Migrant students--especially those requiring special education--are at a disadvantage in our nation's tradition-based schools. Highly mobile migrant students change schools frequently enough to be out of step with normal school calendars, causing both handicapped and gifted students to be underidentified as candidates for special programs. Migrant students who are more "settled out" and remain for some time in the same school carry with them academic losses sustained during times of high mobility. These students find themselves being overrepresented in some categories of special education. Even when migrant students are placed properly, the time-consuming task of developing an individualized education plan often is interrupted by a move to a new school. Information exchange and mechanisms for ensuring academic continuity for the special education student are just now beginning to emerge. More interstate and intrastate coordination is prerequisite to equitable educational treatment of migrant students. Additional efforts to recruit eligible students are called for, along with improved involvement of the parents of migrant students. If the parents of migrant children are ill-equipped to influence the educational process, and that is often the case, others must act upon the mandate to build an educational system that enfranchises all out citizenry. (JHZ)