In the desert just south of San Diego, towering 18 to 30 feet in the air, are eight prototypes for the wall President Donald Trump has promised to build along the 2,000 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. But as the administration tests designs for keeping undocumented Mexicans out of the U.S. and cracks down on those already here, a large number of Mexicans, and Americans of Mexican heritage, are headed in the other direction.

In recent years, an increasing number of U.S.-born students have enrolled in Mexican schools. About half a million now attend classes south of the border, and educators on both sides are pushing for greater collaboration to help meet those students’ unique needs — among them, gaining language skills, adjusting to different education levels, and adapting to new school cultures and structures.

Jensen said Mexican schools have struggled to identify U.S.-born students in part because return migration comes with stigma.

Still, even as researchers continue to explore ways that schools in Mexico and the U.S. can work together to best serve immigrant students, unanswered questions remain. For example, it is unclear when these U.S.-born students in Mexico’s schools will return north, said Jensen, who recently visited Mexico to observe children in classrooms.

Read the full article Mark Keierleber about education collaboration in Mexico on The 74