UC Merced Undergraduate Research Journal

The goal of the current project was to examine how effective migrant school readiness programs are in supporting a student’s cognitive growth. School readiness programs within the Santa Barbara County were analyzed for three consecutive years (2014, 2015, and 2016) to measure academic performance across these years. A child’s cognitive growth (i.e., school readiness) was measured using pre and post test scores taken at the beginning and end of each program. Results revealed that migrant students continue to perform below average across the years. However, multiple assessment scores show a statistical significant increase in performance, suggesting that academic improvement is possible. Results point to future implementation of migrant programs that can better accommodate for the needs of children.