Migrant Students: Resources for Migrant Children Similar to Other Students but Achievement Still Lags

摘要

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 focused national attention on the importance of ensuring each childs access to equal educational opportunity. The law seeks to improve the performance of schools and the academic achievement of all students without regard to economic or other disadvantage. The heightened challenge of the acts new accountability requirements is ensuring that all schools provide all children with a quality public education. Research has shown that socioeconomic status is a predictor of student achievement and that students living in high poverty areas are more likely than other poor student to fall below basic performance levels. Research shows that migrant students are often from low-income families and often live in high-poverty areas. In addition, they often have other risk factors in common with other disadvantaged students, such as poor health and language difficulties. However, migrant children are among the most educationally disadvantaged children in the country and face additional academic challenges particular to their situation, such as disruption of education, poor record-keeping between schools, cultural and language barriers, and social isolation. These challenges are even more acute for schools and school districts serving large numbers of migrant children.