HACER

This report presents the results of research into factors that contribute to successful educational outcomes for Latino students in Minnesota high schools. The Chicano-Latino Affairs Council (CLAC) and the Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) partnered with Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER) as part of a larger initiative to more successfully
leverage the potential of Minnesota’s Latino students to contribute to the state’s overall economy and wellbeing. 1 This initiative is based on data showing that Minnesota’s rapidly growing Latino population is poised to support the state’s future success in a globalized economy if we tap into the intercultural knowledge and language skills that have been historically underutilized. Central to
this initiative is the goal of improving high school graduation rates, lowering dropout rates, and
expanding college enrollment of Latino youth, thereby allowing them to develop the skills required
in today’s workforce.

Migrant students are among the most educationally disadvantaged students in the United States public school system. In 2005, the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) contracted Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER) to conduct a
Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA) for migrant students in Minnesota. In an effort to move away from a deficit-based approach to discussing the needs of migrant students, the project was titled Securing the Educational Accomplishments of Migrant Students (SEAMS). The purpose of this project was to describe the particular context of migrant students in Minnesota, identify and prioritize their specific needs, and finally, highlight their unique strengths. This
project also aimed to create recommendations for how the Migrant Education Program (MEP) in
Minnesota can best help migrant students succeed in school. The data and analyses presented here draw on the experience and expertise of service providers working with Minnesota’s migrant population. Most importantly, however, this study foregrounds the voices and insights of migrant parents and migrant students in the state.

Under the Migrant Education Program (MEP), state education departments in the United States receive federal funds to support the education of migrant children. The level of MEP funding dispersed to a particular school district depends on the
number of eligible migrant students identified in that district. In 2005 the
Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) contracted Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER) to implement a reinterview process to evaluate prior eligibility determinations for MEP. MDE hired
HACER to conduct a similar re-interview process in 2006. Over the summer of 2006, HACER conducted re-interviews with the families of students previously
identified as eligible for the program. This report describes HACER’s research methodology for the 2006 re-interviews, explains the eligibility determination process, and estimates the ineligibility rate (i.e. the “defect rate”) of identified migrant students in Minnesota. The report concludes with a discussion of findings and a series of recommendations to MDE.