Migrant Education Program

In Texas, migrant children and youth are identified and recruited for the Migrant Education Program (MEP) through a face to face interview process.

A Certificate of Eligibility (COE) form is completed during each interview. The COE is an official, legal document that contains all the information needed to determine eligibility.

By enrolling eligible students in the MEP

• Recruiters help migrant students obtain education assistance they need
• Migrant students have more resources available to help lessen the negative educational consequences associated with migration
• Recruiters have the opportunity to connect migrant children to the greatest number of educational services.

Specific conditions in order to be considered a migratory child.

• WHO
  • Is the child under the age of 22?
  • Is the child lacking a U.S. issued  high school diploma or equivalency certificate?
  • Is the child, or does the child have a parent, guardian or a spouse who is, a migratory agricultural worker or migratory fisher?
• WHAT
  • What is the qualifying temporary employment or seasonal employment in agriculture or fishing?
• WHERE
  • Did the family move due to economic necessity from one school district to another?
• WHY
  • Was one of the purposes of the move to seek or obtain qualifying work?
• WHEN
  • Did the child move on his/her own or move to accompany, or join a parent, spouse or guardian, within the preceding 36 months?

If the answer to all of these questions is "Yes," then a qualifying move has been made and the child(ren) is (are) eligible for recruitment into the MEP.

The Region 7 Education Center Out of School Youth (OSY) recruiting program is designed to assist migrant young men and women who dropped out of school for whatever reason to work in the farms, fields, dairies or fisheries. 

This program will help these individuals obtain assistance and information about going back to school. If going back to school is not an option, then our staff will assist them in taking advantage of different options available to them within the community including getting enrolled in GED ESL classes.

The OSY Migrant Program assists young people who may not have had the opportunity to complete high school due to economic necessity that may have resulted from a variety of reasons including the need to help their parents financially, pregnancy or parenting, or moving to the United States from another country. Our staff strive to help these individuals understand that obtaining their high school diploma or GED is still a possibility for them and will allow them to have the opportunity to obtain a higher-paying job.

This program is also directed to migrants who are here to work and have never been enrolled in school. For those who are unable to enroll in school due to a daytime work schedule, then they have the option to go to night school to learn English and take GED classes. In some cases, the GED exam is given in Spanish. 

Region 7 Migrant and OSY programs are trying to reach all communities in the region to make them aware of the benefits of these two programs that are reaching out to the most vulnerable side of our communities such as the migrant workers who moved around in order to get jobs in agriculture, dairies and or fish farms.

We encourage migrant families who have young people who are not enrolled in school to fill out our OSY survey so that our staff can better assist them in taking advantage of the educational, financial and work opportunities available to them. In addition to assisting these youth in enrolling in school or a GED program, we will also provide eligible youth with school materials, school clothes, immunizations, and vision and dentist office visits as needed.

To be eligible for the OSY services, individuals must meet the following requirements:

• Be under the age of 22
• Changed school districts in the last 36 months
• The youth or one or both parents must hold some type of agricultural work that may include plant farms, fisheries, poultry farms, dairies, cattle ranches, and field work picking vegetables and/or fruits.

Let us help you!

We want to help you, but first we need a little more information. Click on the images below to access a quick survey. Once you complete and submit the survey, Tara Evers will contact you and let you know how we can help.

1. EDUCATIONAL CONTINUITY – Due to the mobility of many migrant students, they often face differences in curriculum, academic standards, homework policies and classroom routines, as well as inconsistent course placement.
2. INSTRUCTIONAL TIME – Family mobility and delays in enrollment procedures may impact attendance patterns and the amount of time migrant students spend engaged in learning.
3. SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT – Migrant students often face difficulties associated with adjusting to new school settings, making new friends and gaining social acceptance, issues which can be grouped according to (a) behavioral engagement, which relates to opportunities for participation in academic, social or extracurricular activities; (b) emotional engagement, which relates to positive and negative reactions to teachers, classmates, academic materials and school, in general; and (c) cognitive engagement, which relates to investment in learning and may be a response to expectations, relevance and cultural connections.
4. ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT -  Many migrant students have a home language other than English and may face language barriers which impact content area learning.  However, in this particular area, it is important to note that providing MEP-funded services to meet needs related to a student’s limited English proficiency is rarely appropriate, due to the high risk of supplanting activities more appropriately funded through State Bilingual/ESL, or when appropriate, Title III or other Federal programs.
5. EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT IN THE HOME – While many migrant parents value education very highly for their children, they may not have the educational resources or knowledge to provide the support expected by school staff.
6. HEALTH – Migrant children face higher proportions of dental, nutritional, acute and chronic health problems than non-migrant children and are more likely to be uninsured and have difficulty accessing health care to address health problems which are interfering with a student’s ability to succeed in school.
7. ACCESS TO SERVICES – As a result of language barriers or the mobile family’s newcomer status, migrant children and families often face difficulties accessing educational and educationally-related services to which they are entitled.