Tracking migrant students may be getting easier

It may eventually be possible to track migrant students as they travel back and forth between Utah and Mexico.

Creating joint "equivalency standards" would help prevent students who travel seasonally from falling through the cracks, said Yvette Donosso Diaz, executive director of the Utah Department of Community and Culture.

"As kids go back and forth, you know they've met minimal standards," Diaz said of the proposal she discussed recently with Mexico's secretary of education.

Diaz and Margarette Hunt, director of the Utah Arts Council, returned last week from a visit to Mexico City where they met with Mexican officials about cultural and educational aspects of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s planned "Mexico-Utah Alliance for Prosperity."

Huntsman took the first step last month when he met with President Vicente Fox and other officials in Mexico City, focusing largely on economic development.

"Education and culture goes hand-in-hand with economic development," Diaz said in a telephone interview. "We're thinking ahead on how can we do this, how can we make it a win-win situation."

Diaz described her meetings with Mexican officials over the past few days as "brainstorming."

The concept of sharing information on those students who travel back and forth is in a "very early, preliminary stage," said Brett Moulding, curriculum director for the Utah Office of Education. He said it was too early to comment on when, or if, such a system might be up and running.

It would require a combination of technology, policy, and politics, he said, and would rely on international migrant students' willingness to identify themselves.

There were a total 3,760 migrant students enrolled at some point during the last school year, though it's not known how many of those transferred from Mexico, according the Utah Office of Education. When it comes online an new individual student identifier will make it easier to track students who move

between districts in Utah, said UOE spokesman Mark Peterson.

Salt Lake City Mexican Consul Salvador Jimenez said an Internet-based system to asses a child's achievement level, he said, would allow a student to "catch up immediately and be located in the right grade."

Other educational possibilities Diaz said were discussed include a bilingual teacher exchange program and a bilingual, bicultural GED program.

Cultural exchanges could include artist exchanges, Diaz said, noting murals are of interest. Art exhibits and performing groups could be part of the exchange.