Migrant / Bilingual Education

Sherry Meyer

Elizabeth French

The Van Buren Intermediate Migrant/Bilingual Education Program has one resource teacher, Ms. Meyer, working in Covert.  Now that Covert has over 200 migrant and/or bilingual students per year, from Kindergarten to 12^th grade, there is a great demand for staff who can meet the special needs of students whose native language is other than English.

Students enrolling in Covert are identified as bilingual by the Home Language Survey.  Then Ms. Meyer, the migrant/bilingual resource teacher, administers a Bilingual Verbal Ability Test to analyze language dominance and ability.  Covert also looks at reading ability to determine placement in the bilingual program.  Ms. Meyer and Van Buren Intermediate School District staff interview parents to determine if families qualify for the migrant program.  Families must have moved in to the area and work or seek work in seasonal agricultural positions in order to qualify.  Although Covert does not have many families who migrate back and forth from Texas each year, there are many families who depend on the agricultural industry for support.

Ms. Meyer teaches two ESL classes, one at the middle/high level and one for 5^th and 6^th graders.  She also works with monolingual students to help them achieve in their content area classes.  In addition, she works with staff, administration and parents as an advocate, counselor and translator.