Guide to the Arlene Dorn Papers
UCSC OAC Unit
The University Library
Special Collections and Archives
University Library
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California, 95064
Email: specoll@library.ucsc.edu
URL: http://library.ucsc.edu/speccoll/
© 2006
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Arlene Dorn Papers
Collection number: MS 192
The University Library
Special Collections and Archives
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
- Processed by:
- UCSC OAC Unit
- Date Completed:
- February 2006
- Encoded by:
- UCSC OAC Unit
© 2006 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Arlene Dorn Papers
Dates: 1970-2000
Bulk Dates: (bulk 1978-1985)
Collection number: MS 192
Creator:
Dorn, Arlene
Collection Size:
7 half cartons
Repository:
University of California, Santa Cruz. University Library.
Special Collections and Archives
Santa Cruz, California 95064
Abstract: This collection contains materials relating to Arlene Dorn's work with migrant students, teachers and education officials
in helping to develop the Binational Education Program. Dorn played a key role in developing a standardized student progress
form that is recognized as an official transfer document by schools in both the U.S. and Mexico.
Physical location: Stored offsite at NRLF: Advance notice is required for access to the papers.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Spanish
Access
Collection open for research.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and
their heirs. For permission to publish or to reproduce the material, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Preferred Citation
Arlene Dorn Papers. MS 192. Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of
California, Santa Cruz.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Arlene Dorn.
Biography
When Arlene Dorn-Trowbridge transferred to UCSC from Cabrillo College in 1966, she was in her early 40's, which makes her
one of UCSC's most senior alumni. She went on to teach in Watsonville's public schools, where many of her students were from
migrant farm worker families. She noticed that each year several students left for Mexico in November, not returning until
the following spring. "They were at a great disadvantage," she says, "because they arrived in Mexico too late to enroll in
schools there."
Working with education officials, teachers, and parents on both sides of the border, Dorn soon occupied a key role in developing
a standardized student progress form that is recognized as an official transfer document by schools in the U.S. and Mexico.
In 1975, concerned with the impact on her students that the annual moves between Mexico and California were having during
the school year, she initiated a needs study of the parents of international migrant children. She then took a sabbatical
leave the following year to pursue her Masters degree in Intercultural Education in Mexico, where she met Señora Irene Anzaldúa,
principal of the American School in Mexico City. Anzaldúa put her in touch with officals in the centalized educational system
of Mexico. Together, they brought to the California State Migrant Education Department a commitment made by the Mexican Ministry
of Education to aid international migrant children jointly with California schools.
This commitment became the basis for the Gómez-Farías Project, a pilot project (designed for replication) that Dorn originated,
developed, organized, and promoted. The project was funded for a two-year initial period (fiscal years 1978-79 and 1979-80)
by the Department of Education. A process to communicate academic data for the students was jointly developed by the Sectaría
de Educación Pública (SEP) of Mexico, and California. Irene Anzaldúa became the coordinator in Mexico, working directly with
Dorn.
In January 1980, Dorn solicited aid from various private foundations. The David and Lucille Packard Foundation in Los Altos,
California offered a grant toward phase two of the project, now to be referred to as Project MEDIR [Spanish = to measure],
for Migrant Education Data International Record. Identification of migrant children took place through the use of a Migrant
Student Record Transfer System (MSRTS) among other agencies. In November, 1980, Dorn became full-time coordinator for the
remainder of the school year, and the project was placed within the non-profit organization California Mini-Corps, part of
the State Department of Migrant Education (in the County Office of Education in Butte County). This office was approved by
the State Department of Education to be the fiscal agent for the M.E.D.I.R. project in January, 1981. The Packard Foundation
again funded the second year. Districts in which Project MEDIR was implemented were Lodi (San Joaquin County), Planada (Merced
County), Cutler-Orosi (Tulare County), Delano (Kern County), Greenfield (Monterey County), Gonzales (Monterey County), Cabrillo
(San Mateo County), and Desert Sands (Riverside County). Sites were selected because groups of students were returning annually
to the same village. During this time Dorn succeeded in changing the fall-only enrollment policy of Mexican schools, greatly
enhancing the possibility of success for the program.
In 1997 Arlene Dorn-Trowbridge was honored by the Mexican government for her work. She lives in Santa Cruz and continues
to be active in the community.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains correspondence, much of it in Spanish, between and among Dorn and other educators, administrators,
and politicians involved in the effort to standardize information about binational migrant students. Also included are office
files documenting some of the day to day activities, survey forms of school districts, newspaper clippings covering Dorn's
activities, and some related writings and publications.
Arrangement
The original order has been maintained where ever possible. Please note that some correspondence remains with the project
files. Both the correspondence files and project files have been sorted chronologically.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Dorn, Arlene--Archives
Children of migrant laborers--Education--United States
Children of migrant laborers--Education--California--Pajaro River Valley
Children of migrant laborers--Education--Mexico
Education--California--Pajaro River Valley--International Cooperation
Mexicans--Education--United States.
Mexican Americans--Education--United States
Index Terms Related to this Collection
California--Migrant Education Office
Box:Folder 1:1-2:9
Correspondence,
1976-2000
Physical Description: 21 folders
Series Scope and Content Summary
Contains correspondence both by and to Arlene Dorn, as well as third party letters concerning her efforts to establish a standardized
student progress form as an official transfer document for use by schools in the U.S. and Mexico. Note: There is still correspondence
filed in the other series when that correspondence was included in the original office files. Some duplication may still
exist.
Box:Folder 2:10
Other Writings: Published
ca. 1995
Box:Folder 2:11-13, 3:1-4
Gómez-Farías - Pájaro Valley Project,
1975-1980
Physical Description: 7 folders
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains material related to the first phase of Dorn's work, a pilot program in educational cooperation focused
on the students from the village of Gómez-Farías, Michoacán, Mexico, who also each year attended the Pájaro Valley Unified
School District in California.
Box:Folder 2:11
Reports and Evaluations
1975-1980
Box:Folder 3:1
"People Lists"
ca. 1977-1978
Box:Folder 3:2
Project Brochures
ca. 1978
Box:Folder 3:4
Report by P. Bess Kendall
1979
Box:Folder 3:5-15, 4:1-36
Project MEDIR,
1975-1985
Physical Description: 46 folders
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains material related to the second phase of Dorn's work indentifying migrant students and constructing an
international transfer system for their educational information, over which she was the full-time coordinator.
Box:Folder 3:5
Reports and Evaluations
1975-1981
Box:Folder 3:6
Annual Operational Summary, Migrant Family Housing Centers
Feb 1978
Box:Folder 3:7
Process Model/Modelo de Proceso
Jul 1979
Box:Folder 3:8
"Persons Interested and/or involved with Project"
n.d.
Box:Folder 3:11
Project Coordinator job descriptions - Arlene Dorn
[ca. 1980]
Box:Folder 3:13
UNESCO Report and Recommendations
1981
Box:Folder 3:14
Fiscal Agent (California Mini-Corps); Project MEDIR Cover Letter
1981
Box:Folder 4:21
San Luis Obispo County
1981
Box:Folder 4:23
Santa Barbara County
1981
Box:Folder 5:1-8
Migrant Student Record Transfer System (MSRTS)
1979-1992
Box:Folder 5:1
Handbook and Related Documents
1979
1989
1991-1992
Box:Folder 5:2
Pájaro Valley Slide Presentation Script
n.d.
Box:Folder 5:3
Labor Tally, ISEMS Tally, MEDIR Survey Tally
n.d.
Box:Folder 5:4
Student List by Region
n.d.
Box:Folder 5:6-8
Inter/Intra-state Student Enrollment Monitoring System (ISEMS) Depository Records
Feb 12, 1977
Box:Folder 5:9-6:3
Project Proposals
1977-1989
Box:Folder 6:1
Curriculum Center (Binder Contents),
1977-1983
Box:Folder 6:2
Prospectus for an International Migrant Family Mobile Learning Center,
Feb 1979
Box:Folder 6:3
Rotary Project (Did not materialize because of timing and the Loma Prieta earthquake)
1981-1989
Box:Folder 6:4-6
Financial Files
1980-1988
Box:Folder 6:5
Foundation Funding Requests
1980-1984
Box:Folder 6:6
Includes Needs Statements
1980-1985
Box:Folder 6:7-10, 7:1-3
Trips and Conferences
1976-1997
Box:Folder 6:7
Photo Print-outs from the Albuquerque Convention Center, featuring Arlene Dorn
n.d.
Box:Folder 6:8
International Migrant Education Conference at UCSC; UC-MEXUS Proposal
1982
Box:Folder 6:9
Trip Itineraries
1977-1985
Box:Folder 7:1
Various Conferences
1976-1997, n.d.
Box:Folder 7:2
Commission of the Californias
1980-1982
Box:Folder 7:3
Patrick Rooney, Ventura Unified School District Superintendent
1982
Box:Folder 7:4
Fourth Migrant Parent State Conference Evaluations
Mar 1983
Box:Folder 7:7-13
Related Writings and Publications,
1968-1981
Physical Description: 13 folders
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains various articles either generally or specifically related to Dorn's efforts, as well as education publications
and a student thesis from the same era.
Box:Folder 7:6
Pájaro Valley Unified School District press release
n.d.
Box:Folder 7:7
California Master Plan for Migrant Education
1976
Box:Folder 7:8
The Migrant Educator, v.4:5; with article "Migrant Education Across the Border - A California-Mexico Breakthrough"
May 1978
Box:Folder 7:9
Normas Fundementales, Secretaría de Educación Pública
Oct 1978
Box:Folder 7:10
"Covalidación: Del Trabajo Arlene Dorn," para Graciela Orozco, y "Visita de la Señora Arlene Dorn a los Estados de Guanajuato,
Michocan [y] Nuevo Leon," para Carlos Rosas Rueda
1981
Box:Folder 7:11
"The International Migrant Child - An Aspect of U.S./Mexico Relations," by Ralph Guzman
ca. 1981
Box:Folder 7:12
Migrant Education, Region I
Reporter, v.1:1
Jul/Aug 1981
Box:Folder 7:13
Bibliography on Migrant and Migrant Education
ca. 1981
Box:Folder 7:14
"The International Migrant Child: An Aspect of U.S./Mexico Relations," by Ralph Guzman,
Educational Research Quarterly, v. 6:3, Fall 1981
Fall 1981
Box:Folder 7:15
"The International Mexican Migrant Student - Their Educational Problems and Solutions," a senior thesis by Socorro Mata
1984
Box:Folder 7:16
The Bi-National Migrant Child: A Research Project, Sponsored by the California State Dept. of Education and Migrant Education, Region IX
1986
Box:Folder 7:17
"Keeping Up With Our Nation's Migrant Students: A Report On The Migrant Student Record Transfer System (MSRTS)," National
Commission on Migrant Education
Sep 1991
Box:Folder 7:18
ERIC/CRESS Bulletin , v.8:2
Box:Folder 7:19
Información Sobre Estudiantes Migrantes Binacionál
n.d.
Box:Folder 7:20
UCSC Graduation Programs
1968-1969
