Creating Successful Academic Programs for Chicana/o High School Migrant Students: The Role of Advocate Educators

This qualitative case study examines the educational struggles of Texas based Chicana/o high school migrant students and the noteworthy array of actions, responses, and relationship dynamics that result from the work of advocate educators. As migrant students move across our nation and enroll in high schools, they demand unique approaches that are rooted in educators' abilities to understand the migrant community and the curricular, instructional and support system needs of migrancy. Findings suggest that the participants included in this study had inherent and explicit understandings of the interplay between themselves and the Chicana/o high school migrant students they served. Likewise we also contend that they knew how to alter or circumvent detrimental schooling practices by acting as agents of change, developing alternative schooling experiences, and valuing the human resources found within the migrant educational community. The archetype of an advocate educator yields an approach and understanding that promotes an indispensable duality in serving Chicana/o high school migrant students.