Innovative Strategies for Out-of-school and Secondary Youth (iSOSY)

Innovative Strategies for Out-of-school and Secondary Youth (iSOSY) is a consortium of 18 states including Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas (Lead State) Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Vermont. Migratory out-of-school youth (OSY) and secondary youth at-risk of dropping out experience substantial barriers to academic participation such as high mobility with numerous educational interruptions, limited English language skills, homelessness, inflexible work schedules, absence of a parent/guardian, and limited prior schooling. The goal of iSOSY is to improve the delivery of MEP instructional services, with an emphasis on engagement and summer instruction, and to increase the educational attainment of OSY and secondary students at-risk of dropping out. The consortium will also work towards identifying the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and providing resources to assist states to address identified needs. Major activities related to objectives include providing online instruction in synchronous and asynchronous formats; ensuring OSY and at-risk secondary students have access to devices capable of accessing academic content; determining needs and goals through focus groups and goal-setting workshops; and providing training and information about assessment materials to determine initial academic and English language skills. Professional Learning Circles will ensure implementation of initiatives in states including Student Portal, summer youth academies, live lessons, certificates, goal setting, life skills, early learning development, and personal wellness.

Migratory Parent Empowerment Consortium Plus (MPEC+)

The Migratory Parent Empowerment Consortium Plus (MPEC+) is a consortium of 8 states including Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah (Lead State), Virginia, and Washington. The consortium proposes to strengthen the involvement of migratory parents in the education of their children and address the impact of COVID-19 on migratory students’ reading and mathematics skills. MPEC+ is committed to sharing and disseminating the resources developed through MPEC+ to support states in their efforts to promote greater parental involvement and support to migratory students. Key to disseminating MPEC+ resources is the Migrant Literacy Net (MLN) website which is available to all states at no cost. The website has portals for teachers, students, and parents that include evidence-based strategies/lessons and reading/math screeners and tutorials that can be assigned by educators/parents to address student learning gaps. Tutorials and screeners can be accessed on any device by students anytime, anywhere there is cellular service or Wi-Fi. Capacity building activities will include training for staff and parent advocacy teams on parental involvement and using the reading/math resources on the MLN to address learning gaps caused by the pandemic; training of trainers to increase staff capacity; and recorded training placed on the MLN website.

Identification & Recruitment Consortium-2 (IDRC-2)

Identification & Recruitment Consortium-2 (IDRC-2) is a consortium of 33 states including KS (Lead State), AL, AZ, AR, CO, DE, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, SC, TX, VT, VA, and WI. The consortium seeks to improve the proper and timely identification and recruitment (ID&R) of eligible migratory children whose education is interrupted and strengthen cross-agency coordination and community engagement to advance systemic change in ID&R. To achieve its goal of improving ID&R, IDRC-2 will design innovative solutions for ID&R; create resources, materials, and products to build the capacity of ID&R staff; improve the existing infrastructure of ID&R in the IDRC-2 states; provide individualized rapid response solutions to ID&R; and disseminate evidence-based, effective resources to build state and local capacity to support and conduct ID&R. The IDRC-2 website will be key to disseminating CIG materials, products, and resources. The website contains information about upcoming events (e.g., Summer Recruitment Institute, Data Summit); CIG-specific items (forms, contacts); resources (newsletters, ID&R tools, resources/tools for recruiters, state ID&R plans, state profiles); portals (recruiter learning, agriculture, resources); training resources and recordings; and a “What’s New” section featuring the most recent activities/resources (e.g., monthly scenarios, webinars, resources).

IMPACT: Family Engagement for Student Success

IMPACT: Family Engagement for Student Success is a consortium of 8 states including Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Montana, and Pennsylvania (Lead State). The consortium will work towards increasing and improving family engagement for student learning using evidence-based research and practices. IMPACT states will focus on sustainable family engagement that is specifically tied to improving student development with language and literacy, numeracy and math, and high school graduation/college and career readiness. IMPACT’s activities are uniquely designed for more comprehensive family engagement to support student learning that moves states beyond the traditional family literacy night or family potluck for networking to really empower parents to know more about what kids are expected to know and be able to do and how to help their children be more successful in school. IMPACT will work closely with Pennsylvania’s Evidence Resource Center (ERC) as a key partner who will assist with the identification of evidence-based family engagement strategies to explore with the Technical Support Team members for implementation by member state MEP staff. Resources will be disseminated through the consortium’s website of materials for both MEP staff, migratory families, and parent groups. It will include pertinent newsletters, special announcements and links to state and national trainings and conferences, along with information for parents and families including educational materials and resources.