Important Dates
Title I-C Important Dates (pdf)
The U.S. Department of Education provides formula grants to states to establish or improve education programs for migratory children and youth. In turn, the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development provides grants to school districts to improve educational opportunities for migratory children to help them succeed in the regular school program, meet the challenging State academic standards that all children are expected to meet, and graduate from high school.
The primary goal of the Migrant Education Program is to ensure that all migratory children reach challenging academic standards and graduate with a high school diploma (or complete a GED) that prepares them for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment.
The purpose of the Migrant Education Program is to:
ESEA, Section 1301
Alaska’s migratory children are identified and recruited by trained migrant education staff in each school district. It is the primary role of the recruiter to determine potential eligibility.
In Alaska the term migratory child means a child or youth who is entitled to free public education or is not yet at grade level at which free public education is offered, made a qualifying move due to economic necessity across school district boundaries (or 20 or more miles to a temporary residence in a school district of more than 15,000 square miles) in the preceding 36 months:
Qualifying Move:
The term "qualifying move" means a move due to economic necessity —
ESEA, Section 1309(5)
Migratory Agricultural Worker:
The term ‘‘migratory agricultural worker’’ means an individual who made a qualifying move in the preceding 36 months and, after doing so, engaged in new temporary or seasonal employment or personal subsistence in agriculture, which may be dairy work or the initial processing of raw agricultural products. If an individual did not engage in such new employment soon after a qualifying move, such individual may be considered a migratory agricultural worker if the individual actively sought such new employment and has a recent history of moves for temporary or seasonal agricultural employment.
ESEA, Section 1309(2)
Migratory Fisher:
The term ‘‘migratory fisher’’ means an individual who made a qualifying move in the preceding 36 months and, after doing so, engaged in new temporary or seasonal employment or personal subsistence in fishing. If the individual did not engage in such new employment soon after the move, the individual may be considered a migratory fisher if the individual actively sought such new employment and has a recent history of moves for temporary or seasonal fishing employment.
ESEA, Section 1309(4)
The Alaska Migrant Education Program is based on three guiding documents required of all States. They are the Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA), the Service Delivery Plan (SDP), and the Evaluation Report.
The primary purpose of a CNA is to guide the overall design of the MEP on a statewide basis. Alaska’s most recent CNA was finalized in December 2018. The CNA committee identified four areas of need for the Alaska MEP: academic support in ELA and math, high school graduation, school readiness, and support services.
Comprehensive Needs Assessment (pdf)
States are required to develop a migrant-specific plan that will assist migratory children in making progress toward achievement of the State’s long-term goals and measurements of interim progress. This plan, known as the Service Delivery Plan (SDP), outlines the delivery and evaluation of the services provided to migratory children through their MEP. The SDP is developed from the results of an up-to-date statewide CNA. Alaska’s most recent Service Delivery Plan was updated as of February 2019.
States are required to determine the effectiveness of their Migrant Education Program (MEP) in a written evaluation report that measures the implementation and results of the program. Implementation evaluation focuses on the extent to which programs were delivered as intended. Evaluating program results involves focusing on measuring student performance against the State’s measurable program outcomes (MPOs) and the State’s performance targets. States use the results of the evaluation to improve the services provided to migratory children.
Districts that receive Title I-C funds carry out a variety of activities as a condition of participating in the program including, but not limited to:
It is a requirement that districts operating a local migrant education program have written processes for identification & recruitment, quality control, needs assessment, service delivery, and evaluation. Districts may choose to use a template that consolidates these required written procedures into one document.
District Level Guiding Documents Template (docx)
The identification & recruitment (ID&R) of migratory children is essential because the district must create a record of eligibility for each migratory child before he or she can receive any of the Migrant Education Program (MEP) educational or supportive services. The longer it takes a district to find a migratory child, the more time passes before the child receives the extra services he or she may need to succeed.
The criteria that all State educational agencies (SEAs) and local operating agencies (LOAs) must consider when determining if they may use MEP funds for a particular activity or (instructional or support) service is:
The Alaska Migrant Education State Parent Advisory Council meets annually and is comprised of members from six (6) regions in Alaska. The council helps the Department develop, implement and review plans for the state migrant education programs. Regional representatives are nominated on a three-year basis.
We are parents of migrant students whose purpose is to gather and share information on migrant education activities and support migrant families in their endeavors to raise children able to reach personal and academic goals. We make a difference by offering support to migrant parents and encouraging statewide programs that build confidence and skills in our migrant children for their futures.