Bridging Barriers with
Migrant Youth
A Presentation of
Engaged Scholarship Focused on Educational
Equity
Dr. Maria Timmons Flores
TESOL / Bilingual Education – Woodring College
Bridging Barriers with Migrant Youth
Migrant youth face many barriers in their pursuit of a
quality education. They come from families who are
poor and are often socially marginalized due to
language, culture, mobility and immigration status.
The Bilingual Pathways Initiative began with the
Participatory Action Research question: What are
the barriers to access that migrant/bilingual
students face, and how can we work together to
bridge them? This presentation will begin with the
barriers migrant students face, then will highlight the
programmatic bridges developed by students and
their advocates including Leadership Conferences,
Cross Age Tutoring, Cascading Mentorship, and
Service Learning.
“Every time we sit at a table to enjoy the fruits and grain and
vegetables from our good earth, remember that they come
from the work of men and women and children who have
been exploited for generations.”
~ César Chávez, Co-Founder, United Farm Workers
Participatory Action Research
What are the barriers to access that migrant/bilingual students
face, and how can we work together to bridge them?
Barriers to Educational Access
WWU
MYLC
Building
Bridges with
Migrant Youth
HS Class
Latinos in Action
MS Afterschool
Program
Migrant
Leadership
Who are the migrant workers?
 Global phenomena
 US Migrant Farmworkers come from many cultural
backgrounds: Hmong, Japanese, and Russian
Immigrants, Native American, and US born from
European Descendants.
 The Students in this Partnership:
Largely Latino, many from indigenous
communities in Latin America
Mix of Newcomers, Long Term Residents, and
Citizens
family
Immigration status may vary even within one
Vast majority are either Bilingual or Trilingual
US
US Federal Migrant Education Program
To Qualify for Migrant Status:
A student whose family moves for the purposes of work in
agriculture or fishing, at least once in a 3 year period.
Benefits:
Medical & Dental
National Database for School Records
Family Liaison and / or Graduations Specialists
Migrant Youth Leadership Program
College Access for Migrant Program
Barriers to Educational Access & Equity
The Achievement Gap
The Opportunity Gap
Ireland, L. (2009). Graduation and Dropout Statistics for Washington in 200708. Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Olympia, WA
Invisibility
According to the Migrant Education Program (MEP), this district
has 104 students identified as migrant and likely has a much larger
population if the district collaborated with MEP to identify them.
Barriers to Educational Access & Equity
“Among the children of immigrants, one of the
populations placed at greatest risk of not finishing
high school are the children of migrant
farmworkers. Although it is difficult to track
graduation rates for migrant students because of
their mobility, the U.S. Department of Education
estimates that only half of all the migrant children
finish high school.”
Gibson, Margaret A., & Hidalgo, Nicole D. (2009). Bridges to
success in high school for migrant youth. Columbia University
:Teachers College Record, 111, 683-711.
Barriers: The Opportunity Gap
 Poverty
 Mobility
 Cultural Differences
 Language Viewed as Problem to
overcome
 Institutional Knowledge
 Immigration Status - FEAR
 Invisibility – Safety to Tell Their Story
 Lack of Understanding: Schools & Families
If you really knew me….
Made by the Migrant Leaders
from La Venture & Mt. Baker Middle Schools
With their teacher and advocates
To help their teachers understand why
sometimes their homework was not done or
they seemed distracted in class…..
Contribution to Family
Children play a central role in the family, working both in and outside the home.
In these harsh economic
times, I have more students
dropping out much earlier
to work. They are leaving
school at 12 and 13 to
work full time because
their families can not
survive without their labor.
MS Migrant Graduation Specialist
Family First
 You have to understand that family comes
first in my community. We have a long
tradition of working the earth and a pride in
the knowledge we have passed on from
each generation. In my culture, you also
respect your parents and your family comes
before anything. It is not that my parents
don’t value education. They do and they
want me to be successful, but family will
always come first.
~ A WWU Mixteco Student
Giving Back
Why do you continue to work so hard to
succeed in school despite the challenges?
 So I can help my family.
 So I can give back to my community.
 I am one of the privileged ones, I need to pass
that on.
 My mom worked so hard for me, she gave up
her home, her country, her friends, so I could
have a better life here.
Bridges: The Design Principles
 Understand the Challenges Students Face
 Affirm Language and Culture as Assets
 Support Academic Language Development
 Recognize Resources within Communities
 Cultivate Opportunities for Success
 Build Positive Relationships
 Provide Support to Navigate Institutions
 Keep Hope Alive through Action

Build Partnerships with Parents
WWU Initiatives
 Migrant Youth Leadership Conference
 TESL 497 Building Bridges with Migrant Youth
 Service Learning in Migrant Communities
 Youth Community Action Projects
 AmeriCorps Retention Project Specialist
WWU Migrant Youth Leadership
Conferences
 Who: 100 students, 25 teachers &
community advocates, 60 WWU students, 20
WWU Faculty
 When: November & March
 What:
Experiential Leadership Curriculum
Workshops Designed to Bridge Barriers
Faculty Information Fair
Affirm Language & Culture as Assets
TESL 497: Bridging Barriers with Migrant Youth
 Research & practice related to supporting
students from migrant backgrounds
 Planning and teaching the MYLC
 Service learning in our partner programs
 Cultivating mentoring / advocacy skills
 Developing Critical Inquiry
 Cascading Mentorship
Youth Community Action Project
MS Migrant Leadership Project
GOAL: Educating Teachers & Community About
the Experiences of Immigrant Youth
 Papers: Public Showings & DREAM Act Talk
 If You Really Knew Me: What I would tell
teachers if I felt safe.
 Theatre of the Oppressed: Naming &
Addressing Challenges / Biases
 Anthology of Stories of Immigration: Turning
Pain into Power
MYL Benefits
 Safe Space for Sharing & Asking Questions
 Academic Language & Literacy Development
Embedded in Engaging Learning
 Agency: Identify challenges and means of
addressing them.
 Turning Pain into Power
 Sustaining Relationships with Teachers / Mentors
 Positive Cultural and Academic Identities
 School Retention & Success
Youth Community Action Project
Latinos in Action
 Academic HS Course
 Introduction to Theory,
Practice, Professionalism
and Equity in Education
 Places Bilingual HS Students
in Elementary Classrooms
as Teaching Assistants
 Provides Leadership
Opportunities in
Community
 College Course Alignment
& Credit
Opportunity to Lead
Benefits to Students
PESB: Recruiting Washington Teachers Evaluation
 Academic language and literacy development
embedded in meaningful and challenging work.
 Provides a community of support with peers.
 Both course readings and experiences affirm
language and culture as assets, personally and
professionally.
 Being a role model for younger students
motivates LIA students to do well academically.
 Teaching younger students provides authentic
responsibility and professional development.
Benefits (cont.)
 Service experience provides opportunities for LIA
students to interact with professionals in both schools
and in the community.
 The students’ accomplishments have inspired a shift in
teachers’/community’s perspectives of Latino students’
as leaders.
 The course provides first generation high school
graduates / college students exposure to higher
education options and support to gain access to
college.
 The LIA course has created new school identities that
support students to succeed without giving up their
culture, language, family or community.
 The course offers a school identity that is respected and
valued by peers.
From Heroic Effort to the Heart of Education
 Understand the Challenges Students Face
 Affirm Language and Culture as Assets
 Support Academic Language Development
 Recognize Resources within Communities
 Cultivate Opportunities for Success
 Build Positive Relationships
 Provide Support to Navigate Institutions
 Keep Hope Alive through Action

Build Partnerships with Parents