Washington migrant educators share insights at national conference

 Many migrant educators, parents and students from Washington state shared their experience and insights at the National Migrant Education Conference, held this year in Denver.

Among the best-attended workshops offered during the conference was one conducted by Patricia Eastwood, program facilitator for the Office of Secondary Education for Migrant Youth in Sunnyside.

Eastwood was assisted by numerous students, educators and parents from around the state. These included Ray Alaniz, migrant parent services coordinator for the North Central Migrant Education Regional Office (MERO); Susanne Reyes, a Brewster parent; Melissa Hernandez, a family communication specialist with Wenatchee School District; and Brewster High School students Alina Rosario, Hortensia Rios, Laura Bohorquez, Irma Acosta and Diego Mendez.

 As part of the “Nine Strategies for Secondary School-Age Migrant Student Success” workshop, Eastwood and her group discussed how SEMY effectively administers state and local Student Leadership Program (SLP) conferences.

The nine key strategies, they said, were to:

·        Create a WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT.

·        Have HIGH EXPECTATIONS.

·        Provide RECOGNITION OF STUDENT WORK.

·        Establish a RIGOROUS AND RELEVANT CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION.

·        Work through a GROUP PROCESS.

·        Facilitate STUDENT-CENTERED LEARNING.

·        Achieve FAMILY INVOLVEMENT.

·        Develop COMMUNITY COLLABORATION.

·        Foster a VISION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.

 

The Student Leadership Program began with an annual state conference, but is now spreading across the state with numerous local and regional conferences.

“Our program has evolved as school districts have said, ‘Let us bring this program home!’” says Eastwood.

The migrant students involved in the presentation demonstrated the leadership and communication skills they had developed, thanks in part to the Student Leadership Program. They led those attending the workshop in fun learning activities, including “Chaos,” which helps participants experience the difficulty of adapting to change.

Overall, the workshop leaders explained how the SLP program teaches students, and in some cases their parents, how to develop relationships, understand their own potential, make good choices, set goals, solve problems, and create and accomplish action plans to achieve success.

Alaniz explained how the Brewster migrant students inspired him as they worked with school districts and community agencies to develop various service projects.

“These students taught me to work with the community. They are more aggressive than I am,” Alaniz says.

He laughs about some of their service learning experiences, such as the time they baked dozens of cookies for people in a local nursing home, only to find out that most of the residents could not eat cookies because of diabetes and other ailments. The students had a lot of cookies to eat themselves.

Susanne Reyes, a Brewster parent, participated in the Student Leadership Program when she was a teenager and is now watching the program bless her own children.

“The skills we learned in the Student Leadership Program, I now use with the PAC (Parent Advisory Committee). I would like to see more parents involved,” she said.

Melissa Hernandez, another former SLP participant, is now a family communication specialist, working with parents and with at-risk students.

These students, she says, face great obstacles to success, “but they have hope. They have come to the Land of Opportunity.”

SLP exposes students to powerful goal-setting and problem-solving techniques, which she uses with her at-risk middle school students. She has helped develop an annual Leadership Skills & Career Fair. Many of the participating students who were considering dropping out of school are now declaring, “I’m going to college!”

The Brewster students helping present the national workshop represented the state well.

“Keep going at the students. Sometimes they act out and act like they don’t care, but they will thank you later,” said student Irma Acosta.

Laura Bohorquez added, “Just encourage them. They may have to start at a junior college, but they can do it.”

“My parents only went to second and third grade. These students need more support,” explained Alina Rosario.

And student Diego Mendez urged educators to do what the SLP does – “Give migrant students hope. That’s what they need. A teacher really needs to give them support. Then, like sunflowers, they will raise up and open up when they are hit by the rays of the sun, and they will blossom.”

Evaluations by those who packed the workshop beyond capacity were very positive. “Great presentation by students showed how the strategies work in developing students as leaders,” wrote one. "Excellent presentation, hearing from all of the stakeholders and how it has impacted student success,” wrote another.

Making the presentation with the students, parents and other migrant educators is an extension of what the SLP is all about, working together “to discover and practice new ways to communicate, learn, and serve in each other's growth,” says Eastwood.

 

HERITAGE CAMP BOOSTS RETENTION TOOLS

Miguel Puente, director of the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) at Heritage University, led two discussions at the conference – one about effective retention of college-level migrant students and another about the general effectiveness of CAMP.

Also participating in the presentation were Beth Richter, senior director of retention solutions for the Noel-Levitz consulting firm, and Jaquelin Herrera, CAMP.coordinator at Heritage.

The first presentation focused on a survey, analysis and database system that allows the college staff to gather information from CAMP students to help staff understand each student’s individual needs and challenges -- and their degree of openness to get assistance to overcome their barriers.

The effectiveness of the program is measured by the percentage of students who re-enroll at the university and keep pursuing their career dreams. The system helps the CAMP staff serve their students better and provide them a sense of hope that they can achieve their dreams despite the challenges.

“When people believe your institution can help them build a better career, a better life, a better future, and if they keep it in their mind’s eye, it will keep them in college,” says Richter.

She says that is especially important for those first-generation college students, where no one in the family has ever gone to college before.

The first three weeks for freshmen migrant students are really hard, Richter says. “It is something like culture shock.”

Workshop participants – many involved in CAMP at other colleges – helped create a list of appropriate adjectives for how the students feel.

 

The participants also suggested information CAMP counselors and directors could use to assist each student on an individualized basis:

 

Essentially all these are built into the information system created for Heritage CAMP officials.

“It’s all about how you to help migrant students become at ease in their minds so they can get where they need to get and become successful,” says Herrera.

The College Student Inventory (CSI) given to each student individually gathers basic data, as well as psychological profile information.

CAMP services a high proportion of students at Heritage, situated on the Yakama Indian Reservation near Toppenish. CAMP’s 182 freshmen students represent 23 percent of the entire undergraduate student body. While just starting college, they average 24 years of age, and 82 percent of them work full time while attending school.

About 95 percent of the CAMP students are Hispanic, compared with 37 percent of the student population overall, and most of their parents have less than an elementary education certificate.

“They don’t have anyone to connect to, to help them at home,” says Herrera.

Before they instituted the new assessment system, they were reactive in providing student support rather than proactive, Herrera says, and the results showed they were not being very effective in their assistance and, thus, in their student retention.

Students typically come to the office before college classes begin in order to fill out the questionnaire and meet with a CAMP counselor individually. It takes about 30-45 minutes to fill out the computer-analyzed CSI survey and leads naturally into an individualized orientation, addressing the students’ specific needs.

Herrera admits she wasn’t fully convinced how effective the new program would be when they first began, but now she would never voluntarily switch back.

 “You don’t understand how much easier it is for me to have this information while working with these students day in and day out. It makes the work so much easier,” she says. “To make sure we gathered this information for all students, we made it a requirement. It was pretty much part of the enrollment process.”

The computer analysis points out key strengths and weakness to address with each student. It may show a student had low high school grades, has a young child at home, has to work full-time, has a low trust of educators and little family emotional support. But it may show strengths as being high motivation to succeed, high receptivity to assistance, good coping skills and above-average intellectual interests.

It allows Herrera to meet with the students and tailor a plan of success specifically for each student, she says. It opens the door for discussion of critical issues specifically facing that student.

“Together we come up with a plan, and that plan becomes a piece you can follow up on,” Herrera says. “Every area of concern we address in the individual plan – and the student is part of it. If you want it to be successful, the student has to be involved in it.”

The CSI assessment also ends up saving students time that staff might otherwise take addressing problems or explaining programs that are not relevant to that student, says Puente.   

“We are only talking to them about what they need to know,” he says.

The university is taking note of CAMP’s success and pondering why such a program cannot be set up for all of its students.

Herrera says it is important to work with college to help students be successful. “After all, you only have those students for one year,” then the students transition into the mainstream university program.

With the new program, “you can really see the progress of the students, and you develop a relationship with the individual students,” Herrera says. “The students are saying, ‘They really care about me.’”

Puente says the $7.50 cost per student “is very reasonable and allows you to work smarter not harder.”

“Thinking about what I did in the past and the time I was spending getting the information, this is a steal,” Herrera says. “I get the information right away. It just sets it all up for you. I wouldn’t go back.”

In a second workshop, Puente helped share statistical results of data gathered with the College Student Inventory from CAMP programs at nine colleges and universities, representing 12 percent of the nation’s CAMP students.

Participating colleges included Boise State University, Central Washington University, Crowder College, Heritage University, Lewis-Clark State College, Our Lady of the Lake University, St. Edward’s University, TSTC Harlingen, and West Texas A&M University.

According to the student assessment, CAMP students are significantly more motivated and dedicated to completing their college degree than those not in the program.

About 98 percent of the CAMP students said they have a “strong desire” to continue their education, and are “quite determined” to finish a degree; 95 percent said they are “strongly dedicated” to finishing college, no matter what; and 96 percent said they are “deeply committed” to their educational goals. These scores are 5-10 percentage points above the norm.

CAMP students also shared more positive feelings toward educators – again 5-10 percentage points above the norm.

But the students also face major obstacles to success.

Academically, only about one-third (36%) of respondents say they have a “very good” grasp of scientific ideas they’ve studied; over half (59%) say they have a hard time understanding and solving complex math problems; and a third (33%) say they have “great difficulty” concentrating on schoolwork.

Financially, only about one-quarter (28%) of respondents believe they have the financial resources they need to finish college, and 40 percent openly admit they have “distracting and troublesome” financial problems.

On the positive side, the vast majority of CAMP students are open to receiving counseling and assistance to address these problems.

Over two-thirds (71%) want to talk to someone about getting a part-time job; 78 percent want to receive help in improving math skills; 90 percent want help selecting an educational plan that will prepare them for a job; and 90 percent want instruction on the most effective way to take exams.

With the help of the CSI assessment, CAMP takes advantage of students’ desire for assistance by providing special counseling and classes.

 

MIGRANT HEALTH PROGRAM EXPLAINED

Mike Taylor, the state supervisor of the Migrant Education Health Program, explained to his workshop participants the disparities between health care for migrant students and other students, and how poor health care can undermine a student’s success in school.

He also detailed how in Washington state he has established a network of collaborative partnerships involving schools, health providers, social services and parent groups to help migrant students get the care they need at no or very low cost.

Addressing the needs of migrant students and other low-income students is vital, Taylor says.

Over 40 percent of all children under 12 in the United States are growing up in low-income families, he points out.

“I knew there was some disparity in health care, but until I got involved, I really didn’t understand the degree of the problem,” Taylor says.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs demonstrates that people who are struggling to survive, who are focused on their physical needs, find it difficult to achieve higher-level goals, he says.

Poverty has a major impact on children.

Taylor cites a review of research in which N.K. Cauthen concludes: “Poverty is associated with negative outcomes for children. It can impede children’s cognitive development and their ability to learn. It can contribute to behavioral, social, and emotional problems. And poverty can lead to poor health among children, as well. Research also indicates that the risks posed by poverty are greatest among children who experience poverty when they are young and among children who experience persistent and deep poverty. We can no longer afford to ignore child poverty in America.”

Ultimately, it is in society’s best interest to do whatever is necessary to help children fulfill their potential, Taylor says. He quotes anthropologist Margaret Mead:

“The solution of adult problems tomorrow depends in large measure upon the way our children grow up today. There is no greater insight into the future than recognizing when we save our children, we save ourselves,” Taylor quotes.

Taylor says he focuses his effort on developing partnerships with non-profit health care organizations.

“I don’t like to work with any group unless they are non-profit because non-profits have a mission statement,” he says.

Such agencies also typically receive federal funds specifically to address the health needs of low-income residents. But even with the mission and the funding, the connection between the health agencies and the migrant students doesn’t seem to occur without someone to act as a catalyst.

“If you don’t have a person like me to go out and help refocus the efforts of the federally funded clinics, it just doesn’t happen, “ he says. “They don’t have time to do it.”

The health clinics agree to provide free health screenings for migrant children, frequently within the public schools.

High-risk health problems found during these screenings are: dental diseases, hearing disorders, visual problems, heart murmurs, anemia, obesity, abnormal physiological development, positive tuberculosis tests, asthma, and skin problems.

Once such problems are identified, Taylor tries to find financial assistance to address the ailments. The clinics donate a lot of treatment free, or make it available on a low sliding scale. In addition, Taylor helps secure additional funding for migrant children from a variety of state agencies. The funding agencies vary from state to state, but in Washington the funding for health care needs of low-income children comes through Medicaid, the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program and Basic Health.

This is needed because, according to Taylor, the number of families without health insurance is growing. Among white families, 11 percent have no health insurance. But among Hispanics, 33 percent have no health insurance. Other ethnic groups fall somewhere in between.

 

OTHER WASHINGTON PRESENTERS

Other workshop presenters from Washington state included Thomas Romero and Dalia Candanoza of MERO 105 in Yakima, discussing the success of the state’s Migrant Mentor School Project.

Romero and Candanoza described the success of the program, how to identify schools that will benefit from the mentor relationship, how to conduct school need assessments; how to create appropriate goals for student achievement; how to implement and sustain an appropriate staff development model; and how to develop trust and strong partnerships between schools and parents.

Linda Roberts, director of SEMY and chair of the National PASS Coordinating Committee, helped with a workshop about the PASS semi-independent curriculum. PASS courses are designed for migrant students to make up work they miss as their families follow the crops or return to Mexico for the winter.

Gene Schmidt and other educators and parents from the Bridgeport School District discussed “popcorn literacy” strategies that have helped that district’s migrant students to excel.