Harrisburg, PA - Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Executive Deputy Secretary Angela Fitterer today congratulated Pennsylvania’s Migrant Education Program (MEP) students for earning a high school diploma or Commonwealth Secondary School Diploma during the 2023 Migrant Education Program Graduation Ceremony.
This year’s celebration was held at HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, with the theme, Education Without Borders—Let Learning Flow for Academic Success. Most of the graduates are pursuing postsecondary studies, while others are immediately entering the workforce, including the military
“Pennsylvania’s Migrant Education Program serves more than 4,000 students and their families each year, providing them with the services and support they need to receive a world-class education that fits their lives,” said Executive Deputy Secretary Fitterer. “PDE thanks the field staff, school districts, intermediate units, and community partners who make this program possible; we applaud the families of these students who support them; and we celebrate the graduates who worked so hard for this achievement.”
MEP is a federally funded program that supplements educational support services for migratory children. The program assists school districts and charter schools in coordinating the continuity of educational services for children who have had their schooling interrupted and provides formula grants to state educational agencies to establish or improve education programs for migrant children.
Since its inception in 1966, the program has served more than 350,000 students from birth to age 22.
MEP provides services to students with unique educational needs due to their mobile lifestyles, the short spans of instruction they received in the classroom, the discontinuity of instruction between states, and their lack of “belonging” to any one school. To lessen the impact of these specific variables, MEP was tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that migrant students:
- Receive appropriate educational and support services that address their special needs in a coordinated and efficient manner;
- Receive services that help reduce the educational disruptions and other problems that result from repeated moves;
- Overcome the challenges of mobility, cultural and language barriers, social isolation, and other factors associated with a migratory life, to succeed in school, and to successfully transition to postsecondary education or employment;
- Are not penalized by disparities among the States in curriculum, graduation requirements, and State academic content and student academic achievement standards;
- Receive full and appropriate opportunities to meet state content and student performance standards that all children are expected to meet; and
- Benefit from state and local systemic reform.
The program ensures that all migrant students achieve challenging academic standards and graduate with a high school diploma (or complete a GED), and upon graduation are prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment. To achieve that mission, MEP provides after-school and summer programs, in-home programs and health and social support services, parental involvement, advocacy, and enrichment programs.
For more information on the Pennsylvania Department of Education, please visit the website or follow PDE on Instagram Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Pinterest.
MEDIA CONTACT: Taj Magruder, tmagruder@pa.gov
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