It's 5 a.m. in Salinas, California. Farm workers line up in the only lit building, the bathroom, to receive their baskets. As they disperse to different parts of the dark strawberry fields, Enrique DeGregori accompanies one worker interviewing him as they walk to see if he has a school-aged child. He takes down the required information on a pen tablet, the only source of light in the dark.
In California, 257,000 students ages 3 to 21 qualify for migrant education services—specialized instructional and support services for students whose families work in the agricultural and dairy business. But many of these children receive no education as their families move to follow the crops. DeGregori and the four migrant education recruiters under his supervision go into the fields and packing sheds throughout Monterey County following alongside equipment operators and crop pickers to determine if they have a child who needs to go to school.
Monterey County, one of 22 Migrant Education Regions in California, has more than 25,000 students in the migrant education program. Jorge Jasso, Program Administrator at the County Office of Education, explains that many of these students are found through traditional school enrollment or staff referrals. But many students drop out of school to work in the fields, have not re-enrolled since a recent move, or have never registered for any educational programs. To enroll these students into the local school, community-based recruiters interview farm workers and complete a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) for each potential student.
From Paper to Handheld Computer
Not only is the process of collecting the necessary data difficult, so, too, is entering it on the COE. "They're doing the COE on the fly—doing it quickly on the workers' breaks—and the forms are subject to mistakes," says Jasso. And many times information gathered and entered is found to duplicate the County Office of Education's database, he adds.
To streamline the process of community-based recruitment, five Migrant Education Regions are piloting the use of a pen tablet from September to November. The study, funded by the California Department of Education and conducted by WestEd's Technology in Education (TIE) Program, will report its findings by the end of this year.
"This project is re-examining the whole paper-driven process and developing new approaches that could potentially streamline the processes of identification, recruitment, and data entry," says Project Director Jacinto Salazar. "We also intend to provide easy access to electronic resources that can aid recruiters with their day-to-day responsibilities."
Increased Efficiency May Mean Faster Services for Kids
In the first weeks of field testing, DeGregori has seen some "bugs" such as bright sunlight which makes the screen difficult to see. Also, some of the standardized form needs to be reformatted to make better use of the technology, and the short two-hour battery life is troublesome when recruiters have to wait indefinitely for a worker to become available.
But the benefits are significant, and the "potential is big," he observes. Farm workers, who do not know their street address, can locate it on the map shown on the tablet's display (Microsoft Streets and Trips). And if a family member has already been interviewed, the information is automatically pulled from the database saving time and increasing accuracy, he says.
Jasso adds that at the end of the day, the recruiter docks the tablet and downloads the day's data into the county migrant education program's database. "This essentially reduces the amount of inputting the terminal operator does, freeing her to focus more on quality control."
TIE project staff consult weekly with the pilot recruiters, providing technical assistance and recording their feedback. Because the software was designed around a paper process, "we have to get an idea of the different flow of work in each region and then come up with a solution tailored to their needs," Salazar explains.
Jasso is optimistic that "in the long run, the handheld computer can help us out and shorten the turnaround time for services to be given to students. Because we have so many students, we're trying to become more efficient in our human resources. If buying a machine or two will help us do that, then I think it's a wise investment."
Jasso is also positive. "Anything that streamlines our process will make us better recruiters and help us to serve more students."
For information about the WestEd TIE California Pen Tablet Pilot Project, contact Salazar at jsalaza@wested.org or 916.492.4030. For information about the Monterey County Office of Education's Migrant Education Program, contact Jasso at jorjasso@Monterey.k12.ca.us or 831.373.2955.
