'Use my name, they need to know who I am!': Latina/o migrant and seasonal farmworker youth at the interstices of the educational pipeline

Migrant and seasonal farmworkers are the fabric and driving force of the agricultural economy in the U.S. They make it possible for us to thrive on fresh fruits and sustenance on a daily basis. However, there has been a lengthy history of K-12 schools failing to meet the needs of children of migrant farmworkers and youth migrant farmworkers. Martinez & Cranston-Gingras (1996) state: "the children of migrant farmworkers are usually the most vulnerable and profoundly affected by the migrant lifestyle and extreme working conditions" (p. 29). The children of migrant farmworkers and youth migrant farmworkers experience frequent moves, difficult life circumstances, linguistic and cultural barriers, and social isolation that often impacts their academic achievement and retention in school (Cranston-Gingras, 2003; Martinez & Cranston-Gingras, 1996). While the circumstances and situations of youth migrant farmworkers are undeniably real we must consider what it is that students do bring with them to our classrooms. However, despite excellent work on the challenges migrant youth face in and out of K-12 schools, scholars have failed to address the schooling experiences of youth migrant and seasonal farmworkers from an asset based perspective, the wealth of knowledge, histories, experiences, skills, languages, networks, and other assets of culturally and linguistically diverse students. My study seeks to fill this void.;In my dissertation, "Use my name, they need to know who I am!" Latina/o Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Youth at the Interstices of the Educational Pipeline, I examined the schooling experiences of Latina/o migrant farmworker youth in K-12 schools and a High School Equivalency Program in the Midwest. Drawing from social reproduction research, San Pedro's (2004) Environmental Safety Zones, Vizenor's (1994) concept of Survivance, and Yosso's (2005) Community Cultural Wealth, I contend that migrant farmworker youth pursued a General Educational Development (GED) degree as an act of survivance from K-12 schools. Chapter one briefly introduces the study, while chapter two is an overview of the social, historical, and institutional context of migrant and seasonal labor. The research approach and methods undertaken in this study are discussed in chapter three, as is a detailed description of the High Equivalency Program in which my study took place. Chapter four encompasses the schooling experiences of migrant youth in K-12 schools and the inequitable conditions that led these youth to pursue a GED. In chapter five, the educational experiences of migrant youth highlight how the High School Equivalency Program resituated learning for migrant youth. Lastly, chapter six addresses how translanguaging was used as pedagogy in the High School Equivalency Program to meet all students' needs and make up for curricular issues. The implications of this work for K-12 schools and Migrant Education Programs are provided in chapter seven. My research contributes much needed asset based research on the schooling experiences and agency of migrant and seasonal farmworker youth in navigating their educational pursuits.