The federal Migrant Education Program expanded its mission several years ago to include out-of-school immigrant youths, but only a small amount of that program’s funds spent in California are used for such students, according to researchers at the Public Policy Institute of California.
In both a research brief and a study, the researchers report that the federal migrant education pro-gram has influenced the educational progress of the “little-noticed” group “only slightly.”
The researchers define out-of-school immigrant youths as young people born abroad, ages 13 to 22, who don’t have a high school diploma or General Educational Development certificate. To improve the prospects of such youths, who typically work in agriculture or in low-skilled service jobs, policymakers need to look beyond traditional schools and teaching methods, the authors say.
The research brief, “California’s Out-of-School Immigrant Youth: A Vulnerable Minority,” and the study, “Out-of-School Immigrant Youth” are available from the Public Policy Institute of California.
