students become more English-proficient. It focuses on student performance, parent involvement and professional development. These state funds are allocated to every school corporation reporting at least one LEP student. There was a big funding increase this year, almost tenfold from $700,000 to $7 million. Since 1999, the General Assembly had not given any increase. A need is demonstrated in every school district for funding for limited English proficient students, and the districts made it known that they needed more funding, more support and more attention.

How do educators and schools handle so many different types of student needs?

LH: The students in our programs represent a whole spectrum. For example, a student from Japan may arrive with a strong academic background and good academic skills. However, students from less developed countries may arrive with limited literacy and no formal schooling. These types of students have more significant needs. It takes five to seven years for a student to attain academic English at the lower end of the range, and it may take longer than that. The cultural transition is big as well. Students need to feel as comfortable as possible in the classroom. Many of the practices we recommend involve differentiated instruction techniques. Teachers have students with different need and different backgrounds in every classroom. Migrant and language minority students are just one more facet of that need. Our goal is to work collaboratively with school corporations to support the creation of English language development for these students. School corporations understand that this population of students is increasing and is part of Indiana’s school community.

Visit www.doe.state.in.us/lmmp for more information.

Glossary of Terms

Glossary of Terms

Language Minority (LM): Refers to a student whose linguistic background, such as country of origin or home environment, includes a language other than English. LM students may be Limited English Proficient or Fluent English Proficient depending upon their level of English attainment.

Limited English Proficient (LEP): Refers to a language minority student whose English proficiency is below that of his/her grade and age level peers.

English Language Learner (ELL): A language minority student who is learning English.

English as a Second Language (ESL): is an educational approach in which English language learners are instructed in the use of the English language. Their instruction is based on a special curriculum that typically involves little or no use of the native language, focuses on language (as opposed to content) and is usually taught during specific school periods. For the rest of the school day, students may be placed in mainstream classrooms.

Fluent English Proficient (FEP): A language minority student who speaks, understands, reads and writes English without difficulty and displays academic achievement comparable to native English speaking peers.

Migrant: A student whose family moves frequently in search of work in some form of agriculture which often causes interruptions in school attendance. Student may be either language minority or a native English speaker.

Immigrant: A student who was born outside of the U.S. and has been enrolled in U.S. schools for less than three years.

Refugee: A student who cannot return to their native country due to persecution on account of race, nationality, social group membership or political opinion. Language minority

• Indiana ranks third in the nation for percentage rate increase in Limited English Proficient (LEP) students over the past 10 years. Indiana had 408 percent growth from 1994-95 to 2004-05 behind only North Carolina (714.2 percent) and Kentucky (417.4 percent).

• Limited English Proficient students represented approximately 4 percent of Indiana’s total student enrollment for the 2006-07 school year.

• Language minority students enrolled in Indiana public schools in 2006-07 represented 228 different native languages other than English.

• Spanish was the native language of about 80 percent of Indiana’s language minority students.

• It takes approximately five to seven years for limited English proficient (LEP) students to attain academic English proficiency. Migrant education

• A typical migrant student may move 6-8 times during a calendar year.

• Indiana’s migrant farm workers seek temporary or seasonal work in agriculture or related industries and arrive in Indiana throughout the year with June, July and August being peak months.

• Over 98 percent of Indiana’s migrant farm worker population is Hispanic.

• The average life expectancy of a migrant farm worker is 49 years of age. Visit www.doe.state.in.us/lmmp for more information.

Sources: Indiana Department of Education National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational Programs

Visit www.doe.state.in.us/lmmp for more information.