Direct Student Services

Migrant Education Student Academies (MESA) are one-four week academic intervention programs held on school campuses throughout Monterey County during school breaks. The MESA program serves entering Kindergarten – 8th grade students through standards-aligned curriculum in Language Arts, English Language Acquisition, and Mathematics. The objective of MESA is for participating migrant students to be assessed for academic gaps in learning and receive targeted interventions thereby ensuring that they are ready for success when they return to school. MESA Programs are held during winter, spring and summer breaks. 

Additionally, the Migrant Education Program also provides extended day and Saturday academic services during the regular school year which are also known as “MESA” programs. These services generally focus on the academic subjects of English language arts, mathematics, and science. 

The Migrant Education Program is dedicated to improving the health status of the migrant children in Monterey County. The program helps migrant students obtain social services, medical and dental care for problems which hinder their academic success. Migrant Education coordinates with parents, schools, medical providers, dentists and community social service agencies to leverage the services to meet the various needs of the migrant students in Monterey County. Additionally, the regional office provides a series of family health workshops at regionally-run districts throughout the county. They include topics such as mental and physical health, and nutrition.

Home-based Program

The Home–Based Program operates March to October and consists of 12-week sessions. Parents and their preschool children are required to participate for one hour and fifteen minutes in weekly home visits. During this time, the teacher provides interactive activities to promote school readiness skills such as, but not limited to, phonemic awareness, math concepts, and literacy and fine motor skills. The purpose of the program is for teachers to model the teaching strategies they utilize during the home visits, and for parents to learn such strategies and use them to continue the learning at home with their own children.

Family Literacy Nights

Family literacy Nights are offered simultaneously with the home-based program by meeting twice during the 12-week period at a school site. These meetings consist of two 2-hour sessions where parents have the opportunity to participate in workshops such as:

• Understanding how children acquire language and what strategies and activities parents can do at home to promote language development
• Learning about what children need to know and master before entering kindergarten and how parents support their child at home to gain and practice all of the school readiness skills
• Learning about preschool age children's social-emotional development and gaining strategies to support a positive social-emotional development at home

While the parents participate in the workshops, the children have the opportunity to engage with other children and the MESRP teachers to learn and practice school readiness skills.

Family Biliteracy Program

This is a site-based family program that takes place during the winter (November to January). It is a 10-week program where the whole family is invited to participate once a week in a 2-hour program.

This program incorporates the migrant families into the school community. The whole family has the opportunity to participate and engage together in activities that promote learning opportunities for their preschool children. Parents have the opportunity to learn teaching strategies that can be replicated at home. Families learn about the importance of being biliterate and are empowered to maintain their home language.

The Mini-Corps Program provides tutoring to migratory students providing them with the academic and social support they need to succeed in their course work and stay in school. The tutors that work with these students come from a migrant family background and are full-time college students who are pursuing teaching credentials. Mini-Corps tutors work with migratory students during the school year and summer school as role models to strengthen the relationships among students, teachers, family members, and members of the community.

The Outdoor Education Program is offered to 90 fourth through eighth grade migrant students during a 5-day program in the summer. Outdoor Education is designed to provide migrant students with the opportunity to experience education as an alternative to the classroom setting. Students are exposed to science concepts in a natural setting that fosters student understanding of their life-sustaining relationship with planet earth, and emphasizes the commonalities and connections among human beings and ecology, plant life and the sciences. For more information please visit the Mini-Corps web page.

The Migrant Education Program provides educational services to migrant Out of School Youth (OSY) who have dropped out of school or have never attended school in the United States and are 16–21 years of age. The primary goal of the OSY services is to assist migrant young adults to recognize their educational potential and make them aware of what opportunities are available to them. OSY students qualify for services as self-qualifiers or if their parent/guardian meets eligibility criteria.

Direct services include a rich array of engaging workshops addressing issues such as life skills, educational opportunities, technology, and leadership. All of these workshops are thoughtfully laced with the types of community building activities that build confidence and supportive relationships. Support services for the OSY student include educational counseling, referrals to English as a Second Language, General Education Diploma and computer literacy classes, and medical/dental referrals based on individual needs.

The 13th Annual Speech & Debate Tournament will take place on Saturday, March 9, 2024.

The first Region XVI Speech and Debate Tournament was first held in March of 2010 and has since become an annual event. More than 200 sixth-twelfth grade migrant students compete in the local tournament every year and approximately 34 first place winners go on to compete in the State Speech and Debate Tournament in May (when a state tournament is held). Students begin to prepare for the tournament as early as December at their respective schools in small group instruction. The Speech and Debate Tournament offers migrant students an opportunity to compete academically in a safe and supportive environment. The tournament requires migrant students to sharpen their critical thinking, research and public speaking skills. In addition students must carefully organize information to develop compelling arguments and clearly express their thoughts and ideas grounding them in credible sources. Finally, the Speech and Debate Tournament fosters teamwork and self-confidence and teaches students to resolve conflicts using thoughtful and strategic language.

Coaches attend professional development sessions in December at which they explore the speech and debate topics, participate in mock debates and practice speeches, and gain knowledge on numerous tools, strategies and techniques to utilize during preparation sessions with students. Students attend a one-day regional training in January designed to build self-confidence, motivate learning, and expose them to specific techniques to guide their research and development of their topic.

In May 2024, Region XVI has the honor of hosting the 10th Annual State Migrant Speech and Debate Tournament.  Migrant students from across the state of California will come to Monterey, representing their schools, in the hopes of taking a few trophies back home.

For more information, please email Esther P. Medina, emedina@montereycoe.org.

Monterey County Office of Education, Science Technology Engineering and Math Academy

This is a four-week, all-expenses paid, residential summer school program. Students will experience living and studying at Fresno State University. The areas of study will include science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM). Students will understand the fields related to STEAM as well as careers available in each of these fields. Students will develop an understanding of the importance of these fields from the educational and professional standpoint. The program will provide intensive learning instruction and activities while additionally incorporating college awareness and preparation activities.