Migrant Status: WISEdata

Migrant Status is an indication of whether or not a student is a migrant student. Migrant Status is certified by DPI and districts can view their current list of eligible migrant students in WISEdash for Districts.
Migrant Status Is No Longer Required To Be Submitted in WISEdata as of the 2020-21 School Year.
The Migrant Status is now directly sourced from the MIS2000, which is the Wisconsin system of record for certificates of eligibility. In order to obtain any accurate data from MIS2000, LEAs must begin the data flow by entering current school year enrollments into their SIS. These current enrollments then get pushed from the SIS to WISEdata & WISEdash nightly via the Ed-Fi API. MIS2000 then reads the submitted enrollment information from WISEdash database and uses the enrollment data to determine which students hold migrant status. SIS vendors then upload the data MIS2000 has obtained from WISEdata nightly. Therefore LEAs must submit a current school year enrollments to WISEdata before MIS2000 can determine a migrant status. The Migrant Status data element was removed from the WISEdata Ed-Fi API entirely in the 2021-2022 school year.
DPI will be displaying a Migrant Student Enrollment Alert in the WISEdata Portal. Anyone with access to WISEdash for Districts can log in to view the list of currently enrolled migrant students. Refer to this How To Guide for more information.
Even though your district is no longer required to submit a student's migrant status to WISEdata, it is still the district's responsibility to:
- be aware of potential migrant students within the district,
- review those students' migrant data, and
- provide support for those students.
Refer to the Education and Services for Migratory Students page for more information, including a referral form to refer students and families to the DPI Identification and Recruitment Team.
Child Eligibility
A child is eligible for the Migrant Education Program (MEP) (and thereby eligible to receive MEP services) if the child:
-
Meets the definition of “migratory child” in section 1309(3) of the ESEA,[1] and is an “eligible child” as the term is used in section 1115(c)(1)(A) of the ESEA and 34 C.F.R. § 200.103; and
- Has the basis for the State’s determination that the child is a “migratory child” properly recorded on the national Certificate of Eligibility (COE).
Eligibility determination is made by a Wisconsin state migrant recruiter during a face-to-face family interview.
Confirm migrant status or verify a federal certification of eligibility.
Migratory child eligibility is active for 36 months. It is possible the student was certified in another school district and is now enrolled in your district. To confirm migrant status, log on to WISEdash for Districts through WISEhome and use the Enrollment by Subgroup dashboard to view the list of migrant students currently enrolled in your district. If you do not have access to WISEdash, do not have access to WISEdash for your entire district or have only summary level access that does not allow you to drill in and you need to monitor the list of migrant students, contact your District Security Administrator for assistance.
Whenever a student is newly certified as migrant or an existing migrant student enrolls in your district, soon after the enrollment is sent to WISEdata, you will receive a Migrant Student Enrollment Alert in WISEdata. This will prompt you to log in to WISEdash to confirm the list of migrant students. DPI asks that you acknowledge the alert once you’ve reviewed the list of migrant students.
If you are still unsure, you can verify a federal certification of eligibility by contacting the Wisconsin Migrant Education Program staff at (608) 266-9629. See the federal definition of "migratory child" as contained in the ESSA sec.1309 (2). Refer to the Non-Regulatory Guidance document Chapters II and III for a more complete version of this definition.
Your district has migratory students but no certification is confirmed.
If you believe your district has migratory students but no certification is confirmed, contact Wisconsin Migrant Education Program staff at (608) 266-9629 to set up a face-to-face family interview with a Wisconsin state migrant recruiter to determine eligibility.
USES: This data element is used for disaggregated reporting of statewide assessment data, dropouts, and high school completers as required by the U.S. Department of Education.
FAQS, Details, and Points to Note
- Certified Eligibility: Multiple children in a household can be certified and may be attending different schools within the district.
- This Certificate of Eligibility format was updated July 1, 2017, to comply with the new ESSA law
- Potential Migrant Student: If you suspect that a student should have a migrant status but does not yet have a federal certification record, the family must have an interview with a state migrant recruiter. Please contact DPI Migrant staff at (608) 266-9629 for more information about identifying a migrant student and the process of obtaining certification.
- Free and Reduced Lunch: All certified migrant students qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch. Despite the migrant status being sourced from the Wisconsin system of record, you will still have the responsibility to record these students as being categorically eligible for Free and Reduced Price lunch in your SIS product. See x and y for more information about how to submit this information.
- Migrant Student Moves: In the event a migrant student moves for a qualifying work-related move, a new certificate should be issued with a new Qualifying Arrival Date in order to renew the 36-month term. Contact DPI Migrant staff to set up a face-to-face family interview for this purpose. If the student moves to a new school or district within Wisconsin that was not related to work, the new district can request a copy of the current certification or simply log in to WISEdash for Districts via WISEhome to view the list of currently enrolled migrant students.
- Questions: Questions about Migrant Status not addressed on this web page should be referred to Wisconsin Migrant Education Program staff.
See also:
Title I Migrant Education
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