ERIC ED427930: Meeting the Needs of Migrant Students in Schoolwide Programs. Technical Report of the Congressionally Mandated Study of Migrant Student Participation in Schoolwide Programs.

289 Pages·4.5 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
RC 021 849
ED 427 930
Siler, Amy; Stolzberg, Simeon; von Glatz, Adrienne; Strang,
AUTHOR
William
Meeting the Needs of Migrant Students in Schoolwide
TITLE
Programs. Technical Report of the Congressionally Mandated
Study of Migrant Student Participation in Schoolwide
Programs.
Westat, Inc., Rockville, MD.
INSTITUTION
Department of Education, Washington, DC. Planning and
SPONS AGENCY
Evaluation Service.
1999-01-00
PUB DATE
288p.; For the summary report, see RC 021 848.
NOTE
EA94052001
CONTRACT
Numerical/Quantitative Data (110) -- Reports - Evaluative
PUB TYPE
Tests/Questionnaires (160)
(142)
MF01/PC12 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
Ancillary School Services; *Delivery Systems; *Disadvantaged
DESCRIPTORS
Schools; Educational Assessment; *Educational Planning;
Elementary Secondary Education; *Migrant Education; Needs
Assessment; Parent Participation; Program Implementation;
*School Funds; School Surveys; Student Characteristics;
Supplementary Education
Migrant Education Program
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
In response to a legislative mandate, this report examines
the ways in which migrant students are served in schoolwide program schools
and the involvement of migrant representatives and migrant program staff in
the schoolwide process. A survey was sent to a nationally representative
sample (696) of the 2,770 Title I schools that implemented the schoolwide
program option and also served migrant students in 1996-97. Responses were
received from 597 schools. Case studies were conducted in 25 schools. In
summary, schoolwide programs appear to be addressing the needs of migrant
students. Migrants participate fully in services provided by schoolwide
programs and usually have access to additional services provided by the
district migrant education program. However, significant gaps in migrant
student data make it difficult to determine the extent to which schoolwide
programs are actually meeting the needs of migrant students as a group. In
addition, the case studies revealed reasons for not combining migrant funds
with those from other sources. This report is organized as follows:
(1)
introductory descriptions of schoolwide programs, the Migrant Education
(2) characteristics of schoolwide program schools and
Program, and the study;
(3) schoolwide planning and needs assessment;
their migrant students;
(4)
(5) migrant parent
migrant needs and services in schoolwide schools;
involvement; and (6) schoolwide program funding. Extensive appendices present
the study design, reports on individual case studies, supplementary data
tables, and the survey questionnaire with summary response rates.
(SV)
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etED CATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
CENTER (ERIC)
This document has been reproduced as
received from the person or organization
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MEETING TiE NEE IS IF M1G'ANT
pa
STUDENTS IN SCHILMDE
ABM
Technical Report of the Congressionally Mandated Study of
Migrant Student Participation in Schoolwide Programs
Amy Sider
Simeon Stolzberg
Adrienne von Glatz
William Strang
Prepared for:
Planning and Evaluation Service
Office of the Under Secretary
U.S. Department of Education
Prepared by:
Westat
1650 Research Boulevard
Rockville, MD 20850
January 1999
This report was prepared for the U.S. Department of Education under contract number
EA94052001 (Project monitor, Martha Chavez).
Any opinions, observations, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this
report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department
of Education.
MEETING TEE NEEDS OF MOGRANT STUDENTS
aN SCHOOLWaIDE PROGRAMS
EXECUTDVE SUMMARY
This study examined how migrant students are served within schoolwide program schools. A
representative sample of Title I schools that had, as of the 1996-97 school year, implemented the schoolwide
program option and served migrant students was surveyed, and case studies were conducted in 25 of those
schools. The study was conducted under the authority of Section 1501(b)(1) of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act, as amended by the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994, which requires the Secretary
of Education to report to the Congress on how schoolwide program schools are meeting the needs of migrant
students.
The study sought to describe the ways in which migrant students are being served in schoolwide
programs and the involvement of migrant representatives and migrant program staff in the schoolwide process.
The intent was to determine how and if migrant student needs are being met by schoolwide programs.
In summary, schoolwide programs appear to be addressing the needs of migrant students. Migrants
participate fully in the services provided by schoolwide programs and usually have access to an additional array
of services provided by the district migrant education program. However,
significant gaps in the data
maintained on migrant students make it difficult to determine the extent to which schoolwide programs are
actually meeting the needs of migrants as a group. The following are key findings from the study.
During the 1996-97 school year, approximately 2,770 schoolwide program schools enrolled about
165,000 migrant children. These represent about 18 percent of schoolwides and 28 percent of
migrant children. The average number of migrant students was 60 per school. Schoolwide program
schools with larger numbers of migrant students were more likely to:
Involve migrant parents or Migrant Education Program (MEP) staff in schoolwide program
planning;
Address services for migrant students in their schoolwide program plans;
Enhance integration of their migrant students into the regular instructional program;
Coordinate with, or refer migrant children or youth to, other agencies for instructional or
support services;
Assign school staff to maintain contact with migrant parents; and
Have MEP funds available within their schools.
To qualify for the schoolwide program option, at least 50 percent of the students must be from high-
O
poverty families. On average, more than 80 percent of the students in these schools were eligible for
free or reduced-price meals, and migrant students were more likely than the rest of the student body
to be from high-poverty homes. More than half of the migrant students in these schools were limited
English proficient, compared with about one-quarter of non-migrant students.
Meeting the Needs of Migrant Students in Schoolwide Programs
Page 1
January 1999
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
About two-thirds of the migrant students in schoolwide program schools were enrolled in the same
school for the entire 36-week regular school year. About 14 percent were enrolled in the same school
for 24 weeks or less, and schools reported that an average of one in five of their migrant students
enrolled at least one month after the start of the school year. Schools with a more mobile migrant
student population were more likely to:
Address services for migrant students in their schoolwide program plans;
Enhance integration of their migrant students into the regular instructional program; and
Coordinate with, or refer migrant children or youth to, other agencies for instructional or
support services.
Gaining more flexibility in service delivery or instructional grouping was the most commonly noted
reason for deciding to implement the schoolwide program option. Teachers, Title I parents, and other
school staff participated in the schoolwide program planning in over 80 percent of the schools. Fewer
than half of the schools reported participation by migrant parents or MEP staff. Schools in which
migrant parents or MEP staff participated in schoolwide program planning were more likely to:
Address services for migrant students in their schoolwide program plans;
Enhance integration of their migrant students into the regular instructional program;
Coordinate with, or refer migrant children or youth to, other agencies for instructional or
support services; and
Have MEP funds available within their schools.
School staff did not view the educational or support service needs of migrant students as significantly
different from the needs of the other educationally disadvantaged children in their schools. The only
notable exception involved the greater need of migrant students for English language assistance.
Similarly, very few schools provided supplemental instruction only to their migrant students, with the
exception of special English language services.
Supplemental educational services were provided to individual students, including migrant students,
based on their individual needs in the schoolwide program schools. Migrant students also usually had
an array of supplemental instructional and support services available to them from the district or
regional MEP that was not available to other students.
Few schoolwide program schools made special accommodations for measuring the achievement of
migrant students. Most of the schools used their own school's, district's, or state's standards to assess
the achievement of migrant students. Almost every survey school provided individual assessment
results to the parents of the students, including an interpretation of those results, and almost all of them
provided the results in several languages.
Page 2
Meeting the Needs of Migrant Students in Schoolwide Programs
January 1999
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
More than 80 percent of the schools reported that parent involvement activities had been introduced
or strengthened as a result of the implementation of their schoolwide program. The schools most
frequently used organized events such as conferences, assemblies, or fairs to encourage migrant
parents to become more involved. In the case study schools, migrant parents usually participated as
individuals rather than as representatives of migrant parents. Only in case study schools with very
large migrant populations were migrant parents targeted for participation because they were migrants.
MEP funds provided an average of about 2 percent of all the funds available within the schoolwide
program schools. About half of the schools' resources came from regular state or local funds, and
Title I, Part A provided about ten times more support than MEP. Five of every six schools reported
that they had MEP funds available to them, and about one-third of the schools reported those funds
were combined in their schoolwide program with funds from state, local, and other federal sources.
Schools that had MEP funds in their schoolwide program were much more likely to address the needs
of migrant students specifically in their schoolwide program plans.
Four reasons for not combining MEP funds with other state, local, and federal funds in their
schoolwide programs were noted in the case studies: (1) most MEP funds were spent at the district
level and were not available to individual schools; (2) the amounts of MEP money available to schools
were too small to make much of a difference in the overall educational program of the school; (3)
migrant program staff and school administrators were concerned about maintaining accountability for
MEP funds; and (4) migrant program and district and school staff were hesitant to eliminate all
categorical services for students in need because they were concerned that their needs might be
overlooked.
Meeting the Needs of Migrant Students in Schoolwide Programs
Page 3
January 1999
TECHNICAL REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
1.
1
Schoolwide Programs
2
Migrant Children and MEP
4
Study Design
5
Survey of School Principals
5
Case Studies of Schoolwide Programs
5
Design Restrictions
6
Organization of the Report
7
SCHOOLWIDE PROGRAM SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS
2.
8
School Characteristics
8
Location and Grade Level
8
School Poverty
10
School Schedules and Programs
10
Schoolwide Program Implementation
11
Student Characteristics and Enrollment Patterns
13
Descriptive Examples of Schools in the Study
16
PLANNING AND NEEDS ASSESSMENT
18
3.
Developing Schoolwide Plans
19
Participants
19
Planning Process
22
Needs Assessments
23
Topics Addressed in Planning for Schoolwide Program
26
MIGRANT NEEDS AND SERVICES IN SCHOOLWIDE PROGRAMS
4.
31
Educational Needs and Services
32
Identifying Students' Instructional Needs
33
Providing Instructional Services
35
Meeting the Needs of Migrant Students
37
Page i
Meeting the Needs of Migrant Students in Schoolwide Programs
TECHNICAL REPORT
January 1999
Contents (cont'd)
Support Service Needs and Services
39
Identifying Students' Support Service Needs
39
Meeting Students' Support Service Needs
40
Needs and Services for Out-Of-School Youth
42
Identifying Needs of Out-Of-School Youth
42
Serving Out-Of-School Youth
43
Priorities for Services
45
Providing Services for Migrant Students
46
(
District or Regional Services
47
Within-School Services
48
Coordination of Services to Migrant Students
48
Special Accommodations for Migrant Students
49
Adding Staff To Handle Migrant Influxes
49
Extended-Day and Extended-Year Programs
49
Summer or Intersession Programs
50
Identification and Recruitment of Migrant Students
51
Records Transfer
51
Assessment of Migrant Students
52
5. MIGRANT PARENT INVOLVEMENT
55
Parent Involvement Efforts and Activities
55
Parent Involvement and the Schoolwide Program
58
Parent Services
60
SCHOOLWIDE PROGRAM FUNDING
6.
61
Combining MEP Funds in Schoolwide Program Schools
62
Consultations on Combining MEP Funds
66
Combining MEP Funds in Schoolwide Programs and the Needs of Students
68
Availability of MEP Funds and Services to Migrant Students
70
Meeting the Needs of Migrant Students in Schoolwide Programs
Page ii
January 1999
TECHNICAL REPORT
Contents (co nt' d)
APPENDICES
A. Study Design
B. Case Study Reports
C. Supplementary Tables
D. Survey Responses
Page iii
Meeting the Needs of Migrant Students in Schoolwide Programs
January 1999
TECHNICAL REPORT
UST OF TABLES
12
Reasons for implementing schoolwide program
2-1
Characteristics of students
13
2-2
14
Number and percentage of migrant students, by school level
2-3
19
Groups involved in developing the schoolwide program plan
3-1
Groups involved in developing the schoolwide program plan, by availability of MEP
3-2
20
funds
Groups involved in developing schoolwide plan, by proportion of migrant students .
21
3-3
.
.
24
Sources of information used in schoolwide planning process
3-4
Schools that used English language proficiency assessment results in planning for
3-5
25
schoolwide programs, by characteristics of schools
26
Sources of information used to make annual adjustments to schoolwide plans
3-6
27
Topics addressed in schoolwide planning process
3-7
Topics addressed in the schoolwide planning process, by migrant parent and/or staff
3-8
28
involvement in developing the schoolwide program plan
28
Topics addressed in schoolwide planning process, by number of migrant students
3-9
29
3-10 Topics addressed in schoolwide planning process, by availability of MEP funds
Educational needs of all students and of migrant students only
33
4-1
36
Supplemental instruction for all students and for migrant students only
4-2
40
Support service needs of all students and of migrant students only
4-3
41
Support services for migrant students
4-4
43
Educational and support service needs of out-of-school youth
4-5
44
Services for out-of-school migrant youth
4-6
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Meeting the Needs of Migrant Students in Schoolwide Programs
10