To raise math achievement among migrant students, schools should focus on teacher collaboration, student reflection, real-world problem­solving, and frequent review, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin.

There are more than 138,000 migrant children in Texas—the state with the largest migrant population—but these students can be found in many parts of the United States. When migrant students accompany their parents on quests for seasonal employment, they often cross district and state lines and thus change schools during the year. This interrupted school attendance commonly results in low expectations, a lack of self-esteem, and limited English proficiency, the study notes. To combat these factors, researchers Pedro Reyes and Carol Fletcher set out to identify successful strategies for working with migrant students that could be transferred to other schools with large migrant populations.