|
|
|
Oregon Migrant Education Service Center
What is Oregon’s Migrant Education Service Center? The Oregon Migrant Education Service Center (MESC) is the educational support agency of the Oregon Department of Education's Migrant Education Program. It serves as an umbrella organization in coordinating services to the Oregon projects funded under Title I, Part C of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which reauthorized ESEA. The primary objective of the MESC is to assist school districts that enroll eligible migrant students with supplementary technical assistance. The MESC, in cooperation with the area coordinators and their staffs, provides professional development to assist all migrant education staff to perform more adequately in serving the needs of migrant children. The Center also functions as a liaison with other agencies providing services to migrant children. Oregon’s MESC provides a number of support services for the program statewide. These include the following:
The MISSION of the Oregon Migrant Education Service
Center is to assist Oregon’s migrant education programs in improving
the education of migrant children and families through comprehensive,
high quality technical assistance and guidance. What is the Migrant Education Program? It is a national program that provides supplemental education and support services to eligible migrant children to help them overcome the educational disruptions and disadvantages they face. The Migrant Education Program grew out of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 which became Title I of Public Law 89-10. Congress recognized migrant children as a disadvantaged group whose high mobility and unique lifestyles created severe educational needs, thus the Migrant Education Program was established separately by an amendment to Title I in 1966. This law was reauthorized in 1981 by Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act, and later in 1988, under Public Law 100-297. In 1994, Congress reauthorized ESEA by passing the Improving America's Schools Act, Public Law 102-387. The Migrant Education Program is currently authorized under Title I, Part C of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Public Law 107-110. Oregon's children of migrant farm workers face a myriad of academic, health and social problems due to their mobile lifestyle. For many of them, English is a second, and sometimes third, language. The dropout rate is high. In many cases the migrant student also contributes to the family's economic well-being by working or by caring for younger brothers and sisters while the parents are at work. Children between the ages of 3-21 who have moved with a parent, guardian, or spouse to seek or obtain agricultural or fishery labor, within the last three years, are eligible for Migrant Education Program services. Currently, migratory students (those who have moved within the past 12 months) receive the highest priority for services. At this time, migrant education program services are available in 24 local projects in Oregon. The major concentrations of migrant students are being served; however, migrant patterns are changing within the state and surveys are continuously being conducted to determine whether additional areas have major concentrations of children needing services. Services provided at the local and state level include the following:
The U.S. Department of Education allocates funds
to the individual states based on each state's identified migrant population.
Oregon has responsibility for allocating its funds to areas or districts
where migrants are identified, then approving and supervising the projects
and services provided by those districts. The states work together to
assure continuity. Oregon Migrant Education Contacts
Oregon Migrant Education Organization Chart |
|||||
|
|
||||||
|
Copyright, 2004, Willamette Education Service District 
|
||||||