Annual Report 2008

Republic of the Marshall Islands Ministry of Education

ANNUAL REPORT FISCAL YEAR 2008

“Katakin Ro Nejid, Vcgaj Jelsvxkjen”

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION SHARED MISSION STATEMENT

Our students are the key to a peaceful and productive Marshall Islands.

I 3 II 4 MESSAGE FROM THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION

The sustainability of the educational process is one of the most important responsibilities in the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the educating of its children. The responsibility of educating a self-sufficient independent nation through a universal quality education is very important and is approached keeping in mind the maintenance of the language and culture. In the following pages, I am pleased to present a summation of the effort expended by the Ministry to ensure that these goals become a reality.

A highlight of the Fiscal Year 2007-2008 was a symposium sponsored by the Minis- try of Education. This symposium centered on the themes of Marshallese culture and language and the renaissance of vocational skills as an integral part of the entire curriculum (K-12). The curriculum standards, benchmarks, and indicators were distributed to the principals, head-teachers, and teachers for actual use in the lessons for the children.

The Ministry of Education has begun, under the auspices of Marshall Islands High School (MIHS), the process of WASC accreditation. MIHS has finished the application and its first two progress reports. Once the school has finished the entire process, the Ministry will pursue accreditation for more of its schools. This process is important because it is student centered. This focusing on the student assures educators, parents and the community of the importance of the student as an individual as well as of being a well-rounded member of the culture and society surround- ing them.

The Constitution of the Marshall Islands guarantees that education is a fundamental right of the Republic. The Minis- try has endeavored to allow more and more children access to schools. With the addition of the universal kindergarten in schools throughout the islands, the expansion of the MIHS, the National Vocational Training Institute as an alternative high school, new facilities at Kwajalein Atoll High School, Northern Islands High School, Jaluit High School and Laura High School, the goal of universal education has drawn closer to being achieved.

The Ministry believes that the whole child should be nourished in order to develop into a resourceful, competent, critically thinking, and self-reliant citizen of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Furthermore, we believe our children should be given the chance to develop critical thinking skills that will assist them in identifying and resolving problems encountered in their families, their communities, their country, and the world. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, these preliminary lessons in life should set the stage for our children to become life-long learners.

You will find on the following pages details of the Ministry’s activities for Fiscal Year 2008. We have a responsibility to educate our Marshallese young people holistically. While there is always a need for improvement, the Ministry has made great progress in recent years and looks forward to a future where high quality education is easily accessible to all Marshallese. With this, I present to you the Ministry of Education’s Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2008.

Hon. Nidel Lorak Minister of Education

III 5 IV 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BY THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION

The Ministry of Education (MOE) is proud to complete another year of providing the best quality education it can afford to the children of RMI. The guiding questions are these: are our students learning? More importantly, how do we know? Literacy in both English and Marshallese has consistently been the main challenge that the MOE faces. Yet, despite the inherent and perpetual challenges of our work, our objective remains clear and that is quality education for all.

The key components to student learning success are, without doubt, good instruction and strong leadership. Therefore, the MOE is actively in- vested in building up our human resources to meet the demands of our ever-growing student population. Moreover, the MOE recognizes that we need to set the foundation by placing our best teachers in the lower grades. It has become apparent that the current problems we face in our education system stem from our students’ lack of basic skills. Utilizing resources and professional development, coupled with good principals and parent involvement, are the cornerstones for educational success.

In order to achieve these identified objectives, the MOE continues to work on its Performance-Based Budgeting (PBB) to measure its goals and subsequent activities. Furthermore, accurate and informative data collection continues to guide our decisions for systematic improvement. We continue to secure appropriate and relevant textbooks including Marshallese Language Arts materials. We are leveraging culturally meaningful resources that historically have not been heavily utilized--environment and culture--and engaging partners who allow us to effectively tap into those resources.

Education is a partnership - Ippãn doon, elap tõbrak. Kommol tata to each of our partners in this educational en- deavor, including teachers, staff, parents and students in public and private schools, local higher-learning institutions, on- and off-island donors, consultants, local communities, and stakeholders. Thank you especially to the landowners and traditional leaders for your support in helping to educate the children of the RMI.

M. Biram Stege Secretary of Education

V 7 VI 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ministry of Education’s Shared Mission Statement ...... I Message from the Minister of Education ...... III Executive Summary by the Secretary of Education ...... V Table of Contents ...... VI List of Tables ...... IX List of Figures ...... IX List of Photographs ...... X Abbreviations and Acronyms ...... XII DIVISIONS/DEPARTMENTS/AGENCIES Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources ...... 1 Overview ...... 1 Organizational Chart ...... 1 Personnel Office ...... 2 Budget Office ...... 4 Performance-Based Budget ...... 6 Financial Summary and Analysis ...... 6 Compact Funds ...... 7 Supplemental Educational Grant ...... 7 General Funds ...... 8 Ebeye Special Needs ...... 8 Grants Department ...... 9 UNESCO ...... 9 Participation Program ...... 10 Procurement and Supply Office ...... 11 School Feeding Program ...... 11 Aid to Private Schools ...... 12 Staff Development Office ...... 13 Division of Policy and Planning ...... 15 Overview ...... 15 Policy Development ...... 15 Management Information System Office ...... 16 Testing Office ...... 16 MISAT ...... 18 Information Technology Office ...... 19 PRIDE Program ...... 19 Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education ...... 23 Overview ...... 23

VII 9 TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED)

Programs and Development Efforts ...... 23 Special Education Program ...... 28 Development and Production of Instructional Materials ...... 29 Health Education ...... 30 Division of Secondary and Vocational Education ...... 35 Overview ...... 35 Programs and Developments Efforts ...... 35 Progress Made by Secondary School ...... 35 Marshall Islands High School ...... 37 Jaluit High School ...... 38 Northern Island High School ...... 38 Laura High School ...... 39 National Vocational Training Institute ...... 40 Division of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment ...... 43 Overview ...... 43 Development and Implementation of Curriculum ...... 43 Other Training Programs ...... 45 Division of Property Management ...... 47 Overview ...... 47 Classroom Renovations and Construction ...... 48 Infrastructure Development and Maintenance Plan ...... 49 Kwajalein Atoll School System ...... 53 Overview ...... 53 Programs and Development Efforts ...... 53 Ebeye’s Unique Situation ...... 56 Marshall Islands Scholarship Grants and Loan Board ...... 57 Overview ...... 57 Programs and Financial Applications ...... 58 Affiliated Programs ...... 61 Pacific Resources for Education and Learning ...... 61 Programs and Development Efforts ...... 62 WorldTeach Volunteer Program ...... 64 Dartmouth Volunteer Program ...... 66 Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers ...... 68 Appendix ...... 71 Annual Performance Measurement Indicators (DOI) ...... 71

VIII 10 LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1: MOE Employees ...... 3 Table 1.2: MOE Performance-Based Budget Outcomes ...... 5 Table 1.3: MOE Funding Sources ...... 6 Table 1.4: Federal Programs ...... 9 Table 1.5: Projects under UNESCO Participation Program ...... 10 Table 1.6: Funding for School Feeding Program ...... 12 Table 1.7: Number of Teacher in In-Service Program ...... 13 Table 2.1: MISAT III Results for SY2007-2008 ...... 18 Table 3.1: Results of Youth Risk Behavior Survey ...... 33 Table 6.1: Elementary Classroom Repair Expenditures ...... 47 Table 6.2: Minor Renovations and Construction ...... 48 Table 6.3: Infrastructure and Maintenance ...... 50 Table 7.1: Cluster Classrooms/Special Education Student Teacher Ratio ...... 55 Table 8.1: College Accomplishments versus Enrollments ...... 58 Table 9.1: JOCV Volunteers ...... 68

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: MOE Organizational Chart ...... 1 Figure 1.2: MOE Employee Chart ...... 4 Figure 1.3: MOE Funding Sources Chart ...... 7 Figure 2.1: MISAT III Results for SY2007-2008 ...... 18

IX 11 LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS

Photo 1.1: MOE staff preparing for school visits in December ...... 1 Photo 1.2: Teacher Certification and Licensing Board ...... 13 Photo 2.1: Write Shop Participants ...... 15 Photo 2.2: Rules and Regulations Participants...... 15 Photo 2.3: MIS Director and Data Specialist ...... 16 Photo 2.4: Students taking MISAT III ...... 17 Photo 2.5: PRIDE Project Coordinators-Fiji ...... 20 Photo 2.6: Parents as Teachers Program ...... 21 Photo 2.7: WUTMI meeting with parents ...... 21 Photo 2.8: Novice Weavers (NV TI)...... 21 Photo 2.9: Novice Weaving Instruction (NVTI) ...... 21 Photo 2.10: Students viewing weaving products ...... 21 Photo 2.11: Teacher Assembly Field Day ...... 22 Photo 2.12: Coconut grating contest ...... 22 Photo 3.1: Kindergarten students at Arno Elementary School ...... 23 Photo 3.2: Lib Elementary School Head Teacher, Bender Abon, with newly acquired textbooks ...... 23 Photo 3.3: MOE Maintenance Crew working on new kindergarten classroom on Tokewa, Mili ...... 25 Photo 3.4: Special Education and Health Services staff certified in use of screening machines ...... 28 Photo 3.5: Seminar focusing on FAPE, special education procedures and inclusive strategies ...... 29 Photo 3.6: Special Education and Health Services Staff received degrees from BYU-H ...... 29 Photo 3.7: Materials produced by the Instructional Services Center (ISC) ...... 30 Photo 3.8: Health Club participants (NVTI) ...... 30 Photo 4.1: High school students learning to prepare a garden plot ...... 35 Photo 4.2: MIHS graduation ...... 37 Photo 4.3: Agricultural Students working in the JHS Garden ...... 38 Photo 4.4: NIHS students at Local Close-Up ...... 39 Photo 4.5: Laura High Students in Local Close-Up ...... 39 Photo 4.6: NVTI Students in Constitution Day Parade ...... 40 Photo 5.1: Elementary school students in Arno ...... 43

X 12 LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS

Photo 5.2: Arno teachers developing lessons using the newly completed curriculum ...... 45 Photo 6.1: Ongoing construction of high school building in Laura ...... 47 Photo 6.2: Interior of new classroom ...... 51 Photo 6.3: Renovated classroom in Laura ...... 51 Photo 6.4: Rairok Elementary School interior ...... 51 Photo 6.5: Jaluit High School dormitory ...... 51 Photo 6.6: Jaluit High School kitchen ...... 51 Photo 6.7: New classroom building ...... 51 Photo 7.1: Kwajalein Atoll students ...... 53 Photo 8.1: RMI Scholarship recipients ...... 57 Photo 8.2: Career Day-MISGLB Booth ...... 58 Photo 9.1: Dr. Hilda Heine ...... 61 Photo 9.2 WorldTeach volunteer at Jaluit Elementary School ...... 64 Photo 9.3: World Teach volunteer ...... 64 Photo 9.4: Students with new readers ...... 65 Photo 9.5: Dartmouth teacher, Lindsay Horton, at a counseling workshop ...... 66 Photo 9.6: Dartmouth volunteer ...... 66 Photo 9.7: “The Comedy of Errors” Production ...... 67 Photo 9.8: JOCV Volunteers meeting ...... 68

XI 13 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

AA Associate of Arts Degree AC Activity Coordinator ADB Asian Development Bank AFHR Administration, Finance and Human Resources AMI Air Marshall Islands BA Bachelor of Arts Degree BYUH Brigham Young University/ Hawaii CDC Center for Disease Control CIA Curriculum Instruction and Assessment CMI College of the Marshall Islands CPR Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation DES Delap Elementary School DOI Department of Interior DUD Delap Uliga Darrit ECE Early Childhood Education ECEE Early Childhood and Elementary Education ECPE Early Childhood Parenting Education ELL English Language Learners EPA Environmental Protection Agency EPPSO Economic Policy Planning and Statistics Office ESN Ebeye Special Needs EU European Union FAPE Free Appropriate Public Education FBEA Forum Basic Education Plan FPA Fiscal Procedures Agreement FY Fiscal Year HIVAIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome IDEA Individuals with Disabilities Education Act IEP Individual Education Plan INESCO United Nations Educational Science and Cultural Organization ISC Instructional Services Center IT Information and Technology JHS Jaluit High School JOCV Japan Overseas Culture Volunteer KAHD Kwajalein Atoll High School LES Laura Elementary School

XII 14 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

LHS Laura High School MIHS Marshall Islands High School MIS Management Information System MISAT Marshall Islands Standardized Achievement Test MISGLB Marshall Islands Scholarship Grants and Loan Board MLA Marshallese Language Arts MMS Majuro Middle School MOE Ministry of Education MOF Ministry of Finance MOU Memorandum of Understanding NGO Non-government Organization NIHS Northern Islands High School NPC National Pride Coordinator NTC National Training Counsel NVTI National Vocational Training Institute PAT Parents as Teachers PBB Performance Based Budgeting PEC Pacific Educators Conference PILL Pacific Island Language Literacy PIRC Parent Information and Resource Center PM Property and Maintenance PMU Project Management Unit PO Purchase Order PP Participation Program PPR Policy Planning and Research PR Purchase Request PREL Pacific Resource for Education and Learning PRIDE Pacific Regional Initiative for the Delivery of Basic Education PSC Public Service Commission PSO Procurement and Supply Office PTA Parents, Teachers, Association Q Quarter REIPP Rethinking Education Initiatives for Pacific People RES Rita Elementary School RMI Republic of the Marshall Islands RRES Rairok Rainbow Elementary School

XIII 15 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

RSA Related Service Assistance SEG Supplementary Education Grant SEP School Enrichment Program SIOP Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol SIT School Improvement Team SpEd Special Education SS Social Studies STD Sexually Transmitted Disease SVED Secondary and Vocational Education Division SY School Year TA Travel Authorization TIPS Training Information on Parenting Skills TQE Teacher Quality Education Grant TVET Technical and Vocation Education Training US United States USP University of South Pacific WAM Waan Aevcg in Hajev WASC Western Association of School and Colleges WUTMI Women United Together in the Marshall Islands YRBS Youth Risk Behavior Survey

XIV 16 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATION, FINANCE, AND HUMAN RESOURCES

OVERVIEW

The Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources (AFHR), formerly named Administration and Logistics, consists of the offices of Personnel, Budget (including the Office of Pro- curement and Supply) and Staff Development. During the year, the Division absorbed the Office of Staff Development focusing on formal education toward degree programs for teachers and staff which includes both in-service and distance education training programs. The Division was also given oversight responsibility to assist and to administratively support the newly created Teacher Certification and Licensing Board.

The Division of AFHR oversees the overall administrative sup- Photo 1.1: MOE staff preparing for school visits in Decem- port services as required under the Ministry of Education (MOE). ber. These include the development and execution of the annual budget portfolio, including the management of the Performance-Based Budget (PBB) scheme, procurement, acquisition and distribution of goods and services to the Ministry’s stakeholders and training of support staff members. It is also responsible for personnel administration and management in collaboration with the Office of the Public Service Commission (PSC).

Figure 1.1: MOE Organizational Chart

Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources 1 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

The Division tirelessly works to bring about quality results in terms of administration, finance, and human resources in order to improve education in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The MOE recognizes the invaluable financial assistance it received from the RMI government and other sources to execute its Strategic Plan. Highlights during the reporting year include increase in enrollment of teachers in the In-Service Program, more teachers receiving Associate of Arts (AA) and Bachelor of Arts (BA) degrees, and hiring of more qualified teachers.

Although this year was marked with numerous accomplishments, the Ministry continues to face obstacles pre- venting it from meeting its goals. Insufficient funding continues to be the major obstacle which prevents MOE from expanding its In-Service Program and other much needed training programs to upgrade teaching and leadership skills. Aside from financial constraints, the Ministry continues to face challenges in the current hiring system under the Public Service Commission.

PERSONNEL OFFICE

The Personnel Office is established at the Ministry to coordinate with the Public Service Commission in the management and supervision of over one thousand employees. It is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants on the basis of qualifications, skills, and merit without discrimination to race, religion, gender, age, and physical or mental disabilities.

The Office collaborates with the PSC and other related government ministries in creating and sustaining a dy- namic human resource system that attracts, retains, develops, and motivates a diverse and competent workforce for the Ministry. It sets itself to provide efficient, timely, service-driven, professional human resource management and services that promote the full realization of equal employment opportunities.

The primary responsibility of the Personnel Office, under the direction of the Assistant Secretary for AFHR, is to ensure that employment decisions and personnel actions, including recruitment, selection, retention, training, promotion, transfers, and benefits are administered in compliance with existing RMI laws and regulations gov- erning equal employment and personnel management. The office is a customer-based workforce that includes 1,077 employees as opposed to the 1,049 of the previous reporting year. The 3% increase in number includes newly hired teachers plus temporary teachers who are hired as substitutes to replace teachers in the in-service program (Table 1.1) .

Output 2.1.5 Continue to develop and implement training programs for Marshallese Elementary teachers and Secondary teachers specifically for teachers to obtain AS/BS/MA degrees and improve teaching skills. Output 3.7.1 Coordinate and Manage Personnel and Organizational policies and programs Output 3.7.2 Coordinate and Manage MOE policies and programs Output 5.6.1 Substitute Teachers Output 5.6.2 Contractual Services for Program Development Output 5.6.3 World Teach and Dartmouth volunteer programs Output 5.6.4 Professional Development for MOE staff

The Personnel Office, together with the Staff Development Office, continues to work towards increasing the number of qualified, skilled, and well trained teachers in the classrooms to meet the constant increase of student enrollment and RMI’s rising educational challenges.

2 Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

In FY2007-2008, the total number of teachers increased by three percent (3%). Ninety-six percent (96%) of the total number of MOE employees are based at the school level. This includes school administrators (principals, vice-principals, head teachers), teachers, and support staff members (counselors, librarians, bus drivers, custodians, security officers, and cooks). The other remaining four percent (4%) of employees are based in the MOE main office as administrators and support staff members.

Finally, the table reflects a decrease of Dartmouth and WorldTeach Volunteer Programs by ten. This reduction in number was a direct result of funds being cut for the two volunteer programs during the year.

Under an Asian Development Bank (ADB) Technical Grant, the Ministry underwent an internal personnel audit of selected teachers and employees. The project outcomes were:

a revised Teacher Evaluation Form establishment of clearly delineated job descriptions for the selected employees to be used later to develop other job descriptions (i.e. teachers, curriculum specialists, principals, vice principals, administrative support staff) identification of duplication of tasks among employees

The audit was an especially useful capacity building tool for the staff involved as they have gained the necessary skills and knowledge to perform similar exercises in the future.

Major Challenges:

The Personnel Office strives to carry out its mandated responsibilities but faces numerous challenges. Below are some of the challenges that plagued the momentum within the Office:

Table 1.1: MOE Employees

Area of Responsibility FY2007 FY2008 Percentage Teachers 797 824 3% Head Teachers 63 63 0% Principals 21 21 0% Support Staff (School Administrative Support Staff members – Coun- selors, Librarians, Security Officers, Cooks, Custodians and Bus 126 126 0% Drivers) Administrators (Main Office staff members, which includes the Sec- retary of Education, Assistant Secretaries, Program Directors, 42 43 2% Teacher Trainers, and Curriculum Specialists and Administrative Support staff members) WorldTeach and Dartmouth Volunteers 55 45 -22% Total Number of Employees with volunteers 1,104 1,122 2% Total Number of Employees without volunteers 1,049 1,077 3%

Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources 3 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Figure 1.2: MOE Employee Chart

900 800 700 600 500 400 FY2007 300 FY2008 200 100 0

The timely recruiting, retaining, and placing of qualified teachers and staff. This continued to be a major impediment, particularly for the schools. The Ministry often starts the school year without a complete staff. A systematic procedure and clear understanding of roles among all involved in the process of recruiting and hiring should be developed and clearly defined. Another area that needs major improvement is streamlining the processing of Personnel Actions and employees’ contracts both internally and externally among key Ministries and Agencies. Oftentimes, important employment documents are not processed in a timely manner, thus having employees working without being properly compensated. Lines of communication between key Ministries and agencies must dramatically improve in order to address many of the issues, particularly when employees are working but not compensated.

BUDGET OFFICE

The primary purpose of the Budget Office is to allocate funds made available to the MOE, to maintain accurate accounts, and provide reliable financial and performance reports through the Performance-Based Budgeting system. The Budget Office is responsible for payment of allowances and reimbursements to its creditors, establishment of financial procedures to effectively carryout planned activities, provision of financial advice and support to all divisions and schools, purchase and delivery of supplies and materials, administration of service contracts, and processing of domestic and international travel authorizations.

Budget Office works closely with the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and other ministries and agencies for regular monitoring and tracking of MOE’s activities regarding expenditures and financial history to ensure financial accountability.

4 Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education Totals Totals SEG 9,000 $876,286 $1,635,116 9,000 $876,286 100,820 $100,000 $4,200,820 100,820 $100,000 951,139 $3,138,490 $8,182,328 951,139 $3,138,490 Grants $2,230,139 $4,735,486 $20,252,146 $2,230,139 $4,735,486 U. S. Federal 424 $3,385,132 $5,990,490 $26,711,971 424 $3,385,132 $5,990,490 835 $0 $720,710 $10,434,702 $720,710 835 $0 Needs Needs Ebeye Special General Fund

$0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $86,959 $234,615 $158,256 $27 Grant Grant $1,000,000 $2,000,000 $0 $1, $7,099,217 $1,233,940 $1,380, $2,434,377 $521,989 $136,333 $1, $2,434,377 $521,989 $136,333 Compact Base Base Compact for all areas of education Outcomes Leadership and Governance of Life Quality Institutional Mission and Effectiveness Student Learning Programs and Services Resources Provision of foodstuffs & supplies to the desig- Improved co-ordination and performance of To provide To financial assistance to qualified stu- To continue to implement To the infrastructure To improve student To performance & learning To continue to improve To the curriculum at all improve the effectiveness of To all education Outcome 1: Outcome 2: Outcome 3: Outcome 4: Outcome 5: Outcome 1: nated areas Outcome 1: schools and training providers Outcome 1: dents to pursue educational opportunities Outcome 4: development plan and maintenance plan and targeted supplies are available as needed Outcome 3: outcomes through improved/ increased program delivery, and community involvement Outcome 1: levels of education in the RMI Outcome 2: staff and teachers in the RMI CMI Totals $11,336,979 $4,223,945 $1,775, $4,223,945 Totals $11,336,979 4-Atoll Feeding Program $0 $0 $0 $54,173 $0 $54,173 NTC NTC $0 $60,180 $0 $0 $486,004 $546,184 MISGLB MISGLB $100,000 $173,221 $716,426 $1,658,647 $669,000 $0 MOE $9,620,553 $1,990,544 $1,675,424 $1,990,544 MOE $9,620,553 Table 1.2: MOE Performance-Based Budgeting Outcomes

Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources 5 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Performance-Based Budgeting (PBB)

As stated above, one of the key highlights in FY2007-2008 is the continued application of the PBB concept at the Ministry. PBB is a critical management tool for the decision making and reporting process. PBB aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of MOE by linking objectives to funding. The primary intention of Performance-Based Budgeting is to manage funding against measureable indicators and outcomes.

The Budget Office, in collaboration with Economic Policy Planning and Statistics Office (EPPSO), conducted seminars on ways to improve the reporting process under the Performance-Based Budgeting system. An efficient monitoring and tracking method is effectively implemented using two categories (i.e. Outcome and Out- puts). Each outcome (objective) has a specific set of outputs (activities) and performance indicators and benchmarks that are to be completed and monitored each quarter to ensure sufficient progress in meeting the required objectives. Additionally, every division and department is subject to comply with the Performance-Based Budget reporting concepts.

The PBB concepts provide the Ministry with accurate conclusive analytical information critical to improve decision making. PBB reporting system is used as a communication tool between the Ministry and the stakeholders on the Ministry’s overall performance.

Beginning in FY2005-2006, the MOE sector portfolio budget was developed using the objective areas of curriculum development, staff development, program delivery/student services, and infrastructure maintenance in order to directly budget outputs in priority areas. Table 1.3 below illustrates MOE funding by agency and source.

Financial Summary and Analysis

This year’s financial analysis is exclusive of other Ministry’s sources of funding (i.e. United Nations Educa- tional Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Pacific Regional Initiatives for the Delivery of basic Education (PRIDE), Japanese Grassroots Projects, etc). MOE’s FY2007-2008 financial breakdown consists of MOE’s appropriated funding sources: Compact Sector Grant, Ebeye Special Needs (ESN) Fund, Supplemental Educational Grant (SEG), and Federal Grants which comprised of Special Education (SpEd) Grants, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Health Fund, 4-Atoll Feeding Program, and College of the Marshall Islands (CMI) Federal Grants. The accumulated budget for MOE for FY-2008 is $26,711,971 of which $4,200,820 is transferred out to MOE’s affiliated programs such as CMI, Marshall Islands Scholarship Grants and Loan Board (MISGLB), and National Training Council (NTC).

Table 1.3: MOE Funding Sources

Sources of Funding FY2006 FY2007 FY2008

Compact Sector Grant $10,834,083 $11,408,682 $11,336,979

Ebeye Special Needs $1,100,000 $1,731,985 $1,775,424

General Fund $1,870,162 $4,357,612 $4,223,946

Supplemental Education Grant $6,268,360 $6,000,000 $5,990,490

Federal Grants (SpEd, School Health) $4,890,608 $5,598,681 $3,385,132

Total Budget $24,963,213 $29,096,960 $26,711,971

Transferred Out ($5,066,495) ($5,088,421) ($4,200,820) Actual MOE Budget $19,896,718 $24,008,539 $22,511,151

6 Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Figure 1.3: MOE Funding Sources Chart

Federal Grants (SpEd, School Health) Supplemental 13% Education Grant 22% Compact Sector Grant 42%

General Fund 16%

Ebeye Special Needs 7%

The Ministry of Education consistently faced financial uncertainties as a result of the $500,000 decrement on annual compact dissemination, and financial instability of RMI’s General Fund. Although funds have been un- certain, MOE continues to try to be effective in delivering quality education. Ministry of Education’s annual budget is comprised of four (4) sources of funding. Table 1.3 on the right shows that the bulk of MOE’s funding, approximately 71%, comes from the Compact Sector Grant including Compact monies from Ebeye Spe- cial Needs and the Supplemental Education Grant. The remaining 29% comes from Federal Grants (17%), and the General Fund (12%). FY2007-2008 saw the diminishing of US Federal Aid in the phasing out of the Teacher Quality Education Grant (TQE) by $1.5 million.

Compact Funds

Compact funds continue to be the major source of funding appropriated for the Ministry of Education. This year, Compact-based grants accounted for approximately 42% of the Ministry’s FY2007-2008 budget. During the reporting period, the Ministry of Education received a total of $11,336,979, of which $1,716,428 was transferred out to the CMI and MISGLB. The distribution of funding is based on capacity needs for each agency. The remaining amount ($9,620,551.00) remains in the MOE’s annual budget. During this reporting period, the Ministry was able to spend all of its Compact Sector Grant for Majuro and outer islands.

Supplemental Educational Grant (SEG)

The Supplemental Education Grant accounted for 22% of the MOE’s budget for FY2007-2008. During the reporting year, the Ministry of Education received a total of $5,990,490 of which $1,129,000 was transferred out and distributed among CMI’s Adult and Continuing Education Program, MISGLB, and NTC.

Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources 7 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Like the Compact Funds, SEG’s distribution is based on the capacity needs for each agency. Since the incep- tion of the Compact of Free Association, funding of the SEG has lagged time-wise with regard to the Compact Grant sector funding. Since priority objectives/initiatives have been established through the Performance-Based Budgeting initiative, the SEG is an extension of each of these priorities. The SEG Outcomes are cross- referenced with the MOE Outcomes and include: Instructional Materials (Curriculum Development), Early Childhood Education (ECE) (Curriculum Development, Staff Development), Supplemental Programs (Program Delivery & Student Services), Vocational and Adult Education (Curriculum Development), Post Secondary Programs (Program Delivery), and Staff and Program Development (Staff Development).

Output 3.2.1 To implement SEG funding to ensure SEG funding supports supplemental education needs including the ECE/Kindergarten program in Majuro and Ebeye as per RMI law. The Ministry continues to use the Annual Budget Portfolio in the managing the Supplementary Educa- tion Grant (SEG) to provide and maintain financial support to appropriate projects and programs as stipulated in the Compact and the Fiscal Procedures Agreement (FPA). The SEG committee, consisting of MOE, Ministry of Finance, and Department of Interior (DOI) staff, continues to meet on a monthly basis to review and discuss appropriate measures to better implement output activities as stipulated under the SEG plan. The year saw a call for the integration of the SEG with the Compact Sector Grants as agreed upon between the US and the RMI Governments during the SEG summit in January 2008. This will guaran- tee better coordination of how funds are used and expended to meet expected output activities and outcomes.

The Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands continues to contribute to the Ministry of Education through the General Funds. The General Fund accounts for 24% of the MOE’s budget for FY2007-2008. Dur- ing the reporting period, the Ministry of Education received a total of $4,357,612 of which $2,134,693 was transferred out to the Ministry’s affiliated entities (CMI, NTC, and MISGLB) based on capacity and needs. The remaining amount ($2,222,919) was aggregated as part of MOE’s overall FY2007-2008 budget.

General Funds

The Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands continues to contribute to the Ministry of Education through the General Funds. The General Fund accounts for 24% of the MOE’s budget for FY2007-2008. Dur- ing the reporting period, the Ministry of Education received a total of $4,357,612 of which $2,134,693 was transferred out to the Ministry’s affiliated entities (i.e. CMI, NTC and MISGLB) based on capacity and needs. The remaining amount ($2,222,919) was aggregated as part of MOE’s overall FY2007-2008 budget.

Ebeye Special Needs (ESN)

The funds under the Ebeye Special Needs (ESN) are allocated to and strictly for the needs of schools on Kwa- jalein. As stated in Article I, Section 211, b (1) of the Compact of Free Association (as amended), the ESN is designed to: “…address the special needs of the community at Ebeye, Kwajalein Atoll and other Marshallese communities within the Kwajalein Atoll…to support and improve the infrastructure and delivery of services and develop the human and material resources necessary for the Republic of the Marshall Islands to carry out its responsibility to maintain such infrastructure and deliver such services”.

The Ministry of Education received a total of $1,731,985 of which $100,000 was transferred out to the MISGLB. Funds under Ebeye Special Needs accounted for 7% of the Ministry’s aggregated budget for FY2007-2008.

8 Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Federal Grants

The Ministry of Education continues to receive funding in the form of federal grants. The Federal Grants ac- count for 17% of the MOE’s budget for FY2007-2008. During the reporting period, the Ministry received $3,385,132 (as shown in table 1.4) which was budgeted for the Ministry’s Federal Programs (i.e. Special Edu- cation Program, 4 Atoll Feeding Program, and Health Education Program). It should be noted that the federal amount of $1,100,820 for CMI is a non appropriated allocation that goes directly to CMI (Pell Grant, Land Grant, etc.).

Table 1.4: Federal Programs

Line-Item Program For Federal Grants Amount

Special Education Program $1,951,139

College of the Marshall Islands $1,100,820

Health Education Program $279,000

4-Atoll Feeding Program $54,173

Total Fund for Federal Grants $3,385,132

Grants Department

The Grants Department of the Ministry of Education manages the UNESCO Grant, as well as the Japanese Grassroots Grant. The department disseminates the funds to appropriate projects as it sees fit. During the FY2007-2008, the department’s management came under the Budget Office under the direction of the Assistant Secretary of AFHR. Japanese Grassroots Grants and UNESCO funds were transferred to the appropriate hosting local government or non-government agency. Regular progress reports to the Assistant Secretary are required.

United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Grant

The Republic of the Marshall Island’s history of active involvement in UNESCO’s program initiatives has been a fairly recent occurrence. In 2000, the RMI National Commission for UNESCO was established and the Min- istry of Education was the focal point. The National Commission was established to promote UNESCO man- dates and philosophies within the school system and communities, and to monitor and evaluate UNESCO activities and projects in the RMI.

As is with all the other Pacific Island countries, the RMI National Commission has established a strong working relationship with the Pacific regional UNESCO office in Apia, Samoa. The UNESCO Office for the Pacific has been an integral force in ensuring the active participation in UNESCO initiatives in the Pacific region, and has enabled the Pacific Island countries to form strong and effective partnerships and channels of mutual cooperation.

Since the establishment of the RMI National Commission for UNESCO, the RMI MOE has been able to more effectively and efficiently promote and monitor UNESCO initiatives in the RMI. The following is a brief description of the various program initiatives in which the RMI National Commission actively promotes and par- ticipates.

Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources 9 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Participation Program (PP)

In 2000, the RMI National Commission for UNESCO began participating in the Participation Program. Since that time, the RMI National Commission has participated in three bi-annual funding cycles, and has successfully completed several community and education projects.

The RMI’s participation in this UNESCO program has brought about many benefits to Marshallese society, particularly in the areas of cultural preservation and promotion. One non-government organization (NGO), Waan Aelon in Majel (WAM), a non-formal vocational training program for at-risk youth provides training in traditional canoe building and sailing skills. This program has expanded exponentially, largely through the support of PP funding. This has created a renaissance in traditional canoe building and sailing, enabling communities to build cultural pride and support income-generating activities.

Projects that deal with local handicraft skills enhancement, youth development, the establishment of better communication links to isolated rural schools, and the development of local Marshallese reading and curriculum materials have all benefited from PP funding support. The Majuro Music and Arts Society’s effort to pre- serve and promote traditional Marshallese music has benefited greatly from the PP funding. The society has collected and archived traditional music from all over the RMI in the hopes of preserving Marshallese for future generations.

Table 1.5: Projects under the UNESCO Participation Program

Recipient Project Title Amount

Development of Trainee Workbooks, Teachers’ Training Manu- Waan Aelon in Majol Project $25,000 als and Training Videos for wood Working/Carpentry

Waan Aelon in Majol Project Preservation and Training of Indigenous Navigation $15,000

Marshall Islands Music & Arts Preserving and Promoting Traditional Marshallese Music $15,000 Society

Jodrikdrik non Jodrikdrik ilo At-Risk Capacity Building in Community Media and Health In- $10,000 Ajmour formation Development and Production

Video Documentary About Jobwa (Traditional Marshallese Cul- Mission Pacific $12,500 tural Dance)

Women United Together in the Production of a book entitled “Youth and Culture in the Marshall $20,000 Marshall Islands (WUTMI) Islands”

Ministry of Education Rethinking Education in the Marshall Islands $18,000

Total $115,500

10 Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Under the following output, the Division is also responsible as follows: Output 3.2.2 To communicate budget (and grant opportunities) with individual schools. The Budget Office distributed school-level budget to all schools. The decentralization of the budget has enabled schools in Majuro to plan and control their own operations. MOE Budget Office continues to supply updates on remaining balances and spending to schools and programs on an ‘as needed’ basis. Budget Office continues to make every effort possible to ensure funds are allocated for set priorities and targets as identified in the 3-year rolling strategic plan. Coordination between the MOE and MOF on budget activities has slightly improved as a result of improved collaboration. The Grant Writer position is yet to be filled. There is still the need to improve the coordination and communication on available external funds to the schools. Available external grants for FY2007-2008 are as follows:  A grant from Japan Grassroots for the Woja Elementary School expansion.  UNESCO Participation Program for school and community projects.  PRIDE funding for MOE teachers training and educational research initiatives.  European Union (EU) funding solar energy projects in schools

PROCUREMENT AND SUPPLY OFFICE (PSO)

The Procurement and Supply Office was established to provide, track, and monitor all transactions concerning Travel Authorizations (TA) and Purchase Requisitions (PR). Additionally, PSO is also responsible for updating all Divisions and Departments transactions.

Output 3.2.4 To implement a comprehensive tracking process to monitor and track the procurement process.

The Procurement and Supply Office has developed a spreadsheet to track and monitor spending by funds and outputs. The sheet is also be used for tracking of MOE’s fixed assets and other important inventories and to monitor the activity of PRs, TAs, and Purchase Orders (PO) at the Ministry of Education. The system, although not technologically advanced, has proven to be efficient and user friendly. The Procurement and Supply Office aims to expand and improve the system in FY208-2009.

School Feeding Program

In FY2007-2008, the Ministry continued and expanded its feeding program to include elementary schools on Majuro and Kwajalein. The amount of $1,185,939 was budgeted for School Feeding Program under the following breakdown of funds as illustrated in table 1.6.

Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources 11 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Table 1.6: Funding for School Feeding Program

Fund Source Budgeted Amount Compact Base Grant $330,430 Ebeye Special Needs $523,184 Supplemental Education Grant $332,325 Total $1,185,939

Output 3.6.1 To continue ongoing school feeding programs, at all Majuro and Ebeye elementary schools and all secondary schools in the RMI including National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) and Majuro Middle School (MMS). Lunch programs for all secondary schools and elementary schools on Majuro and Kwajalein com- menced in January 2008. Various vendors were selected and approved by the National Bid Committee to operate these schools’ lunch programs in the form of contractual services. The MOE conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Food Program services in the elementary schools and the high schools on Majuro and Ebeye. The evaluation concluded that the service was not satisfactory and the menus were not followed. The MOE has taken steps to ensure that the same problem does not occur during the following school year. The program will be closely monitored to ensure all procedures/guidelines are met by the contracted vendors. The MOE’s In-House Bid Committee is currently screening new applicants. The screening process for food contractors focuses on responsibilities and accountability.

Aid to Private Schools

The primary purpose of Aid to Private Schools is to allocate financial assistance to qualified private schools. The program is administered under the direction of the Secretary of Education and the Assistant Secretary of AFHR. The Ministry recognizes the important role of the private schools in providing quality education throughout the RMI. The Ministry of Education acknowledges the positive results the private schools contribute to the education system in the Marshall Islands.

During the reporting period, the Ministry of Education allocated $347,109 for Aid to Private Schools. This was a decrease in funding of $52,891 from the previous year. FY2007-2008 was the second year in which the Min- istry shifted aid funding to the Compact Sector Grant. Thirty eight (38) private schools (25 elementary and 13 high schools) were eligible and awarded funding. Distribution of the fund is calculated and processed by the Budget Office using government procedures and generally accepted accounting practices with verification of funding allotments and expenditure reports being submitted to MOE by all private schools. Funding is distributed to eligible schools based on the following criteria as shown in the graph below.

1. School Per Capita or number of students attending accounts for 65% of the fund; 2. School Performance based on Marshall Islands Standardized Achievement Test (MISAT III) results and accounts for 25% of the total funding and; 3. School Accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and accounts for the remaining 10% of the total funding allocation.

12 Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

The primary reason for such criteria is to motivate school administrators to strive for excellence in the overall school performance (i.e. WASC accreditation and MISAT tests scores). School Performance accounts for 25% of the total fund which is determined from test results from the National Standardized Tests or MISAT and full accreditation of schools by WASC. The MISAT for grades 3, 6, and 8 is used for measuring performance eligibility for primary grades while the CMI placement test is used for measuring performance eligibility for secondary grades.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT OFFICE

In FY2007-2008, the Staff Development Office was officially transferred to the Division of AFHR. The Office is staffed by a Director and a Teachers’ Coordinator. Its primary role is to oversee training and professional development opportunities for the Ministry’s staff members and teachers. The role, however, is limited only to the overseeing of formal training for teachers and staff members at institutions of higher education, both in-country and abroad, as well as important but informal training for support staff members, such as office/secretarial, computer, and other office capacity building opportunities. Photo 1.2: Teacher Certification and Licensing Board Many of the professional development budgeting and planning workshops are integrated and involve the combined efforts of teacher trainers, curriculum specialists, contracted consultants, and trainers. The Staff Develop- ment Office monitors teacher and staff performance, as well as staff improvement opportunities throughout the Marshall Islands.

Output 2.1.2 To provide training and developmental opportunities for all non teaching MOE staff/ headquarters Output 2.2.1 Implement Plan for Integrated Teacher Certification, Teacher Salary and Teacher Manage- ment System Output 2.1.3 To provide training and developmental opportunities for school principals and office staff

The office is responsible for the tracking of teacher qualifications and providing this information to the Teacher Certification and Licensing Board. The Board was established by the Cabinet to work with the Ministry to cer- tify and license private and public schools teachers.

Table 1.7: Number of Teachers in In-Service Program and Number of Graduates

Institutions/Schools Enrollments Number of Graduates Degrees 2007 2008 2007 2008

CMI (seeking Associate degree) 172 102 29 22

University of South Pacific (USP) (seeking Associate & 24 19 2 3 Bachelor degrees) Brigham Young University-Hawaii (BYU-H) (seeking 11 20 6 11 Bachelor degrees) Accumulated Total 207 141 37 36

Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources 13 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Moreover, other MOE sponsored professional training, such as the Principal Institutes, Math and English Insti- tutes, Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP), textbook workshops and others, are planned and organized by the Division of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment (CIA) in collaboration with the Divisions of Elementary and Secondary Education.

During the fiscal year, MOE teachers and staff completed their studies and graduated from the College of the Marshall Islands and BYU-Hawaii. Table 1.7 reflects the number of MOE teachers that graduated from CMI during FY2007 and FY2008 respectively. As stated earlier, the actual count of qualified teachers – meeting minimum requirement of an AS degree in Elementary Education – is not reported but is expected to be in the Ministry’s FY2008-2009 annual report. A total of 51 teachers have received an AS Degree in Elementary Edu- cation during the past two years, thus increasing the total number of teachers with AS degrees.

One of the initiatives the Ministry undertook to fast track the completion rate of its teachers was to select the teachers that are closest to graduation and put them on In-Service. The approach was necessary to ensure that the teachers are able to successfully complete their studies and to facilitate a quick return to their duty assign- ments.

The Ministry would prefer to recruit teachers from the Pre-Service Program of CMI or USP. However, the pool of pre-service students in education is inadequate. Most are still in the developmental levels (pre-college course work) or non-credit courses. However, the Ministry continues to ensure that its teaching force obtains the minimum qualification, an Associate of Science Degree in Elementary Education from CMI and/or other institutions of higher education.

The challenge is insurmountable due to the fact that there is a limited pool of qualified teachers in country to address the current crisis. Often times, when teachers are called in to attend the In-service Programs on Majuro, the Ministry ends up hiring unqualified substitute teachers on site to fill the post vacated by regular teachers.

Although the WorldTeach and Dartmouth Volunteer Programs exist and assist with the Ministry’s substitution scheme, as a direct result of certain administrative issues, volunteers are often restricted from going to islands and atolls that are infrequent with AMI flights and ships. Furthermore, the number of volunteers are limited to allow the Ministry to assign as many teachers to In-Service as needed. Consequently, regular teachers cannot come to Majuro to attend the In-service Program due to lack of qualified substitute teachers.

At the same time, the Ministry had entered into an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with BYU-H to offer educational opportunities to teachers seeking Bachelor Degrees in Education.

14 Division of Administration, Finance, and Human Resources ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

DIVISION OF POLICY, PLANNING, AND RESEARCH

OVERVIEW

The main responsibility of the Division of Policy, Planning, and Research (PPR) is to develop new policies for the Min- istry of Education in order to effectively and efficiently deliver basic education to children of Republic of the Mar- shall Islands. Through the Management Information Sys- tem (MIS) Office, the Testing Office, and the Information Technology (IT) Office, the Division is able to use the data gathered from the students and teachers. This includes test results in order to better recommend policy developments and revisions within the Ministry. The Assistant Secretary of PPR also oversees the office of Pacific Initiative for the Delivery of Basic Education in the RMI. Tables for Annual Photo 2.1: Write-Shop (Pictured from left to right: Dr. Marilyn Performance Measurement Indicators can be found in the Salas, Minister Nidel Lorak, Brenda Alik, and Sister Dorothy Nook) appendix.

POLICY DEVELOPMENT

Output 3.2.4 Conduct research in policy and planning issues affecting education in the RMI Output 3.7.2 Coordinate and Manage MOE polices and programs

In FY2007-2008, the Nitijela passed the Education Teacher Certification Act of 2007 to establish an Integrated Teacher Certification and Licensing System. The system is to ensure that teachers are certified to teach in the RMI classrooms. The Act further created a Teacher Certification and Licensing Board to oversee the management and the certification of teachers.

During the same period, the Ministry started the process to review and update its MOE Rules and Regulations, first established in 1992. This process required the Ministry to amend and adopt new policies, rules, and regulations that would allow the Ministry to function more effectively and efficiently. The process, at the same time, allowed the Min- istry to evaluate its ability to respond to current needs and challenges that have arisen over time. The Ministry received technical assistance from Pacific Resource for Edu- cation and Learning (PREL). The project was fully funded by PRIDE. Photo 2.2: MOE Rules and Regulations participants

Division of Policy, Planning, and Research 15 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM (MIS) OFFICE

Output 1.5.1 Expand and improve information management, data collection and management information systems for curriculum development and needs at all levels of education Output 2.5.1 Improve information management, data collection and management information systems for teacher and education staff performance at all levels of education Output 3.5.1 Continue to collect data at elementary/secondary levels to determine the exact number of students who drop out of school (by semester) and the reasoning Output 3.9.1 Improve information management, data collection and management information systems for student and teacher performance and maintenance of records at all levels of education

The Management Information System Office was established to carry out the responsibility of collecting and tracking information critical for decision making. Its primary purpose is to collect and manage all data pertaining to students, faculty, staff, and schools in order to better assist the Ministry in its overall planning. The data collected includes the number of students (primary and secondary) per school, teachers per school, selected inventory in each school, and student test scores. MIS has been able to develop a data index of statistics for distribution to interested stakeholders like EPPSO and MOF bi-annually. Photo 2.3: MIS Director Molly Helkena and Data Specialist Joe Goals: Lomae

To ensure that accurate data and reports are modified, processed, and stored; To maintain and administer an information system based on the reporting needs of RMI MOE; To ensure that a data management system is centralized and expanded to MOE Administration and schools.

Accomplishments:

Established a plan to design a web-based front end data interface to allow schools (where feasible) to enter data using a web browser

Redefined the data elements of the existing system based on reporting needs of RMI MOE

Challenges:

Ensuring that MIS receive school data on a timely manner: While school data for this school year had been completed, MIS continued to struggle to receive data from schools before the end of the school year. This year MIS office wrote notices, announced on radio (V7AB), and held checks of schools who did not submit reports (annual and nine-week reports) from both private and public schools. However, several schools (15 private & 12 public) were unable to meet the deadline.

16 Division of Policy, Planning, and Research ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

TESTING OFFICE

Output 1.3.4 Support and coordinate the ongoing efforts to develop, pilot and implement grades 10th & 12th national examinations Output 2.1.4 Continue testing teachers in English and Math during summer teacher sessions in Majuro Output 3.3.1 Implementation of testing schemes at grades 3, 6 and 8 to measure student achievement through MISAT and Pacific Islands Language Literacy (PILL) Output 3.3.2 Determine what will be the national assessment at the secondary level, with schools responsible for implementing assessment and tracking (based on finalized secondary curriculum)

The responsibility of the Testing Office is to develop and administer national testing to determine learning achievement. The Marshall Islands Standardized Achievement Test is a tool that the Ministry uses to assess and analyze student achievement based on the school curriculum taught in the schools. The purpose of the standardized tests is to measure the achievement of students based on standards and benchmarks in the school curriculum, thus ensuring that the curriculum standards are taught and aligned across all grades in the school system. The results from the MISAT scores should indicate student progress in Reading (English and Marshallese), mathematics and science. Photo 2.4: Students taking MISAT III

Goals:

To ensure that items tested are aligned with standards and benchmarks according to grade level as set in the national curriculum To ensure that test results are reported annually and disseminated to the appropriate audiences (including teachers, principals, and stakeholders) for MOE overall planning To ensure that information provided from the test results are reliable and accurate information

Accomplishments:

Testing System in Place: The testing system currently in use was developed with the assistance of PREL. The system incorporates provision for scoring test results (school by school) which would show the effectiveness of the curriculum through test results. The Ministry has decided on 2004 as the baseline year for tracking student test results.

Development of Social Studies and Science in the MISAT: During the reporting period, the Ministry decided to add testing in Science and Social Studies and to include these in the MISAT. PREL was again contracted to assist the Ministry in the development of these two additional subject area tests targeting the school year 2008- 09 as the year to launch these two additional tests.

Challenges:

Since the Ministry has developed its baseline from 2004, student test results forward have played a key role in determining the appropriate and relevant types of teacher training to provide. The Ministry realizes that in addition to teacher training, there are still many contributing factors that need to be addressed and taken into ac- count because of low results. The following are some of the contributing factors: a) insufficient curriculum

Division of Policy, Planning, and Research 17 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

training for teachers, b) isolation of schools, c) infrequent visits to outer island schools due to limited transportation, d) majority of teachers have not yet received at least an AS degree, e) textbooks and school supplies in outer islands, and f) English Language Learners (ELL) at a low proficiency level.

MISAT I & II

MISAT I and II for grades 3 and 6 were not administered this school year. The Ministry was analyzing the effectiveness of the testing process and, therefore, MISAT I and II were not administered.

MISAT III

The MISAT III’s purpose is twofold: a) to measure academic proficiency at the 8th grade level and b) to provide the MOE with data to guide admission into secondary schools. It is, therefore, used as the High School Entrance Examination.. During the period being reported, admissions to the public secondary schools was still based on space availability. Although the number of 8th grade graduates going on to high school has improved, not all were able to enter high school due to lack of space.

Out of 1,092 tested, 1,033 were admitted into the public secondary school system. It is important to note that not everyone who was admitted actually enrolled in any of the public high schools. Some opted to attend private schools or schools elsewhere. The tables below shows results of the MISAT III over the last three years. The decline in scores may be due to several factors including the limited or lack of English textbooks or materials at the 6-8 grades levels; implementation of the new curriculum was in its early stages and a new MISAT III test based on the new curriculum standards was administered for the second time only this year. In addition, Marshallese Language Arts textbooks and materials were in the process of dissemination to the schools. We expect that scores will go up in subsequent years.

Table 2.1: MISAT III results for SY2007-2008 testing

MISAT III: GRADE 8 FY2006 FY2007 FY2008 English Reading 30.80% n=1199) 32.50 (n=1142) 32.0% (n=1092) Marshallese Reading 51.0% (n=1208) 60.2% (n=1143) 49.0% n= 1092)

Figure 2.1: MISAT III results for SY2007-2008 testing

MISAT III: % Proficient and Above G rade 8 English and Marshallese Reading SY2006-2008

English Reading Marshallese Reading

60% 51% 49%

31% 33% 32%

FY2006 FY2007 FY2008

18 Division of Policy, Planning, and Research ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) OFFICE

Output 3.2.3 Implement a comprehensive tracking process to monitor/follow-up on the procurement process

Technology is recognized as an important and critical part of the Ministry’s day to day operation. The primary purpose of the Office is to guide the ongoing development of technology support to the entire Ministry in line with the Strategic Plan. In this respect, the following activities were carried out.

The IT office visited the following schools:

Ebeye Public Elementary School, and the Ebeye office to provide maintenance and technical expertise to ensure the internet and computer network systems are in place NVTI, MIHS, LHS, LES, RES, DES, MMS, RRES to provide technical support for computer maintenance and internet connectivity Jaluit, Wotje, and Likiep schools were also visited to provide technical support and computer maintenance

Internal Database Training:

The IT Office carried out staff training at the Ministry and at schools on Majuro, Ebeye and the outer islands on the use of the Data Management System and as well as on basic computer skills.

Internet Connection/Speed:

The Ministry increased its internet connection speed to 128kbps. A 24-hour internet access to staff at the Minis- try also became available.

Challenges:

Spearhead the development of a Comprehensive Information Technology Plan for the Ministry which should include not only the administration but also school needs. There is not adequate staff to ensure the maintenance and support of IT at the Ministry and all schools. There are not adequate funds to provide the needs and the goals of the IT Department.

PRIDE Project

This was the fourth year of the PRIDE Project, an initiative by the Ministers of Education in the Forum island countries and funded by New Zealand Aid and the European Union. Country projects and local educational initiatives were funded by PRIDE. These enhanced and supplemented country effort in the delivery of good and quality education for all students. The PRIDE Project provided for one dedicated office staff to ensure that logistics and requirements such as reports and activities are carried out effectively by the Ministry.

Division of Policy, Planning, and Research 19 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Pacific Regional Initiative for the Delivery of Basic Education in RMI:

The PRIDE Office is overseen by the Secretary of Education and the Assistant Secretary of this Division who is designated as the National PRIDE Coordinator (NPC). The Forum Basic Education Action Plan (FBEAP) provides the following guidelines for PRIDE Projects.

Improving quality basic education Developing partnerships in non formal education Gender and Equity issues Teaching of Governance and Civics Technical and Vocational (Life-skills) Information, Communication and Technology

NPCs from all participating countries attend a meeting in Fiji annually. The purpose of the meeting is to review and update PRIDE projects, and discuss the challenges and the progress of the each country’s sub-projects. Work- shops centering on technical assistance for the implementation of the sub-projects are provided. For example, the system of Monitoring and Evaluation was a major technical assistance provided by PRIDE during the workshops in order for the NPCs to be able to monitor the sub- projects effectively.

This year, the Ministry of Education had seven (7) sub- projects under PRIDE. Most of these were implemented during the previous year and continued throughout the Photo 2.5: PRIDE Project Coordinators-Fiji reporting period. The total amount that was awarded to the sub-projects in the RMI was $431,302 along with funding for a staff for a one year contract.

The Ministry of Education has awarded the following sub-projects to be implemented in RMI in this year 2007- 2008:

Rules and Regulations (MOE) - $47,000 Principal Institute (MOE) - $54,879 English Institute (MOE) - $76,450 Math Institute (MOE) - $108,380 School Enrichment Program (MOE) - $59,590 Novice Weaving (USP) - $39,303 Parents As Teachers (WUTMI) - $45,700

20 Division of Policy, Planning, and Research ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Parents as Teachers (PAT) Initiative

Output 3.1.3 Support community relations activities to strengthen MOE communication and relationships with schools and communities

MOE entered into an agreement with WUTMI to supplement the implementation of the Parents as Teachers Project (PAT). The goal of this program is to provide parenting skills to young mothers. Other program activities include training of Parent Educators, family visits, and quarterly social events.

Photo 2.6: Parents as Teachers Program Photo 2.7: WUTMI meeting with parents

Novice Weaving Project

The Novice Weaving Project is implemented through the University of South Pacific-Majuro campus. The program’s aim is to provide weaving expertise utilizing local experts that are contracted by the Weaving Project to teach students at the National Vocational Training Institute.

Photo 2.8: Novice Weavers (NVTI) Photo 2.9: Novice Weaving instruction (NVTI)

Photo 2.10: Students viewing weaving products

Division of Policy, Planning, and Research 21 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Teacher’s General Assembly

Another PRIDE funded activity was the Teachers General Assembly of 2008 which was a success. The assembly lasted for three days. The RMI Cabinet attended a brief session to address concerns and issues brought forward by the teachers during the first day. The second day was dedicated to reviewing the MOE Rules and Regulations. Discussions centered on issues pertaining to administration and policies. The last day was a Field Day for all teachers and MOE staff.

Photo 2.11: Teacher Assembly Field Day Photo 2.12: Coconut grating contest

Values and Life Skills Research

The Values and Life Skills Research was another project under this division. This was funded by the Rethink- ing Education Initiatives for Pacific People (REIPP) through the Institute of Education at the University of South Pacific in Suva. The research study was to identify the local life skills, values, and knowledge of the Marshallese People so that these Marshallese qualities could be preserved and incorporated into the school curriculum. Technical assistance for the research project was provided by Dr. Hilda Heine of PREL.

22 Division of Policy, Planning, and Research ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

DIVISION OF EARLY CHILDHOOD AND ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

OVERVIEW

The Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education (ECEE) continued to support the Ministry of Education in assisting the Government to achieve its policy objectives concerning the education of its people. During SY2007-2008, the Division closely followed the MOE’s Performance-Based Budget plan to implement services to primary school children ages 5 to 14 or from kindergarten to grade 8. The Division continued to emphasize more focus on its main objective, “to improve students’ performance,” through closer collaboration with other divisions within the Ministry as well as with other organiza- tions throughout the communities. The Division was Photo 3.1: Kindergarten students at Arno Elementary School responsible to ensure children are provided the best opportunity to access adequate educational services with ample instructional provision, safe, and conducive learning environments, and active community and parental support.

PROGRAMS AND DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS

The Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education worked closely with the Divisions of Property and Maintenance, Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, Secondary and Vocational Education, Administration, Finance, and Human Resource, and Policy, Planning, and Research to improve school structures, revi- talize and align curriculum materials, upgrade teacher credentials, and monitor student achievement on curriculum standards and benchmarks. It also coordinates the implementation of supplemental and federal programs and initiatives such as Universal Kinder- garten (SEG), Instructional Services Center (ISC) (SEG), School Enrichment (SEG), Special Education (IDEA Part B), and School Health (HIVAIDS). The following is a summary of accomplish- Photo 3.2: Lib Elementary School Head Teacher, ments and constraints during the reporting period: Bender Abon, with newly acquired textbooks

Output 1.1.1 Identification and purchase of textbooks and curriculum materials for elementary education

The Early Childhood and Elementary Division continued to identify and purchase relevant textbooks for the basic curriculum areas (English, Math, Science, Social Studies and Health) and at the same time developed materials for the Marshallese Language Arts area to assist the implementation of the National Curriculum. Dur- ing SY2007-2008, the Division acquired more English texts to supplement the order placed during the previous year (Moving Into English for grades K-3 and Shining Star for grades 6, 7, and 8) and placed the order selected

Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education 23 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

by the Textbook Committee for the Science series (A Closer Look) for grade 8. The order for Science grade K- 7 will be placed once the fund for SEG 2009 is available. The textbooks for Social Studies and Health Educa- tion are also awaiting the textbook allocation for FY2008-2009.

The development of Marshallese Language Art materials continued as follows:

 Tykjinede gan Ajri in Hajev (Marshallese Children’s Dictionary)  Bok In Jino Waak Jeje (Marshallese Reading Readiness Workbook)  Waake Bwe Kwcn Jevs (Reader for grades K-1)  Jilu Ajri (Reader for grade 2)  Sindein Mour (Reader for grade 3)  Jsn Ijin Gan Ijef (Reader for grade 4)  Bok Ilo Hcfcfc (Reader for grade 5)  Reeaar Gan Kapilcg (Reader for grade 6)  An Piliglig Koba (Reader for grade 7)  Pevck Ekauwctata (Reader for grades 8-9)

Output 1.2.7 Align/implement elementary curriculum and conduct training as necessary on the elementary curriculum

Curriculum Development  The Social Studies and Health Education curriculum standards for grades K-8 are now completed and ready for teachers’ pilot after a fine review by the curriculum review committee and PREL. The Marshallese Language Art (MLA) curriculum standards have also been reviewed and are available in grades K-10. The review committee and the MLA specialist are now developing the standards for grades 11 and 12. Curriculum Training The following is a final detail on the Curriculum Standards training that took place at the end of Q3 and the beginning of Q4:  115 teachers and school leaders took part in the curriculum standards training for Cluster 1 (grades K-3);  115 teachers and school leaders took part in the curriculum standards training for Cluster 2 (grades 4-6); and  120 teachers and school leaders took part in the curriculum standards training for Cluster 3 and 4 (grades 7-12).

Output 1.3.1 Develop and disseminate elementary and secondary curriculum and NVTI curriculum

The MOE has completed and distributed to all school leaders and cluster leaders the copy of the newly revised curriculum during the Curriculum Rollout training during the summer. The updated documents were also shared and further reviewed with all school principals during the Principals Institute in August.

24 Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Output 1.3.2 Standards based elementary curricula integrated with teacher pre-service and in-service training arrangements including SIOP training

The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol training model continued to provide immeasurable contribution to the MOE’s overall objectives. This model was used during the curriculum trainings for teachers and school leaders during the Summer Institute and at various schools during on-site training visits. The SIOP model is an approach to teaching that emphasizes language acquisition using subject contents.

Output 1.4.1 Expand Kindergarten Program to include those schools that do not have kindergarten programs

Three new Kindergarten classrooms were built on Jabo (Arno), Enekoion (Ebon) and Mejrirok (Jaluit) Elementary schools. The Early Childhood and Elementary Division worked with the Division of Property and Maintenance on building the new sites. New teachers for two of these sites were hired and trained and began serving kindergarten students while the teacher for the third site is still under recruitment. The main constraint that the division experienced as in previous years while establishing these kindergarten sites is the difficulty of safeguarding building materials during the construction phase as materials designated for these sites often get lost from the school sites making it impossible to complete these projects on time. To resolve this problem, MOE dis- Photo 3.3: MOE Maintenance Crew working on new kindergar- patched its own construction crew to the schools who reten classroom at Tokewa Elementary School (Mili) mained on the construction site until a project was completed.

Output 2.1.6 Continue to build skill profiles of all teachers through on-going summer school and establish “effective teaching skills programs” with a focus on improving teaching skills and instruction content

The Early Childhood and Elementary Division collaborated with the Division of AFHR to continue to provide training for teachers through the MOE’s In-service programs at CMI, BYU-Hawaii, Park University, and Uni- versity of South Pacific-Majuro. A detailed report on the enrollment and graduate rates on these programs is being provided in this report by the AFHR Division.

Output 2.3.1 Subject area specialists/teacher trainers to train teachers in outer islands with regard to specific subject matter improvements

The Early Childhood and Elementary Division continued to provide on-site training and school visits in collaboration with the Division of Curriculum and Instruction in the public schools on Majuro and Arno. These trainings and site visits to the schools were minimal due to the ongoing fuel crises facing the RMI. The allocated budget for the school visit, especially outer island schools, was reprogrammed to cover the Ministry’s utilities bills.

However, the curriculum specialists were able to conduct on-site training to the following primary schools on Majuro: Delap Elementary, Uliga Elementary, Majuro Middle, Laura Elementary, Woja Elementary, Ajeltake Elementary, Rairok Elementary, Rita Elementary, and Ejit Elementary.

With assistance from the UNESCO Program, trainings were also extended to all schools in Arno under the Lit- eracy Pilot Project.

Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education 25 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Output 3.1.1 Expansion of “Cluster PTA” which encourages parent/family involvement in Majuro and strengthening Parent Teacher Association (PTA) in other school locations. Assistance from RMI PREL Service Center Offices in overseeing program

The Ministry of Education endorsed the collaborative work with PREL as the new parent/teacher involvement initiative through a new set called the Cluster PTA in which schools PTAs are divided into the three cluster level: Cluster 1 (K-3), Cluster 2 (grades 4-6), and Cluster 3 (grades 7-8) in the primary schools and Cluster 4 (grade 9 & 10), Cluster 5 (grades 11 & 12) in the secondary schools. The following outputs and activities were carried out during the reporting period.

The RMI Parents Information and Resource Center (PIRC) program employed the following strategies to provide parents with information across the RMI schools.

Cluster Model activities built around MOE school improvement goals and carried out during school/ community training and awareness visits. The RMI PIRC established school-community partnerships in local school communities to enable parents to partake in school improvement decision making. Public service announcements broadcast on the local V-7AV radio. Weekly radio shows about early childhood parent education (ECPE) and national accountability systems targeted parents and school personnel. Early Childhood services provided through Women United Together Marshall Islands to 120 families. Partner with Faith-based partnerships through 32 schools communities to disseminate “The 10 Sun- days/Jabot 10,” a parenting tip sheet encouraging parental support for children’s educational needs in the first quarter of the school year. Participations in national civic events by hosting “Parenting for School Success” events & activities in Delap, Uliga, Darrit) DUD and Laura communities showcasing locally developed materials such as, The 10 Sundays and 6 Jonak ko (parenting brochure), also featuring Marshallese Rhymes and Songs by the PAT-WUTMI program. Participation in national, regional and federal program workshops & conferences, including the 2007 annual PIRC and the 2007 Pacific Educational Conference (PEC). Conducting school-based workshops and other alternative professional development activities for teachers in outer island schools.

The following progress was accomplished during the reporting period by the RMI PIRC program:

Trained 22 School Principals and Head Teachers to use the Cluster Model of School Improvement in their schools. Cluster Model support funds ranging between $300 -$500 were issued to these 22 public schools to support their Cluster Model implementation plans by the PIRC program. Out of 75 public schools, a total of 32 schools reported use of the Cluster Model by sending in school profiles showing the configurations of their grade cluster teams and SIT (School Improvement Team) members. These 32 schools also indicated that 9,434 parents participated or took part in some form of school activity facilitated by the school as verified by activity sign-up sheets. 19 schools reported parental support activities such as; school campus clean up, school facility repair, sport coaching, chaperone at school picnics, assist in the classrooms, parent building projects (build local hut on campus), painting school projects, student desk/chair repairs, etc..

26 Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

The TA to MOE to schools in the outer island is as follows: Visited and conduct teacher professional development and parenting skills training at these sites:  UNESCO Project assistance in 10 Arno schools  Jaluit Atoll –SIOP training for 8 schools  Wotje Atoll—Parental Involvement School-based Technical Assistance to Majuro Schools; Curriculum Roll Out – all Elementary Schools in Majuro including DUD Kindergarten Center. RMI PIRC supported WUTMI in writing a PRIDE proposal to expand the early childhood services of Parents As Teachers and WUTMI was successful in this venture. Eight (8) parent educators were employed through this supplementary fund. WUTMI – Training Infor- mation on Parenting Skills (TIPS) was expanded. PAT/TIPS services to families increased from 50 to 120 families in 2007. Family home visits records indicated that families received services on a monthly basis. Each parent educator served 10 families so each family receives 30 visits each quarter per 120 families totaling 3,600 family visits. The PAT TIPS ECE program graduated and transitioned 9 five year old clients into the RMI school system in SY2007-2008. All of these children successfully passed their Kindergarten entry assess- ments at the school of their parent’s choice. All four required PAT/TIPS family social events were successfully convened and facilitated by WUTMI & RMI PIRC and the largest unduplicated count of parents attendance for the year is 163. The weekly Early Childhood Parenting Education radio show “Ajri In Ibbinini” broadcasted 123 lessons inclusive of general information to families over the public radio V-7AV.

Output 5.2.1 Early Childhood Education Program

Instructional supplies and learning materials for all Kindergarten centers were purchased and distributed to teachers prior to the opening of the SY in August. An order for more Kindergarten mathematics consumable material from Houghton Mifflin is awaiting cabinet approval of a revised spending plan for Kindergarten program. The consumable will be used during SY2008-2009. All of the remaining five positions for Carlos, Ebadon, Mejrirok, Tutu, and Enekoion are now opened and the Ministry is recruiting qualified teachers for these posts.

Output 5.3.3 School Enrichment Program (SEP)

MOE hired a Director to head up SEP in January of 2008 but the program did not get into full swing until 8 Activity Coordinators (AC) were finally hired in February of 2008. ACs were stationed at each of the schools on Majuro to administer the after school activities to approximately 5,000 children at the schools and communities. The following activities were carried out during the school year:

Establishment of homework clubs, tutoring and physical education to serve not only the students but the children who were not currently enrolled.

Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education 27 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

A basketball tournament for boys and a volleyball tournament for girls during the month of April. Workshops on administering the programs were given to the AC in May 2008. An Activity Coordinator Supervisor was hired in June 2008. Five part-time coaches were hired during the summer months to provide soccer clinics for 100 children at the Weather Station. Sports equipments and supplies were provided to the schools before the new school year began in Au- gust. A Basketball Coaching and Refereeing Workshop was also conducted for the 7 Activity Coordinators to enhance their skills and knowledge of sports. Inter-school basketball and volleyball tournaments were held to allow students to compete with other schools to enhance important values like teamwork, camaraderie and creativity. The summer soccer and rugby clinic was also held to teach values like creativity, teamwork, discipline and self-esteem.

Output 3.4.2 Expand school enrichment program for after school activities

The MOE continues to provide and extra curricular activities at the public schools on Majuro in the following areas: sports tournaments and clinics; Health & Fitness Workshops, and tutorial programs to children. SEP work with PSC to hire a Computer Instructor to teach full-time at the computer laboratory at Majuro Middle School. The SEP provide the following activities for Program Coordinators: gather ACs and encourage children to play indoor games like table tennis, and dart, outdoor games like basketball, soccer, volleyball and baseball. ACs also attended a workshop to help further prepare them to provide children more education on sports and health and fitness. SEP continued to compensate for the lack of Physical Education Curriculum in the schools by providing summer soccer clinic for children every weekday. It also invited 5 coaches to provide soccer and rugby clinic for 80 to 100 children during the Summer Clinic. Sports equipments were provided for the scheduled activities.

SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAM

In FY2007-2008, the Special Education Program continued to provide Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to eligible children ages 3 to 21 that because of a disability could benefit from specialized instruction beyond that provided to children in the regular education setting. The program continued to be funded from the RMI Government (the base support) and from the Individuals with Disabili- ties Education Act (IDEA) Part B to provide instruction and related services to 722 children with Individualized Education Program (IEP). The number of children served increased slightly between SY2006-2007 and SY2007- Photo 3.4: Special Education and Health Services staff received 2008. certificates of completion on use of hearing and screening machines

28 Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Output 1.2.8 Increase the number of Special Education teachers in the Elementary schools (focus on Deaf/ Hard of Hearing, Blind, and Related Services Assistance (RSA) programs). A total of 123 special education teachers, 2 specials education specialists, 1 regular teacher, and 1 parent in 2006 and 9 special education teachers in 2008 attended the Deaf/Hard of Hearing training in Honolulu, Hawaii. There were 138 teachers working with 722 special needs students throughout the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) in SY2007-2008 as compared to 128 specials education teachers serving 686 special needs students in SY2006-2007. 17 teachers were working with early childhood with special needs ages 3-5 years old.

Output 1.2.9 To provide Special Education and related services to ensure Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to all eligible children and youth ages 3- 21.

Special Education Program conducted summer training for all school principals, special education teachers, and also regular teachers who are providing services to children with disabilities. The training focused on the FAPE concept, special education procedures, and inclusive strategies. A total of 52 school principals, 85 special education teachers, and 43 regular education Photo 3.5: Seminar focusing on FAPE, special educa- teachers participated in the training. tion procedures and inclusive strategies A total of 5 special education teachers attended the Pacific Education Conference which was held in American Samoa. A total of 15 special education teachers participated or enrolled at the College of the Marshall Islands (CMI) summer courses. A total of 10 special education teachers graduated with Associates of Science (AS) from the College of the Marshall Islands. Photo 3.6: Special & General Ed. Teachers received degrees from BYU-H In 2006, a total of 5 special education teachers enrolled at the BYUH program. 4 of them already graduated with their BA degrees in 2008.

DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

Output 5.1.5 Instructional Service Center

Instructional Services Center was established in September of 2007. The center concentrated in the production and printing of several texts that were written in Marshallese.

The center is staffed by a director, Marshallese Language Arts Author and Materials Production Editor, English Language Specialist (voluntary basis), and Information Technology Consultant. The MOE Media Center became a part of ISC later in the year.

Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education 29 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Significant achievements over the reporting period are:

Over 1,800 books and materials were printed and distributed to the schools during the reporting period Production of first Marshallese Novel, Pevxk Ilo Meto Ekauwctata. (See Output 1.1.1 for list of Marshallese materials that have been produced.) English Materials include the Write It Series Editing and production of the National Curriculum Development of the MIHS School Database

Production of Second Progress Report for WASC Accredi- Photo 3.7: Materials produced by the Instructional tation of MIHS Services Center (ISC) Other supplementary materials include Wall Alphabets, Big Alphabet Books, and a Teacher’s Manual for Beginning Reading (Bok In Jino Waak Jeje)

HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAM

The Health Education Program continued to educate students throughout the RMI about the health risks that are common among teenagers which may prevent them from completing their studies. The risks include tobacco and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, and peer and social pressure that may result in unwanted sexual encoun- ter and even suicide. It also monitored student behaviors through the biannual administration and evaluation of a National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) targeting students in both middle and secondary private and public schools. The information generated from the survey is valuable to the Ministry of Education and its educational partners as it provides statistical data regarding health risks facing youth throughout the RMI and also enable stakeholders to Photo 3.8: Health Club participants (NVTI) implement programs that effectively promote preventive measures against health risks behaviors.

Program Priorities

The Health Education Program continued to focus on two program priorities to ensure better monitoring and prevention of health risks behaviors for youth in the Marshall Islands: the Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the HIV Prevention initiative.

Youth Risk Behavior Survey

The goal of the YRBS in FY2008 was to monitor critical health behaviors of youth through administration and evaluation of the survey.

The main objective of the YRBS in FY2007-2008 was to strengthen systematic procedures to monitor critical health behaviors of youth through review and administration of the middle and high school Youth Risk Behav- ior Surveys at all public schools.

30 Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

The following activities were carried out to address the goal: In May 2008, the Ministry of Education’s Health Team reviewed the middle and high school Youth Risk Behavior Surveys. In July 2008, MOE Health Team met to discuss the upcoming administration of the 2009 YRBS. In July 2008, shared and disseminated 2007 YRBS results during two stakeholders meetings. Commu- nity stakeholders include: Ministry of Health, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Youth-to-Youth in Health, and Salvation Army (Council of Churches). Student stakeholders include one or two student represen- tatives from various health clubs in the six public high schools. By March 2008, disseminated and addressed 2007 YRBS results through implementation of RMI’s health education program and collaborated with other agency and community partners. In April 2008, conducted health awareness presentations at the Majuro Middle School on the YRBS data, to 500 students.

HIV Prevention

The goal of the HIV Prevention initiative was to prevent and reduce sexual risk behaviors among youth that may result in HIV infection. Four objectives that support the goal were as follows: Objective 1: By February 2009, increase the proportion of adolescents who abstain from sexual intercourse or use condom if currently sexually active; reduce the proportion of sexually active adolescents who use alcohol or drugs; and reduce the proportion of adolescents who have multiple sex partners. Activities were carried out to address objective (1):  By September 30, 2008, MOE Health Team attended and participated in four meetings for the Student Support Groups at three public high schools. Meetings were held to plan and organize activities for their peer education and HIV prevention programs in their respective schools.  Students attended a three-day Adolescent Health Workshop conducted by the MOE Health Education Team. The Peer Educators students participated in the workshop. Starting in SY2006, this workshop is conducted every year. It is held to address the various health and social issues faced by our youth today.  In July 17, 2008, addressed project activities during the project stakeholders meeting. Objective 2: By February 2009, increase the percentage of high school students who are taught about HIV/AIDS prevention in school to ninety percent or greater. Activities carried out to address objective (2):  In April 7–18, 2008, conducted presentations on Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD), HIV, AIDS and other related health issues at Majuro Middle School to 500 students.  By September 2008, conducted HIV/AIDS awareness programs to 180 students at Marshall Islands High Schools. Objective 3: By February 2009, increase the quality of instructional programs and services and collaboration with other agencies.

Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education 31 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Activities carried out to address objective (3):  In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, conducted a three-day Health Promoting Schools workshop from April 8-10, 2008, to 30 school principals and teachers.  The MOE Health Team along with the Schools Enhancement Program conducted a three days training on the health integrated curriculum and physical education. Training took place on July 29-31, 2008, to 60 classroom teachers.  In coordination with the Ministry of Health, attended a Diabetes Summit. Objective 4: By February 2009, work on improving project implementation, coordination, and evaluation with adequate staff and resources. Activities carried out to address objective (3):  Continued to expand collaboration with other government and non-government agencies.  Planned, organized and coordinated the implementation of program activities.  In August 11-15, 2008, MOE Health Team attended a Pacific Islands Leadership Training, to upgrade skills on program implementation and evaluation.  Used a tracking system to monitor and control project funds.  Continued monitoring and evaluation of project by project evaluator.

Major Successes Increased number of teachers and students who have been taught on STD/HIV/AIDS and other health related issues. Increased number of training for Health Education staff on different health issues. A signed agreement between the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health to strengthen health services in the schools. Expand collaboration and coordination of programs with other agencies such as; Epidemiology Work Group, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Women United Together Marshall Islands, RMI Counseling Association, etc.

32 Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Table 2.1: Youth Risk Behavior Survey Results Categories Percentage 1) Injury and Violence Students who: drove a car when they have been drinking alcohol 11.9 carried a weapon such as knives and clubs 17.8 felt they were unsafe at school or traveling to and from school 36.4 threatened or injured with a weapon (knife or club) 20.5 were in a physical fight 40.3 thought seriously about killing themselves 25.6 made a plan about how they would kill themselves 30.0 2) Tobacco Use smoked cigarettes even one or two puffs 62.2 smoked a whole cigarette before the age of 13 6.9 smoked cigarettes on one or more of the past 30 days 32.4 smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day during past 30 days 6.9 under 18 who bought their own cigarettes in a store 28.1 smoked daily at least one per day for 30 days 32.0 3) Alcohol and Other Drug Use had at least one drink on one or more days 55.0 had their first drink before 13 year of age 10.9 one drink or more during the past 30 days 41.7 5 or more drinks in a row during past 30 days 26.6 used marijuana one or more times 13.9 4) Sexual Behavior have had sexual intercourse 59.0 had sexual intercourse before age 13 8.3 had intercourse with four or more people 19.2 had intercourse after alcohol or drugs 33.8 Had intercourse during past 3 months using condoms 50.2 had intercourse but used birth control pills 7.8 5) Weight Management and Dietary Behaviors described themselves slightly or very overweight 9.2 trying to lose weight 37.1 exercised to lose weight 61.3 ate less 52.5 didn't eat for 24 hours to lose weight 34.5 took diet remedies 24.4 vomited or took laxatives during 30 days 25.0 6) Physical Activity watched TV 3 or more hours/day 19.3 attended a PE class 1 or more days/week 55.9 attended PE class daily in school 14.7 played sports during past 12 months 66.3

Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education 33 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

34 Division of Early Childhood and Elementary Education ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

DIVISION OF SECONDARY AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATIONAL

OVERVIEW

The Secondary and Vocational Education Division (SVED) is one of seven divisions established within the Ministry of Education portfolio. SVED is charged with the responsibility for overseeing the operations of the six public secondary schools in the Marshall Islands, namely, Marshall Islands High School, Jaluit High School, Northern Islands High School, Laura High School, Kwajalein Atoll High School, and National Vocational Training Institute. Oversight responsibility is within the mandate of the SVED, however, direct supervision and management of KAHS is with the Division for Ebeye Public School System.

The SVED counts on collaboration and partnership with Photo 4.1: High school students learning to prepare a garden plot other divisions and programs within the Ministry including the schools for successful implementation and achievement of its goals and objectives as established under the Ministry’s annual Performance-Based Budget Portfolio. While educational outputs are reported under each of the schools, the division’s overall responsibilities are reported below:

PROGRAMS AND DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS

Curriculum

Output 1.2.1 Curriculum alignment for Northern Islands High School for the following curriculum Output 1.2.2 Curriculum alignment for Jaluit High School for the following curriculum Output 1.2.3 Curriculum alignment for Marshall Islands High School for the following curriculum Output 1.2.4 Curriculum alignment for Laura High School regarding the following curriculum Output 1.2.6 Implement revised NVTI curriculum and testing which includes integration of vocational courses for NVTI students with MIHS during SY 2007-08

A review of the courses offered in the public secondary schools was conducted to determine if same courses were offered consistently across all the public secondary schools and whether they meet the Ministry’s public secondary school graduation requirements. The review showed that one or two courses were not being offered consistently and uniformly across all the schools as required by MOE Rules and Regulations (PL 191-125). The core course requirements that had been missing were added to the course offerings of the schools affected. Fur- ther review and alignment of the public secondary schools course offerings will be conducted from time to time as necessary to ensure the schools implement a unformed curriculum.

Division of Secondary and Vocational Education 35 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Textbooks

Output 1.1.2 Identification and purchase of textbooks and curriculum materials for secondary education

Working with the MOE Textbook Committee, the high schools received new English and Math textbooks and placed on order textbooks for Supplementary Reading and Writing as well as English Grammar, Comparative Government, Social Studies, Computer Technology and English dictionaries. Marshallese Studies/MLA teaching and learning resources are lacking or inadequate in the schools and, therefore, requests were placed with the MOE Instructional Service Center (ISC) for assistance with these needed resources. With respect to the newly acquired textbooks in the schools, it should be noted that the High School Handbooks are been revised to incorporate new policies on using the new textbooks and resources.

Necessary classroom supplies, materials and equipment were purchased and sent to the schools for instructional purposes. Duplicating machines, cartridges and other computer supplies as well as paper supplies were also purchased and sent to the schools. New and additional computers were purchased and delivered for the computer laboratories at Jaluit High School and Northern Islands High School. MIHS received new computers for its Computer and Accounting labs plus the school library. Sports supplies and equipment were purchased and delivered for the Physical Education program at JHS. Construction materials and supplies as well as garden tools and equipment were purchased and delivered to both JHS and NIHS for instructional purposes.

Feeding Program

Output 5.3.4 Food Program

The Division is also responsible for providing support to the schools through the feeding program for the two boarding schools (JHS and NIHS). Students receive three meals a day, seven days a week. An attempt is made to utilize locally available food products when possible. This is accomplished with the provision of kitchen personnel in each school. Cafeteria supervision is facilitated with the help of school staff.

Close-Up Program

Output 5.3.2 Close-Up Program

The Close-Up Program was established under the Ministry of Education to educate students in regards to social political and global issues, particularly those concerning the relationship between the governments of the Re- public of the Marshall Islands and United State of America. Students from the secondary schools represented the country in a Close-Up Program in Washington D.C., New York, and Williamsburg, Virginia. The participants were given an introduction and received lessons on democracy, what it means, and how it works. A local Close-Up Program was also held in Majuro patterned after the Washington D.C. Close Up.

Other Support Programs

Output 1.3.4 Secondary Education: Support and coordinate the ongoing efforts to develop, pilot and implement grades 10th & 12th national examinations Output 5.6.5 School Accreditation Program Output 5.3.3 School Enrichment Program Output 5.3.5 High School Senior Practicum Program Output 1.3.5 Secondary Education: Support and assist MIHS in its ongoing effort to gain WASC accreditation

36 Division of Secondary and Vocational Education ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

The Division is also responsible for the Practicum Program, the high school accreditation program and the MOE Values and Life Skills Research Project. It is also very much involved in the training and vocational areas by participating in the National Training Council and the Technical & Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Steering Committee.

PROGRESS MADE BY SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Marshall Islands High School (MIHS)

MIHS opened for enrollment in 1963 and is currently the largest high school in the Marshall Islands. In 2007, enrollment was 977 students, which is about a thirteen percent (13%) increase from the previous school year.

MIHS aims to become the first public high school to be accredited by WASC in the RMI. Its main purpose for be- coming an accredited high school is to achieve and maintain the highest level of educational standards possible. Additionally, a graduate of an accredited school would have easier admission to colleges and universities outside of the RMI and have increased access to financial opportunities. Through accreditation , MIHS would boost pride and confidence in the student population and focus on student Photo 4.2: Marshall Islands High Graduation motivation to continue to pursue their education.

The school is currently in its second stage of self-study. The Ministry of Education views the accreditation of MIHS as a pilot project with the intention that other high schools will follow this example and seek their own accreditation. The achievements of the school are as follows:

Submitted second WASC Accreditation Progress Report 128Kbps internet connection available in the school library, computer laboratory, administrative offices, and teacher’s lounge Received new computers for Accounting Lab; some computers were transferred from the Computer Laboratory into the school library for students to do research and internet browsing The school principal and Accreditation Coordinator participated in a WASC sponsored seminar in Hawaii to orient and prepare MIHS for the self-study process Formation of committees with members representing various departments within the school including members from the student body and parent groups Efforts focused on improving the school-wide student learning results Grades 10 and 12 National Examinations were piloted in secondary schools on Majuro. Senior Practicum Program was implemented during the fourth quarter giving 114 students an opportunity to be exposed to the real world of work. MIHS and MOE conducted an orientation program. Sev- eral students, particularly in the Cooking and IT Fluency courses, were able to gain part-time employment after the program.

Division of Secondary and Vocational Education 37 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Health Academy has been a model for decision-making and planning in vocational planning Teacher Academy is ongoing Summer program was continued for academically challenged students

Jaluit High School (JHS)

JHS is located on Jabor Island in Jaluit Atoll, approximately 130 miles southwest of Majuro. Students attending the boarding school come primarily from southern (Ebon, Namdrik, and Kili) and central (Ailinglaplap, Namo, and Jabat) atolls of the RMI. The achievements of the school are as follows:

Grade 10 boys are now enrolled in keyboarding; Grade 10 girls are now taking PE Environmental Health Club received materials from the Health Education section of MOE and is now in use. The club continues to be active in on- Photo 4.3: Agriculture Students working in the JHS Garden campus and off-campus activities More materials are needed for the PE classes Intramural sports activities are now taking place JHS students represented the school in a Close Up program in Washington D.C., New York, and Wil- liamsburg, Virginia. The participants were given an introduction and received lessons on democracy, what it means, and how it works. A local Close Up Program was held in Majuro patterned after the Washington D.C. Close Up. JHS received new computers for Computer Education and Sports Equipment for Physical Education. Broadband internet connection has been established by the National Telecommunication Authority. Construction materials for their vocational programs, as well as gardening tools and equipment, were purchased and delivered to the school. A Music Club was started Health Academy and Teacher Academy were piloted Tutorial program

Northern Islands High School (NIHS) NIHS is located on Wotje in Wotje Atoll, about 150 miles northwest of Majuro. It is a boarding school, receiving students from seven islands and atolls (Mejit, Ailuk, Likiep, Aur, Maloelap, Wotje, and Utrik) in the northern Marshall Islands. The majority of students live in dormitories on campus. The school year began with the opening of a brand-new girl’s dormitory. This allowed for the old facility to be utilized by the boys. The remaining students live off-campus with families in the Wotje community. The achievements of the school are as follows:

38 Division of Secondary and Vocational Education ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Orders for microscopes and aquariums for the Science laboratory have been made Sports and other cultural activities are conducted involve the students in the school Teaching staff is developing and refining remedial curriculum for use with pre-ninth students Recommendations for student advancement to grade 9 are considered on a case-by case basis

Principal and vice-principal continue to monitor Photo 4.4: NIHS students at the Local Close-Up the lesson plans based on standards and benchmarks NIHS students represented the school in a Close Up program in Washington D.C., New York, and Williamsburg, Virginia. The participants were given an introduction and received lessons on democracy, what it means, and how it works. A local Close Up Program was held in Majuro patterned after the Washington D.C. Close Up. NIHS received new computers for Computer Education Broadband internet connection has been established by the National Telecommunication Authority. Construction materials for their vocational programs, as well as gardening tools and equipment, were purchased and delivered to the school. Review of curriculum for piloting the both academies Graduation Club to provide extra counseling and tutoring for at-risk students

Laura High School (LHS) LHS opened its doors in 2003. Over the course of this school year, classes were moved to newly constructed classroom buildings, which is adjacent to the Laura Ele- mentary School. The school accommodates the rural dis- tricts of Laura, Arrak, Woja, and Ajeltake on Majuro with a combined population of about 4,500 people. The achievements of the school are as follows: No teacher yet for the following subjects of Agri- culture, Health Care Academy, Aquaculture, Elec- tricity, and Carpentry/Woodworking Internet access to the school population is pending Photo 4.5: Laura High School students at Local Close-Up Laura High School has not yet hired a full time librarian LHS students represented the school in a Close Up program in Washington D.C., New York, and Wil- liamsburg, Virginia. The participants were given an introduction and received lessons on democracy, what it means, and how it works. A local Close Up Program was held in Majuro patterned after the Washington D.C. Close Up. A computer laboratory was equipped with 30 computers

Division of Secondary and Vocational Education 39 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

XX number of senior students participated in the Senior Practicum Program The Teacher Academy was implemented in grade 9 Summer Program for at-risk students; student receive make-up course work as well as extra lessons in English and mathematics

National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) Under the direction of MOE, NVTI continues to provide secondary education to students who would not other- wise be able to continue after grade 8. The establishment of NVTI in 2003 was one of the major contributing factors in reducing the number of students who do not enter high school after finishing 8th grade. NVTI has provided opportunities to a number of students who, without NVTI, would not be attending school. NVTI now has all four grades of high school represented. The enrollment for SY2007-2008 was a 312, a dramatic 41% increase from the previous year of 127 students. The achievements of the school are as follows: Utilization of special curriculum designed for students who are not eligible to enter the other public secondary schools Science and Social Studies were added to grades 11 and 12 students core curriculum; other core subjects include English, math, and MLA Photo 4.6: NVTI Students in Constitution Day Parade Other subjects include Computer Technology and Career Education Piloted a music and art course Textbooks ordered during the first quarter have arrived and are now in use MLA books have been requested Two teachers went off island in February for medical leave and are having problems with their immi- gration status. Class schedules were adjusted to accommodate vacant classes. Librarian and Deputy Director have not been brought onboard A JOCV is teaching Math for grades 9 and 10 The Criterion reference report card has been replaced by a newly developed report card system which closely aligns with what other schools Additional supplies, materials, and equipment were purchased to support the program

General Constraints Not having all the teachers required for the school on board when school started continued to be the greatest challenge faced by the schools. Teacher-student ratio increased to an unmanageable level, and school principals and counselors have had to assume teaching duties on top of their administrative

40 Division of Secondary and Vocational Education ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

responsibilities. Constant staff turnovers have been another challenge. Expatriate teachers assigned to outer islands have been transferred and relocated to Majuro or Ebeye. Staff turnover in Majuro schools have also been a constant problem. Regular use of the internet in the outer islands schools has continued to be another challenge.

Division of Secondary and Vocational Education 41 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

42 Division of Secondary and Vocational Education ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

DIVISION OF CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT

OVERVIEW

This is a new division headed by an Assistant Secretary for Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment (CIA). Responsi- bilities include overseeing curriculum specialists for each subject area and a new group of teacher trainers. In line with the new curriculum framework, new and appropriate models of classroom assessment will be implemented through teacher training. National level standardized testing will remain the responsibility of the Testing Department under the Policy and Planning Division.

The current national curriculum standards and benchmarks will be reviewed in light of the changing needs of the Mar- Photo 5.1: Elementary school students in Arno shallese people to ensure that it is broad-based and funda- mentally grounded on Marshallese cultural values. The curriculum framework will be revisited to ensure con- formity to international standards while at the same time achieving a logical framework and consistency in its structure from Early Childhood, Elementary, Secondary, Special Education, Post Secondary, teacher instruction, and the TVET sector. At all levels the new framework will encourage amongst students the development of critical thinking, promoting the ability to research, creative thinking, problem solving and encouraging the ability to learn independently. At all levels of training, the standards and benchmarks will allow for the integration of the Marshallese social and cultural programs and life skills into the system preparing students for life in the Marshallese community.

DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CURRICULUM

The Strategic Plan for the Ministry of Education lays out the action plan for developing and implementing the curriculum in the RMI. The curriculum is the road map towards achieving quality education by acquiring new and challenging knowledge and skills through academic and working experience. The Ministry has created benchmarks and other monitoring mechanisms to better understand the full implementation and outcomes of the curriculum. The Performance-Based Budget is used as a tool to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of developing and implementing the curriculum in the RMI. Below is an output with activities that were carried out in order to reach the output goal:

Output 1.1.1 Identification and purchase of textbooks and curriculum materials for elementary education

Textbooks for grades 4 and 5 have arrived and orders for K-8 are now completed for all public schools. English and Social Studies textbook orders for grades 6-8 are being processed Plans to begin purchasing Focus on Grammar and Elements of Literature for grades 7 and 8 using SEG 2007 and 2008 grants are ongoing

Division Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment 43 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Plans to begin purchasing Science textbooks for grades K-8 using SEG 2007 and 2008 grants are ongoing.

Output 1.1.2 Identification and purchase of textbooks and curriculum materials for secondary education

The Ministry of Education has placed orders for the following books for secondary schools:  Reading & Writing textbooks (all 5 public high schools)  Grammar textbooks for grades 9-12  Government textbooks for grade 12  Social Study textbooks for grade 10  Computer textbooks Orders were received and distributed to all schools.

Output 1.2.7 Align/implement elementary curriculum and conduct training as necessary on the elementary curriculum

The MOE Curriculum Review Committee completed the review of the second draft of the elementary curriculum standards in the following areas:  English Language Arts,  Math,  Science  Social Studies  Marshallese Language Arts As a result of the review, the Committee has made minor additions and adjustments to the English Language Arts, Math and Science standards, and is recommending further revision on the Social Stud- ies and Marshallese Language Arts standards. The Social Studies standards need extensive revision not only to align standards with grade level expectations but also to change the current SS standards formats to match the standard format used in the other subject areas. The Marshallese Language Arts standards were reformatted to follow the concepts used in the English Language Art section. The next area for review is Health Education. MOE engaged the assistance of PREL to rewrite the Social Studies standards and to align them to the format used in other subject areas.

The UNESCO Teacher Competency Project was completed for all ten schools on Arno. Training was conducted on site focusing on teacher competency and head teachers as instructional leaders. The project compiled and produced teaching modules for use by Teacher Trainers.

44 Division of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Output 5.1.1 Elementary textbooks and other curriculum materials

In aligning with RMI’s curriculum, the following textbook orders are now completed:  Math and Social Study textbooks for grades K-8  Science textbooks for grades 1-12 Math and Science textbooks were received and distributed. Social Study textbook was not ordered due to lack of funding.

OTHER TRAINING PROGRAMS

Besides the curriculum training mentioned above, other trainings were carried out such as the English Language and the Math Institute. Between the two institutes conducted in June and July 2008, approximately three hundred and twenty (320) teachers were involved. The English Language Test for Teach- ers was given at the end of the English Language Institute.

A Marshallese Language Arts Reading Readiness training was also conducted for K-1 teachers. This training covered meth- odology on reading readiness and, at the same time, produced the much needed learning materials to accompany the MLA curriculum. One hundred seventeen (117) teachers, head teachers, and principals participated. Photo 5.2: Arno teachers developing lesson plans using the newly completed MOE Curriculum Additional workshops were conducted by textbook publishers such as Houghton Mifflin (Math), Harcourt (K-5 English Reading), Pearson Longman (9-12 English), and McGraw-Hill Glencoe (9-12 Social Studies).

Efforts to implement the curriculum to the outer-islands were limited due to lack of funding for travel. The CIA trainers were able to go to Arno using UNESCO funds.

A Write Shop funded by the PRIDE Project was also carried out. During the period reported, two sessions were conducted. Teachers were trained to develop and write books appropriate for the middle grades focusing on development of MLA materials. Teachers from schools on Majuro participated in the workshops.

In January 2008, a mid-year Principal’s Institute was conducted. Fifty-six (56) principals and head teachers from Majuro and outer-island schools attended the institute. A two-day retreat was part of the Principal’s Insti- tute which was also funded by the PRIDE Project. One objective of the institute was to empower principals to recognize their role as leaders of their schools, thus, preparing them for the complex changes in and around them. The retreat was a time for participants to reflect on traditional stories and experiences to better understand ourselves, our culture, our island community, our nation-state and our world. It involves rethinking of some of our fundamental beliefs, values, and attitudes.

A second Principal Institute was held in August, 2008 with the theme of “Principals as Navigators”. One hundred fifty principals, vice-principals and head teachers attended the institute.

Three administrators attended the annual Association of Schools and Curriculum Development (ASCD) con- vention in the United States.

Division Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment 45 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Two school librarians participated in the annual Pacific Islands Association of Libraries and Archives (PIALA) held in Guam.

Several training sessions on CPR/First Aid were conducted for school dormitory staff.

General Constraints

The challenges could be summarized into the following: Lack of transportation (air and sea). The AMI was not operational for most of the fiscal year. Ships to and from the outer islands were also infrequent and, as a result, not reliable. Limited funding prevented the division from conducting visits to the outer islands as planned. On the ordering of curriculum materials, a better system of processing orders need to be in place in order to improve the purchasing and acquisition in a more timely manner. The process of filling vacant positions within the division was slow or, in some cases, did not occur and as a result, services were not delivered.

46 Division of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

DIVISION OF PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

OVERVIEW

The Ministry of Education established the Division of Property and Maintenance (PM) with the goal of better monitoring and prolonging the life of the Ministry’s assets. The division carried out various projects during the reported period. The projects included classroom and building repairs, vehicle maintenance, and classroom furniture repairs.

The Performance Based-Budgeting System was an essential monitoring tool providing effective and efficient methods of monitoring and tracking division activities. Each outcome (objective) has a specific set of outputs (activities) and performance indicators that are to be completed and monitored each quarter to ensure sufficient progress in meeting the re- Photo 6.1: Ongoing construction of high school build- quired objectives. Performance output describes the work done ing in Laura during the year reported in greater details.

Table 6.1.Elementary Classroom Repair Expenditures

School Name Amount Expended Uliga Elementary School $3,200.00 Delap Elementary School $2,400.00 Laura Elementary School $1,600.00 Wotje Elementary School $1,200.00 Wodmej Elementary School $1,600.00 Airok Elementary School $2,400.00 Mae Elementary School $1,200.00 Ine Elementary School $ 800.00 Langar Elementary School $1,200.00 Nallo Elementary School $ 800.00 Tutu Elementary School $2,400.00 Jabnoren Elementary School $1,200.00 Imiej Elementary School $1,200.00 TOTAL $21,200.00

Division of Property Management 47 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

CLASSROOM RENOVATIONS AND CONSTRUCTION

Output 3.8.1 Identify sites and develop plans to expand the kindergarten program Repairs and minor renovation and construction were completed at the following schools and facilities:

Table 6.2: Minor Renovations and Construction

School Name Description of Work

Rita Elementary School  repaired of classroom fixtures, electrical lines, fresh water pumps, plumbing and installation and repair of air-conditioning units  set up new classrooms furniture  remodeled staff lounge and library  constructed new kitchen for K5  built 12 bookshelves for the library Delap Elementary School  Repaired classroom fixtures and air-conditioning units  installed four new air-conditioning units  installed window security screen for all classroom windows  installed new doors for each classroom Rairok Elementary School  repaired classroom fixtures and air conditioning units  installed six new toilet bowls Laura Elementary School  repaired classroom fixtures, electrical wiring and air-conditioning units  installed three new air-conditioning units Majuro Middle School  repaired classroom fixtures, electrical wiring and air conditioning units  installed two split type air-conditioning units  removed deteriorated A/C unit  covered opening with CMU and plaster finishing Uliga Elementary School  repair classroom fixtures  installed 8 split type air conditioning units  installed two new panel boards for circuit breaker for outlets and lights  remodeled and renovated 11 classrooms at Assumption Schools for UES Tutu Elementary School  completed renovation project  repaired roof, concrete flooring, plywood wall and ceiling, doors and windows, plaster finishing, painting  built classroom furniture Wotje Elementary School  completed renovation project of four classrooms  repaired roof, concrete flooring, plywood walling and ceiling, doors and windows, plaster finishing, painting  built classroom furniture Wodmej Elementary School  constructed new classroom for kindergarten Kilange Elementary School  constructed new classroom for kindergarten Langar Elementary School  constructed new classroom for kindergarten

48 Division of Property Management ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

School Name Description of Work MOE  repaired air-conditioning units  repaired room fixtures  installed mounted bookcases  installed water pump into a new water catchment  installed ceramic flooring for conference room and IT room  installed 6 new split type air-conditioning units  replaced electric stove and outlets in the conference room  installed roofing section on Minister’s office MIHS  repaired damaged roof  repaired toilet facilities  cleaned school grounds  repaired air-conditioning units  installed new classroom furniture (480 arm chairs)  relocated school equipment and materials from the old vocational building  installed security lighting  installed 2 window type air conditioning units and 4 split type units for classroom  repaired lights and outlets Jaluit High School  installed classroom furniture (480 tablet arm chairs) MOE- Staff housing  repaired air conditioning and fixtures (MIHS- campus)  installed new water pump  installed two new air conditioning split type units  installed new kitchen appliances for teacher housing facilities (dormitory) Northern Islands High School  installed school furniture in administration building and girls’ building block Ajeltake Elementary School  repaired air-conditioning unit  installed two new split type units  installed water pump Woja Elementary School  repaired classroom fixtures and air-conditioning unit National Vocational Techni-  remodeled computer lab cal Institute (NVTI)  installed new air conditioning unit  repaired plumbing and electrical wiring

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE PLAN

The Project Management Unit (PMU) of the Ministry of Public Works (In-house) was formally organized 20 March 20, 2008. The new PMU has taken over all the works turn over by the former consultant, Beca Construc- tion, in regards design, construction management, and project supervision of on-going projects in Majuro and the Outer Islands.

Division of Property Management 49 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Table 6.3: Infrastructure Construction and Maintenance Budget incl. Contract Expenditure Estimated Percentage Completion A&E Value To date Final cost Complete Date Laura High School Phase I (Construction of one 4-classroom block) $567,673 $567,673 $575,262 $605,539 100% Mar. 1, 2006 Jaluit High School Phase I (Construction of two 8-classroom and a Female dormitory) $3,262,609 $2,752,000 $2,555,896 $3,000,000 In Progress Jaluit High School Kitchen Maintenance (Kitchen finish repairs, new cooking equipment and flooring to the dining area) $77,885 $77,885 $196,084 $206,403 In Progress Marshall Islands High School Phase I (Construction of an 8-classroom block) $1,180,316 $1,180,316 $1,121,299 $1,250,000 100% May.17, 2006 Northern Islands High School Phase I (Construction of an Admin. bldg and dormitory) $872,277 $872,277 $925,596 $974,313 100% Sept.25, 2006 MIHS Painting and Fencing Maintenance (Painting of two Japanese-funded building and fencing of the staff quarters) $50,000 $99,679 $113,197 $113,197 100% Jul. 1, 2005 Education Maintenance III (Elementary School maintenance on Jaluit and Arno Atolls) $220,185 $220,185 $209,176 $221,000 100% Jun. 4, 2006 Ailuk Elementary School (Education Maintenance Project) $59,000 $59,000 $59,419 $59,419 100% Nov. 23, 2005 Rita Elementary School Phase II (Construction of two addition classroom block) $1,200,000 $1,400,294 $1,273,161 $1,450,000 96% In Progress Marshall Islands High School Phase II (Construction of three 8-classroom block and a 4-classroom block) $4,750,000 $4,396,047 $1,521,607 $4,500,000 38% In Progress Education Maintenance IV (Ph. I) (MIHS classroom ceiling renovation and electrical work) $168,388 $168,388 $159,969 $168,388 100% Sept. 4, 2006 Namdrik Elementary School Phase I (Construction of an 8-classroom block) $1,000,000 $885,510 $17,659 $885,511 2% In Progress Majuro Middle School Toilets Maintenance $33,538 $28,586 $33,538 $33,538 100% Jul. 1, 2006 Marshall Islands High School toilets Maintenance $25,000 $22,622 22,622 $22,622 100% Jul. 1, 2006 Rairok Elementary School Phase I (Construction of building structural and roofing repairs) $2,023,500 $512,853 415,829 626,548 71% In Progress Jaluit High School Phase II (Construction of accommodation unit, library/staff room and old classroom demoli- tion) $1,571,250 $1,928,142, $176,809 $2,000,000 10% In Progress Education Maintenance IV (PhII) (Construction of a new roof for MIHS Admin block) $150,000 $136,810 $129,970 $136,810 100% Nov. 21, 2006 Education Maintenance IV (Ph III) (MIHS Classroom renovations: windows, floors and painting) $200,000 $179,400 $170,430 $180,000 100% Oct. 12, 2006 Laura High School Phase II (stageI) (Preparation for the second half of Conversions to the Laura Garment Fac- tory) $1,255,500 $145,234 $148,711 $165,234 100% Aug. 12, 2006

50 Division of Property Management ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Budget incl. Contract Expenditure Estimated Percentage Completion A&E Value To date Final cost Complete Date Northern Islands High School Phase II (8 classroom block, staff accommodation and dormitory renovation) $2,658,750 $2,740,288 $47,692 $2,800,000 2% In Progress Comments: The award cannot proceed until a lease is in place. Laura High School Phase II (Stage II) (Conversion of the second half of the former Garment Factory) $1,255,000 $1,132,380 $ $1,175,000 % In Progress Education Maintenance V(Eastern Atolls) (Ailinglaplap, Kwajalein, Namo and Lib Island,) $387,418 $420,567 $407,619 $420,567 In Progress School Water Supply Maintenance (Water system improvement in 3 Majuro schools) $ $49,562 $47,084 $49,562 In Progress NVTI Toilet Block Maintenance (Maintenance work required to toilet) $ $24,852 $2,140 $35,000 10% In Progress

Photo 6.2: Interior of new classroom Photo 6.3: Renovated classroom in Laura Photo 6.4: Rairok Elementary School interior

Photo 6.5: Jaluit High School Dormitory Photo 6.6: Jaluit High School kitchen Photo 6.7: New classroom building

Division of Property Management 51 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

For FY2007-2008, a Compact Grant of $4,695,676 for MOE Elementary School and IMF Funds of $592,761 (with RMI Matching Fund) were provided. PMU allocated the funds for construction of four (4) Capital Projects in Majuro; three (3) new Outer Islands Schools; three (3) Education Maintenance Projects, and four (4) Health Maintenance Projects in the outer islands, as follows:

1. IDMP 0037 Delap ES Phase I - Ongoing construction (60%) 2. IDMP 0042 Laura ES Phase III - Ongoing construction (64%) 3. IDMP 0057 Rita ES Toilet & Fence - Ongoing construction (43%, on-hold due to LUA) 4. IDMP 0059 Ajeltake ES Kindergarten - Ongoing construction (20%) 5. IDMP 0032/0051 Ebeye Hospital Maintenance Year 3 and 4 - Completed 6. IDMP 0035 Health Maintenance III - Completed 7. IDMP 0045 Health Maintenance IV - Completed 8. IDMP 0046 Education Maintenance VI - Completed 9. IDMP 0048 Education Maintenance VII - Completed 10. IDMP 0049 Education Maintenance VIII - Completed 11. IDMP 0061 Aur Elementary School - Ongoing construction (95%) 12. IDMP 0062 Tabal Elementary School - Ongoing construction (98%) 13. IDMP 0063 Mili Elementary School - On going construction (70%)

52 Division of Property Management ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

KWAJALEIN ATOLL SCHOOL SYSTEM

OVERVIEW

The Ebeye Special Needs (ESN) is a special fund allocated under the Compact to address the unique needs of the Kwajal- ein Atoll School System (KASS). An Assistant Secretary oversees the management and organizational operations of all schools within Kwajalein. This organizational structure en- sures that the day to day activities are better facilitated and that direct attention is given to problems and needs as they arise. The assistant secretary reports directly to the Secretary of Edu- cation.

Ebeye is considered unique in many respects. It has an estimated population of over 12,000 living on an island less than a mile long and also less than a mile across. Furthermore, more Photo 7.1: Kwajalein Atoll students than half of the population is under eighteen years of age. Ebeye Elementary School also has the largest elementary school enrollment in the RMI of over a thousand students.

The Ministry of Education in coordination with the Kwajalein Atoll School System administration identified some benchmarks to be achieved during the reporting period.

The MOE has identified the following priority areas for Ebeye schools: 1. school improvement programs 2. professional development 3. school environments 4. school supplies and materials 5. food program 6. Transportation 7. equipment

The priority areas are measured by each output under the Performance-Based Budgeting system.

PROGRAMS AND DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS

Output 6.1.1 Provide textbook, supplies and materials for the schools of Ebeye Math and science textbooks were purchased for Kwajalein Atoll High School (KAHS)

Kwajalein Atoll School System 53 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

English, math, and science textbooks were purchased for grades K-8 Continued coordination between KAHS and the Textbook Committee to order English textbooks for all grades using FY2007-2008 ESN funds. Arrangement made with vendors to directly deliver KAHS textbooks to Kwajalein

Student Achievement

This is the top priority at Ebeye Public Elementary School (EPES). The academic focus has been on mathematics and language arts (both Marshallese and English) for the past few years. The staff believes that English is particularly important to master, especially since almost all learning materials are in English. Once students master English, all other academic subjects will be less difficult to learn.

Staff Development

Output 6.2.1 To provide training development opportunities for teachers and administrators Staff development for Ebeye staff continued throughout the year. 25 teachers pursued online education with Park College and the University of Maryland. The teacher trainer continued to plan and conduct trainings on subject content and teaching skills for teachers. 12 Staff from KAHS and Ebeye Elementary participated in the Pacific Educators Conference (PEC) held in July 2006 in the Republic of Belau. CMI education degree practicum courses were conducted on Ebeye. 2 administrators successfully completed a two-year M.A. degree program in Educational Leadership from San Diego State University.

The Teacher Trainer launched the summer program in June of 2006 by conducting an English Language Insti- tute program and a course in basic computing skills for teachers. This was the first time the English Language Institute was offered on Ebeye, making it easier for teachers from Ebeye and neighboring islands to attend training courses (because travel to Majuro was not required).

Output 6.5.1 Adapt and expand previous Head Start Program to the MOE Universal Kindergarten on Ebeye.

School Year 2005-06 opened with 181 kindergarten students in Ebeye, Eniburr and Ebadon. Output 6.4.1 To provide adequate transportation for Ebeye students. 1 of 2 brand new school buses purchased under the Special Needs’ Fund arrived on Ebeye and came under operation. The second bus awaits transportation to Ebeye.

With Kwajalein Atoll High School in place, more transportation is needed to send the majority of the students to Guegeegue, where the high school is located. The Kabinmeto Islands of Lib, Lae, Ujae and Wotho have become feeder schools for the high school.

Output 6.6.1 Ongoing maintenance at all Ebeye schools and on all MOE vehicles. Minor maintenance and repair of school, office buildings and vehicles continued.

54 Kwajalein Atoll School System ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Table 7.1 Grade Cluster Classroom/Special Education Student /Teacher Ratio

Cluster I (Grades 1-3) Student/Regular Classroom Teacher 33 / 1 Student/Special Education Teacher 12 / 1 Cluster II (Grades 4-8) Student/Regular Classroom Teacher 30 / 1 Student/Special Education Teacher 16 / 1 Cluster III (Grades 7-8) Student/Regular Classroom Teacher 23 / 1 Student/Special Education Teacher 12 / 1 Student/Administrator 174 / 1 Student/All Professional Staff 23 / 1

Output 6.6.2 To ensure all Ebeye schools have equipment for classroom and building needs.

Ebeye schools continued to purchase equipment as needed. Another shipment of classroom furniture was made to KAHS.

Output 6.7.1 To provide additional post secondary scholarships to Ebeye students.

$100,000 was earmarked from the Ebeye Special Needs Fund and awarded as scholarships.

Output 6.3.1 To begin a food program at Kwajalein Atoll High School

Lunch program for both the elementary and high school started when school opened in August. Lunch was provided to 993 elementary and 179 high school students. Feeding program terminated during fourth quarter of the school year due to lack of funding.

Constraints

Infrastructure issues are in need of attention at EPES, as they impede student achievement. More than half the toilet facilities do not function due to the way the plumbing system was originally installed. Students, faculty and staff are often excused to leave the campus compound for toiletry purposes. Fire exits are non-existent for first and second graders. The ceilings of the Third and Fourth grade classrooms are in such disrepair that they could collapse. The administration building, another trailer-house type building, is beyond repair with the floor falling in places. One of the major challenges at EPES is student absenteeism, which was documented. A study of school attendance records found that, on any given school day, about 20% of students were absent. The study also found that a great number of EPES students do not return for classes following the lunch hour.

Kwajalein Atoll School System 55 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Ebeye’s Unique Situation

Living conditions on Ebeye are further complicated by frequent power outages. The Power Plant on Ebeye could only handle half of its customers at a time, so the two halves took turns in “four hours on, four hours off” shifts. Some of the classrooms at the elementary school were built into the former bomb shelter. Lacking any windows, without electricity the classrooms are too dark to hold classes.

56 Kwajalein Atoll School System ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

MARSHALL ISLANDS SCHOLARSHIP, GRANTS, AND LOAN BOARD

OVERVIEW

The Marshall Islands Scholarship, Grants, and Loan Board (MISGLB) was established to provide funding and other required services to the students to pursue their education at the post secondary level. The government of the Republic of the Marshall Is- lands created a board for the office of RMI Scholarship in Novem- ber, 1979 through the Scholarship Assistance Act. The Scholarship Board is responsible for developing and administering the financial assistance program for the qualified applicants who cannot pursue educational training opportunities due to financial inabil- ities. The Scholarship Board is responsible for the following but not limited to:

To adopt and promulgate regulations for the award of scholarship grants and loans:

To evaluate and investigate the application information provided by scholarship assistance grant and loan applicants for the purpose of assuring the integrity and equity of the program;

To award scholarship assistance grants and loans from Photo 8.1 RMI Scholarship recipients funds allocated for those; purposes, in accordance with the regulations promulgated by the Board; To monitor the educational progress of scholarship assistance recipients; To assure timely repayment of scholarship assistance loans; and To recommend to the Cabinet, for its approval, those scholarship programs and technical training school programs which should enjoy priority in the award of scholarship assistance grants and loans.

The Scholarship Board is composed of 10 members. Five members represent the public at large and serve on the Board for a two year term while the other five are permanent members including the Secretary of Educa- tion, President of the College of the Marshall Islands, a Nitijela representative, and a representative of the Chamber of Commerce. The Director of the program sits as a non-voting member and serves as a Secretary of the Board.

The awarding of scholarships strictly for Marshallese students who enroll in any accredited college or university, regardless of the school’s geographical location. However, the Board recommends that RMI high school graduates spend the first two years of college at the College of the Marshall Islands to take advantage of the low tuition rate offered and to prepare themselves prior to admission to any off island schools. The scholarship office sees an epitomic trend of students fresh out of high schools not able to take college credit levels. Thus, RMI high school graduates tend to spend the first year of college taking non-college credit or developmental level courses.

Marshall Islands Scholarships, Grants, and Loan Boards 57 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

PROGRAMS AND FINANCIAL APPLICATIONS

The Marshall Islands Scholarship, Grant, and Loan Board received its funding from Nitijela through the Ministry of Education. The funding sources are from the following:

$1,161,704 or 88% of the funds available were used for scholarship, grant and loan awards. The other 12% or $160,000 was used for office operations, including wages and salaries for four office staff.

The number enrolled in the Scholarship Program continued to rise. 35% of the 164 students who received funding in 2005-2006 were incoming freshmen. The increase in freshman intake is a result of Photo 8.2 Career Day-MISGLB Booth the yearly visit made by the office staff to disseminate information on the availability of the scholarship fund. In addition, students have now realized the importance of college education and tend to take advantage of the scholarships being offered, whether they are RMI or foreign scholarships. However, as the drop-out rate continues to rise, retention in these scholarship programs until graduation is another concern for the Board. Unsatisfactory academic performance was still the number one factor contributing to the high dropout rate in 2005-06, but other factors should not be taken lightly. Students simply do not meet the Board’s required grade point average and were forced to leave school. For instance, during SY2001-02, the Board admitted 35 new students into the scholarship program; however, after 4 years of schooling, only twelve completed their bachelor’s degree requirements. The other 23 either dropped out of school or were unable to complete their requirements in a timely manner.

Among the 2005-06 recipients were six post-graduate students, 18 seniors, 29 juniors, 50 sophomores, and 60 freshmen. The majority of scholarship recipients attended colleges and universities in the United States. Fewer people enrolled at colleges and universities in the South Pacific Region, including the College of the Marshall Islands and Palau Community College.

Table 8.1. Accomplishments versus Enrollments for School Years 2000-2006

Years G r a d u a t e Enrollment

Associates, Bachelors Masters Certificates, or

2000-2001 8 9 1 171 2001-2002 6 8 1 120 2002-2003 12 7 1 118 2003-2004 10 10 0 134 2004-2005 9 11 2 141 2005-2006 7 12 1 164 Total 52 57 6 485 (%) 11% 12% 1% 100% Note: 24% (115) graduated; other 76% (370) were either drop out of school or still remain in the Program but were unable to complete their degree requirements as of May 2006

58 Marshall Islands Scholarships, Grants, and Loan Boards ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

7 scholarship recipients graduated from the College of the Marshall Islands; among the graduates were 6 associate degree nurses and a business administrator. In addition, 12 completed their Bachelor degree requirements. Among them were a marine biologist who graduated from James Cook University in Australia and a graduate sociologist from Notre Dame University. Furthermore, one completed her Masters Degree requirement in Health Administration from the University of Southern California.

Table 8.1 shows a comparison of enrollment versus accomplishment of scholarship recipients for the last five years. 485 students were funded under the MISGLB Program. 24% achieved their goals while the other 76% either withdrew from school or simply were not able to complete their degree requirements in a timely manner.

Repayment of student loans continued to be the major concern of the Board. In the past years, the Board worked closely with the Attorney General’s office in trying to collect on student loans. However, attempts were unsuccessful; to date, no payment on student loans have been received. The Board finds it difficult and unreal- istic to collect the past students’ loans and hope to find alternate ways when re-evaluating the Program’s current Policies and Procedures. However, during the past year, the Board converted $1,423,090 worth of student loans to grants for 98 former graduates who returned to work in the Republic.

The Board continues to believe in the development of human resources within the Republic and request that more funding be allocated in order to send all eligible and qualified students to further their education, be it at the College of the Marshall Islands or abroad. We must give our young people the opportunity to advance their skills academically in order to meet the rising demands of our changing world. We need to build the capacity of our human resources in order to work efficiently to develop our nation. With the allocation of adequate funds, our students can strive for a good education so that they have a chance to live a decent life and be contributing members of our society.

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60 Marshall Islands Scholarships, Grants, and Loan Boards ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

AFFILIATED PROGRAMS

PACIFIC RESOURCES FOR EDUCATION AND LEARNING (PREL)

Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) is an independent, nonprofit 501(c) (3) corporation that serves the educational community in the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands, the continental United States, and countries throughout the world.

PREL Mission: Building Capacity through Education Vision

PREL envisions a world where all children and communities are literate and healthy—global participants grounded in and enriched by their cultures.

Their work is firmly imbedded in the principles established in this Vision. They are our sources of inspiration, commitment, and direction.

PREL’s programs provide resources and products developed to promote educational excellence for children, youth, adults & parents. Photo 9.1: Dr. Hilda Heine

Brief Summary of Programs housed in the RMI PREL Service Center

Output 3.1.3 To provide school-based training to school community improvement partnership

The Parent Information and Resource Center Program (PIRC), is a collaborative project in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to provide community and school-based non-formal training and professional development to school staff, parents and community members. PIRC is also tasked by the MOE to improve parental involvement and engagement in the educational process of school age children. To carry out this goal, RMI PIRC is focusing on two goals in two priority areas. Priority one is improving schools by improving parental involvement. Priority two is Early Childhood Parenting Education, focusing on children 0-5 years of age. This is a collaboration project with the Women United Together Marshall Islands (WUTMI), offering non- formal Early Childhood Parenting Education to parents using the “Born to Learn” Curriculum under a scheme called “Parents as Teachers” in Majuro. Currently, this project is servicing only the Majuro community, but there are plans to expand these efforts to other communities, especially on outer islands.

For the priority one goal, a locally developed school improvement model (Cluster Model) was designed to address and improve community-based school management. This was the main vehicle for training and implementing school improvement initiatives in the school communities of RMI. The aim of the Cluster Model is to build capacity of both school staff and key education stakeholders in our communities:

Empowering community level management of schools.  School Leadership Capacity Building Promotion of on-going school-based staff development  Facilitative grade cluster study groups (aligning teaching with standard-based learning outcomes)

Affiliated Programs 61 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Facilitating meaningful parental engagement in the learning process.  Quarterly Cluster PTA’s (Direct quarterly teacher progress reports to parents regarding each 9 week period)

PROGRAMS AND DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS

50% of schools in RMI have adopted these changes. However, 100% is the goal. (There is still much to be done.) 58 schools have initiated improvement goals and new leadership styles.

Output 3.1.1 To expand Cluster PTA which encourages parent/family involvement in Majuro and strengthen PTAs in other school locations.

The Cluster Model uses traditional participatory methods to encourage the various groups shown on the chart to collaboratively meet, plan and carry out roles and responsibilities that will improve how children learn and, most importantly, monitor the accountability of teaching and learning both formally and informally. The classroom and home are both learning venues that are equally important for the wholesome educational growth of children.

Implementing the Cluster Model in RMI Schools

The Cluster Model is the vehicle for the PIRC parental involvement improvement activities in our school communities. Each year, a number of schools are selected and trained. The table below is a record of the outcomes in the schools that have received training. It provides evidence that using the model affects their improvement efforts.

A total of 89 school administrators received training (three year period.) on the Cluster Model. Although the 53 school communities citing progress in using the model reported improvement regarding community support, almost 100% expressed the need for more MOE or other national support for educational resource needs and facility improvement, which are also critical to improving the quality of teaching and learning.

The PIRC WUTMI ECPE project is the only program offering Early Childhood Parenting Education (0-5 ages) in RMI. This is a home visit program utilizing the ‘Born to Learn’ Curriculum adopted from the Parents As Teachers Program. Parent Educators in the program as trained and certified by PAT.

PREL is the proud recipient of a continuation PIRC and will continue this work with RMI schools and WUTMI for the next five years ending in 2011.

62 Affiliated Programs ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Regional Education Laboratory Program (REL) – Extension Services in RMI

Objective 1: Technical Assistance for Improvement of Reading Comprehension How we over- Activity/Project Outcome Challenge come the challenge REL: Reading Comprehension Re- Improved reading per- Time Support of MOE/ search Project, a Pilot Project in 2006- formance for grades 4 PREL for trans- 2007 at Ajeltake Elementary School, and 5 Means of transpor- portation to en- grades 4 and 5. tation for the coach able her to be at Improved teacher (Juanita Rilometo). the site in time for This study investigates the impact of a knowledge and skills in She mostly de- English class, the principles-based professional develop- reading comprehension pended on the first period of the ment on reading comprehension for strategies Laura bus service day English Language Learners (ELLs). It which is very er- involves the training of teachers on ratic and inconven- research-based classroom instructional ient strategies.

Ajeltake was chosen as one of the pilot sites for the project with Juanita as the reading coach and site coordinator Accomplishments: 1. Two teachers, Amity Jarom and Alma Jibke, were trained on strategies for improving reading comprehension for English Language Learners (ELLs). 2. All teachers at Ajeltake participated in a reading comprehension workshop offered by an expert trainer brought to the school by PREL.

Objective 2: TA for Curriculum Development and Re-formatting of K-12 Curriculum

How we can over- Activity/Project Outcome Challenges come the challenge PCC: The RMI MOE K-12 content Uniform K-12 curriculum Time for teachers Active support of MOE standards. framework for the RMI to work on the cur- Assistant Secretary MOE riculum in addition for Secondary to moti- PREL, PCC staffs, will assist the to their regular vate and engage RMI MOE staff with the: Improved teaching skills teaching schedules teachers development of the Secondary on standards-based Schools content standards in instruction MOE to gather a Lighten up their teach- Math, English, and Science revision committee ing loads until the to revise curricu- work is done? re-organizing K-12 standards  lum drafts from K training activities on the stan- to 12. Give teachers incen- dards and use of standards- tives for additional based instruction for high work school teachers Accomplishments: 1. Format for K-12 framework agreed upon. 2. Content standards for English, Math and Science ready for review and revision.

Affiliated Programs 63 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

WORLDTEACH

WorldTeach is a non-profit organization affiliated with Harvard University that sends volunteer teachers to countries throughout the world. Operating under its second 3-year Memorandum of Un- derstanding with the RMI government, the organization recruits, screens and trains volunteer teachers to work in schools throughout the RMI. WorldTeach oversees the management of the volunteers throughout the year, working closely with the MOE to ensure that teachers provide quality instruction to Marshallese students. For the first two years of the program, WorldTeach was funded in part by a grant from the Republic of China (Taiwan). The program currently comes under the Supplemental Education Grant (SEG).

th The WorldTeach program completed its 6 year of operation in the Photo 9.2: WorldTeach volunteer at Jaluit Elementary RMI in June. For the 2007-08 academic year, the program placed School 46 volunteer teachers in 37 schools on Majuro and the outer islands. For the 2008-2009 academic year the program began its 7th year by welcoming 37 volunteers to the RMI in July 2008, paring down the number of sites slightly due to safety and transportation and communication concerns.

The 2007-2008 School Year

In a difficult year of transportation due to the Air Marshall Islands planes not working for months and increased fuel costs, every single WorldTeach volunteer stayed to complete his year of teaching. Follow- ing the school year, 5 volunteers remained in the Marshall Islands to continue their work with their communities. Two volunteers from the 2007-2008 group returned to the RMI to continue their work as World- Teach volunteers, and an additional volunteer began teaching under an MOE contract at NVTI. Another volunteer returned to the RMI to work with WUTMI, and lastly, a volunteer came back to work for the World- Teach office.

Some of the hardest work and greatest dedication occurred on the outer Photo 9.3: WorldTeach volunteer islands, where the volunteers made great in-roads in their adopted communities. On Jabwon, Ailinglaplap the volunteer is built on the efforts of past volunteers to continue the Adult Education program created there last year. On Arno, Arno, the second year volunteer continued her own efforts to build a garden and raise pigs for the school through grant funding she applied for in her first year. In the 7th year of the program, many volunteers arrived at their sites to find large book collections and supply centers thanks to the efforts of past volunteers to build libraries and offer resources to future teachers. For instance, building on the new library begun by last years volunteer, the new volunteer was able to bring her own dona- tion of books and continue to expand the schools library, which has been enjoyed by the entire community. The continued support, upkeep and enhancement of these projects were a special part of many volunteers school related responsibilities.

Not only did volunteers continued to build on the work of past volunteers, many began their own projects and additions to their schools. For instance, at Rita Elementary School the volunteer and her family in the U.S.

64 Affiliated Programs ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

raised money to purchase supplies such as basic school supplies to chalk boards and white boards. The fund- raising project went beyond RES as all WorldTeach volunteers benefited as the WorldTeach office was over- whelmed with incoming boxes of supplies weekly. On Ebeye, both volunteers were avid and skilled basketball players. They began an Ebeye Basketball League for their 7th and 8th grade students, holding try-outs and playing weekly. A requirement for playing was that players must come to school and maintain a passing grade to continue in the league. Another volunteer (a skilled musician and conductor) joined forces with a former volunteer who was teaching at NVTI to start singing lessons and a choir club for all students. That volunteer also spent 4 nights per week training National Band Members on their musical instruments and overall administration of the Band.

Assessing the WorldTeach Program

Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to provide a quantitative assessment of the benefits of the WorldTeach program. Currently, there are no tests utilized by MOE or WorldTeach to provide a picture of improvement in English skills among all of the students of the RMI. The MISAT is given in the 3rd, 6th, and 8th grade classes. While we can use these results to measure the school against itself, we cannot use these tests to track individual student’s progress.

WorldTeach conducted surveys among principals and head teachers of schools with volunteers during the 2006-2007 school year to assess their feelings about the program. Results of the evaluations suggest that volunteers are viewed as being indispensable additions to the Photo 9.4: Students with new readers teaching staffs at their schools. The principals and head teachers (who get to view the students and volunteer teachers on a daily basis) believe that the volunteers have had a huge impact on student learning.

The WorldTeach program has had a great impact on RMI students in the first seven years of its operation, but like most investments in education, the true results can only be seen in the long-term after the work has been done.

Affiliated Programs 65 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

DARTMOUTH VOLUNTEER TEACHING PROGRAM

Dartmouth Volunteer Teaching Program (DVTP) at the Minis- try of Education continues to be an essential element to the overall improvement of student and teacher performance throughout the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The Dart- mouth Volunteer Teaching Program is a non-profit organization affiliated with Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The program started in 2000 under the leadership of Professor Andrew Garrod and has continued to expand since. The program local office is at the Ministry of Educa- tion’s main office building on Majuro, the capital city. The program director and field director engineer the overall management of DVTP in the Republic. The directors are also charged to work closely with the Ministry of Education to en- Photo 9.5: Dartmouth teacher, Lindsay Horton, at a counseling sure that volunteers provide quality services to the students workshop and the community as whole. The program is currently funded under the Supplemental Education Grant (SEG).

In June 2008, the DVTP completed its seventh year of providing graduates with education training and experience to public schools in the RMI. Fourteen graduates participated in the program during the 2007-2008 school year. The new volunteers arrived in July, ready to devote their time and energy to giving their students the best possible eduction in the upcoming school year.

The 2007-2008 School Year

DVTP recruited 14 Dartmouth graduates to work in the RMI for SY 2007-08. This year, three volunteers from 2006-2007 returned to the RMI to teach on contract – two contracts with MOE and one contract through Bikini. As in the last few years, all the Dartmouth teachers completed the entire school year at their sites. This was the seventh year DVTP provided volunteers on Ejit and Kili, the fifth year at NIHS and MIHS, and the fourth year at LHS.

The large group of Dartmouth teachers accomplished a wide variety of great things at each of their schools this year. One teacher at MIHS organized after school Peer Counseling groups, which provided the students with a comfortable and familiar channel to dis- Photo 9.6: Dartmouth volunteer cuss issues relevant to their lives, as well as a Health Club. The volunteers on Kili continued to organize a soccer league for the students of KES as well as organizing after school sessions for the grade 8 students to study for their exam. The Ejit Elementary School girls volleyball team won the May Day competition, while the volunteers helped supervise EES’s participation in all the events.

Other accomplishments included: At Kili Elementary, 9 out of 10 students passed the 8th grade test, thus gain- ing admittance to high school, and student’s scores on the grade 3 and grade 6 tests have improved; Ejit Ele- mentary School students’ scores on the third and sixth grade tests have also continued to rise consistently over the seven years Dartmouth volunteers have been teaching there.

66 Affiliated Programs ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Volunteer Contributions Outside of School

The DVTP emphasizes not only high expectations for volunteers in the classroom; we also encourage a high level of involvement in the communities. Volunteers are given a sponsor family in the community, with whom they meet at least once a week to practice Marshallese, study together, learn about customs, and have a sense of place and family in the local community. Additionally, volunteers on Kili participated in local volleyball leagues as well as organizing and running a youth soccer league. On Wotje, a teacher organized and ran a diabetes pilot study for outer islands that focused on education and exercise as well as weight loss to combat the diabetes epidemic in the RMI. The MOH picked up the study and is planning to incorporate the program on a number of other outer islands in the near future. In Majuro, a volunteer organized and led an art club with the NGO Youth to Youth in Health that culminated in an Art Show. Volunteers in Laura participated in adult basketball leagues throughout the year as well as organizing and running a youth soccer league and tournament.

2008 Shakespeare Production

February 2008 brought YouthBridge Global Director Jessica Swale and Project Director Vincent Ng to Majuro to join Pro- ducer Kristin Romberg, who was also the field director of the DVTP, to stage another Shakespeare Production at MIHS with the assistance of Professor Andrew Garrod. Professor Garrod was unable to bring undergraduates to the RMI this year due to his obligations as Chair of the Dartmouth Education Depart- ment. The YouthBridge Global team worked hard with the students of MIHS to put on a bilingual production of Shake- speare’s “A Comedy of Errors”, the fifth Shakespearean production at MIHS. A drama production is an educational inter- vention and has a number of purposes. It aims to attract students from MIHS who have a wide variety of talents to work Photo 9.7: The Comedy of Errors Production together with young directors on a cooperative venture that is intense, rigorous, and has high standards. The students develop self-esteem, poise, public presentation skills, and we have little doubt that this affects their academic achievement motivation. In its insistence on the production being bilingual it demonstrates respect for the beauty and vitality of the Marshallese language and an appreciation of Shakespeare’s language.

Affiliated Programs 67 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

JAPANESE OVERSEAS COOPERATION VOLUNTEERS

Established in 1991, the Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) Program has continued to collaborate with the Ministry of Education through the years. The program aims to teacher and provide teaching methodologies to Marshallese teachers in order to build local capacities and skills in a variety of academic areas, especially in mathematics. Every volunteer is equipped with the necessary teaching skills and experience needed to face the challenges of education in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. In the school year of 2007-2008, there were 45 volunteers working with the Ministry of Education.

Photo 9.8: JOCV meeting

Table 9.1: JOCV Volunteers

Names Field Recipient Eriko NAKAZAKI Math and Science Teacher Marshall Islands High School Yasuharu OKITA Elementary School Teacher Rairok Elementary School Yuko SAITO Elementary School Teacher Ajeltake Elementary School Toshiyuki NOHARA Elementary School Teacher Delap Elementary School Chisako NISHIO Elementary School Teacher Rita Elementary School Yoshiaki FUKUDA Elementary School Teacher Woja Elementary School Hiroyuki NAKASHIMA Math and Science Teacher Jaluit High School Noriko YOSHIDA Elementary School Teacher Likiep Elementary School Takeshi ONOZATO Math and Science Teacher Assumption High School Mariko NAKAZAWA Elementary School Teacher Laura Elementary School Seiya TAGUCHI Elementary School Teacher Uliga Elementary School Kuniko NAGOSHI Physcical Education Marshalls Christian High School Ayako TOBIKAKIUCHI Math Teacher Nothern Islands High School Yumi SHIBATA Music Kili Elementary School Yuko TSUBAKI Elementary School Teacher Ejit Elementary School Mao YAMAMOTO Music Kili Elementary School→Ejit Elemen- tary School Asumi WATANABE Music Assumption High School Tomoaki HASHIZAKI Math and Science Teacher Marshalls Christian High School→Assumption High School Tsutomu KAWASAKI Japanese Teacher Marshall Islands High School Naomichi KINO Math Teacher Jaluit High School→Laura High School Junko WATANABE Physcical Education Marshall Islands High School Yoshihiro SHIMOSAKI Math and Science Teacher Majuro Middle School Naoki NISHIMURA Math and Science Teacher Marshall Islands High School Nobuaki YAMADA Elementary School Teacher Woja Elementary School Taichi WATANABE Elementary School Teacher Rita Elementary School

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Names Field Recipient Sayuri ITO Elementary School Teacher Delap Elementary School Akiko HASHIMOTO Japanese Teacher Marshall Islands High School Mioko MATSUBARA Elementary School Teacher Ajeltake Elementary School Gaku HASHIMOTO Elementary School Teacher Likiep Elementary School→Arno Ele-

Yuji TAKEUCHI Math and Science Teacher National Vocational Training Institute Masahiro KUBO Physcical Education Laura High School Yuki TAIRA Physcical Education Laura High School Maki TAKATA Math and Science Teacher Assumption High School Chie MURAI Elementary School Teacher Uliga Elementary School Mizuki AIDA Music Assumption High School Makoto KIGASAWA Elementary School Teacher Laura High School Misa ASAKA Japanese Teacher Marshall Islands High School Kimiko NAGAI Elementary School Teacher Rairok Elementary School Kazuhiko AKIBA Elementary School Teacher Delap Elementary School Toshiki CHIBA Elementary School Teacher Woja Elementary School Shigeharu WATANABE Math and Science Teacher Marshall Islands High School Hiromi TAKAHASHI Japanese Teacher College of the Marshall Islands Asami TAKEDA Elementary School Teacher Rita Elementary School Shunichi OKAZAKI Math Education MOE (Math Department) Hiroko KASAHARA Math Education MOE (Math Department)

Appendix 69 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

70 Affiliated Programs ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

APPENDIX

ANNUAL PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT INDICATORS (DOI)

Table 1: Number of schools by Grade Level

2006-2007 School Year 2007-2008 School Year Level Type Number # Students Boys* Girls* Number # Students Boys* Girls* Public 76 9093 4765 4328 76 9333 4873 4460 Elementary Private 25 2636 1302 1334 24 2721 1326 1395 Public 6 2040 1040 1000 6 2348 1154 1194 Secondary Private 15 1024 528 496 14 850 409 441

Table 2: Number of schools by Enrollment size Public Private* Atoll Students Students Schools Teachers Schools Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Ailinglaplap 8 57 292 254 546 2 18 10 28 Ailuk 2 14 64 49 113 1 20 13 33 Arno 10 56 293 264 557 1 48 40 88 Aur 2 17 70 66 136 0 N/A N/A N/A Ebon 3 23 97 93 190 0 N/A N/A N/A Enewetak 1 18 87 98 185 0 N/A N/A N/A Jabat 1 7 18 13 31 0 N/A N/A N/A Jaluit 7 41 194 157 351 2 58 65 123 Kili 2 20 117 99 216 0 N/A N/A N/A Kwajalein 4 121 617 590 1207 6 421 457 878 Lae 1 10 59 54 113 0 N/A N/A N/A Lib 1 6 22 25 47 0 N/A N/A N/A Likiep 3 21 64 65 129 0 N/A N/A N/A Majuro 9 296 2021 1875 3896 11 676 728 1404 Maloelap 5 31 121 107 228 0 N/A N/A N/A Mejit 1 13 61 56 117 0 N/A N/A N/A Mili 5 29 141 120 261 0 N/A N/A N/A Namdrik 1 14 97 83 180 0 N/A N/A N/A Namu 4 29 124 88 212 0 N/A N/A N/A Ronglap 1 5 62 57 119 0 N/A N/A N/A Ujae 1 14 70 53 123 0 N/A N/A N/A Utrik 1 11 61 74 135 0 N/A N/A N/A Wotje 2 23 108 103 211 1 35 36 71 Wotho 1 6 13 17 30 0 N/A N/A N/A Total 76 882 4,873 4,460 9,333 24 1,326 1,395 2,721

Appendix 71 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Table 3: School operating half-day sessions

Year Number of schools 2003-2004 1 2004-2005 1 2005-2006 1 2006-2007 2 2007-2008 1

Table 4: Number of staff full time

Year Total 2007-2008 1052

Table 5: Number and Percent of staff by education Level

Degree 2006-2007 2007-2008 Percent HS Diploma 402 493 47% Associates 294 396 38% Bachelors 54 124 12% Masters 5 29 3% Certificate 3 8 1% Doctorate 1 0% None 71 1 0% Total 829 1052 100%

Table 6: Number of Teachers/Staff By Grade Level

Number Teachers Number Teacher Number Teacher Area Grade Level 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 All Areas Primary 850 960 882 Outer Islands Primary 435 441 465 All Areas Secondary 103 194 190 Outer Islands Secondary 124 42 66

Note: Total number of teachers from public primary and secondary school. Private is not included in this table.

Table 7: Student/Teacher Ratio by Geographic Area/All Schools (DOI 7)

Grade Level Student/Teacher Student/Teacher Student/Teacher Area Ratio 2005-06 (All Ratio 2007-08 Schools) Ratio 2006-07 Primary 16.3 13.39 13.2 Majuro Secondary 12.9 14.64 14 Primary 18.1 15.4 10 Ebeye Secondary 13.5 20.27 12.7 Primary 11.1 10.18 9.1 All others Secondary 20.9 15.62 9.7

72 Appendix ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Table 8: Base Population of School Age Groups

Year Age 4 Age 5 Age 6-13 Age 14-18 2005 1,039 1,039 11,886 7,501 2006 1,275 1,275 10,203 6,640 2007 1,287 1,287 10,295 6,700 2008 1,482 1,375 11,297 6,560

Table 9: Total Enrollment By Grade and Gender : 1991-992 to 2007-08

Primary Schools Secondary Schools Grand Year K-5 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th Total 9th 10th 11th 12th Total Total Both Sexes 2003-04 1,696 1,439 1,279 1,345 1,226 1,292 1,326 1,339 10,942 1,003 869 732 579 3,181 14,123 2004-05 1,734 1,361 1,342 1,215 1,277 1,126 1,072 1,157 10,284 1,025 831 626 549 3,031 13,315 2005-06 1,596 1,619 1,381 1,277 1,234 1,163 1,088 1,045 10,403 981 846 806 603 3,236 13,639 2006-07 1,592 1,459 1,488 1,253 1,202 1,194 1,080 1,022 10,290 991 725 765 587 3,068 13,358 2007-08 1551 1,529 1,485 1,464 1,402 1,257 1,205 1,127 1,034 12,054 1039 807 659 693 3,198 15,252 Males 2003-04 900 767 634 701 665 668 713 653 5,701 502 440 354 273 1,569 7,270 2004-05 906 722 730 617 634 603 562 598 5,372 492 429 320 289 1,530 6,902 2005-06 794 839 748 684 620 586 564 540 5,375 491 423 414 300 1,628 7,003 2006-07 859 735 772 668 627 599 530 535 5,325 518 374 387 289 1,568 6,893 2007-08 824 799 780 721 721 653 630 556 515 6,199 498 390 345 330 1,563 7,762 Females 2003-04 796 672 645 644 561 624 613 686 5,241 499 429 378 306 1,612 6,853 2004-05 828 639 612 598 643 523 510 559 4,912 533 402 306 260 1,501 6,413 2005-06 802 780 633 593 614 577 524 505 5,028 490 423 392 303 1,608 6,636 2006-07 733 724 716 585 575 595 550 487 4,965 473 351 378 298 1,500 6,465 2007-08 727 730 706 744 680 604 575 571 518 5,855 541 417 314 363 1,635 7,490

Table 10: Average Daily Attendance For School On Majuro

Primary Daily Atten- Secondary Daily Atten- Majuro Enrollment dance dance School Year Numbers Percent- Numbers Percent- Primary Secondary age age 2007-08 3,896 1,418 3,646 94% 1,292 91% Note: Indicator 10 only includes the public schools on Majuro, both primary and secondary. These indicators are based on MOE’s 9-week report submitted by the schools. On that note, only few outer islands school submitted their quarterly reports. Report will be provided upon receiving the critical data.

Appendix 73 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Table 11: Dropout Rate by Grade Level and Gender (DOI 10, 12,14) (Dropout Rate by Grade Level & Gender)

2005-06 2005-06 Fe- 2006-07 2006-07 Fe- 2007-08 2007-08 Fe- Grades Males males Males males Males males 1 to 8 6.60% 3.10% 26.90% 26.40% 27.70% 28.20% 9 to 12 11.10% 12.50% 44.80% 5.20% 32.90% 31.90%

Table 12: Proficiency Level Pacific Islands Literacy Test (4th Grade): % Students “At Risk” (DOI 11) (Number of students achieving proficiency for selected tests DOI 11) 2005 (All 2005 Public 2005 Private 2007 (All 2007 Public 2007 Private Subject Schools) Schools Schools Schools) Schools Schools 57% 64% 34% 61% 67% 35% Boys 61.2% Boys 0.64% English Girls 53% Girls 0.75%

49% 50% 44% 63% 65% 56% Marshallese Boys 51.8% Boys 0.68% Girls 45.1% Girls 0.59% 73% 80% 50% 58% Numeracy Boys 73.8% Boys 0.52% 64% 39% Girls 72.6% Girls 0.52%

Table 13:Completion/Graduation rate for 8th and 12th grade

8th Grade 12th Grade Year % of Gradu- % Of Male Female Total Male Female Total ates Graduates 2007-2008 413 392 805 97% 229 267 496 89%

Table 14: Number/percent of 8th grade completers going to high school.

8th Grade Completers/Gender To high school Year Male Female Total # to HS % to HS 2005-2006 540 505 1045 991 95% 2006-2007 535 487 1022 793 78% 2007-2008 515 518 1033 757 73%

Table 15: Number of Student Textbooks by Subject Area and Grade Level (NOT AVAILABLE)

Table 16: Per Pupil Expenditure (DOI 17) 2006-07 2007-08 Type of Grade School Level Total Stu- Total Expen- Per Pupil Total Stu- Total Expen- Per Pupil dents diture Expenditure dents diture Expenditure Primary 9,093 15,294,401 1,684 9,333 15,769,266 1,690 Public Secondary 1,938 4,981,709 2,341 2,348 5,136,382 2,188 Primary 2,597 - - 2,721 - - Private Secondary 1,079 - - 850 - - Total Public 11,021 20,276,110 1,840 11,681 20,905,648 178,971 Total 14,697 15252

74 Appendix ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Table 17: Number parent involvement activities per year by school (DOI 16)

Total Largest Largest Largest Largest individual % of par- Cluster 1 Cluster 2 Cluster 3 Total #meeting #meeting #meeting #meeting School Parents ents at- parents Parents Parents Parents attended attended attended School attended tending by C1 by C2 by C3 Wide meetings Aerok ES 29 28 15 72 27 27 Ajeltake ES 136 104 57 297 30 22 n/a 52 Aur ES 41 26 9 76 Bikarej ES 30 16 9 55 15 26 8 43 Ebeye ES 517 344 203 1064 49 Ejit ES 36 32 10 78 20 20 26 Enekoien ES 11 4 4 19 Enewa 32 15 7 54 Imroj ES 15 13 6 34 Jabwan ES 19 12 8 39 32 32 Jah ES 26 10 6 42 Kapen ES 31 22 11 64 Kilinge ES 51 26 13 90 Kili ES 73 39 26 138 Lae ES 55 34 24 113 19 13 21 53 Laura ES 257 160 70 487 Laura HS 31 28 15 74 21 12 8 30 71 96% Majkin ES Majuro MMS Matolen ES Mejel ES Mejrirok ES 16 8 6 30 21 21 70% Nallo ES 22 26 9 57 22 22 39% Namdrik ES 88 248 40 376 98 62 N/A 77 237 40% Rairok ES 243 248 N/A 491 98 62 N/A 77 237 40% Rita ES Tobal ES Toka ES Ujae ES Ulien ES Uliga ES Wodmej ES Woja ES A 84 56 35 175 32 35 23 90 Woja ES M

Appendix 75 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Table 18(a): Student Enrollment in local Institution of Higher Education RMI-USP Joint Program (Foundation Courses) Foundation Level Student Enrolled Student Passed Pass Percentage Year Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total 1996 9 10 19 5 5 10 55% 50% 53% 1997 17 9 26 11 8 19 64% 88% 76% 1998 21 16 37 12 5 17 57% 31% 52% 1999 17 6 23 8 6 14 47% 100% 61% 2000 14 11 25 9 7 16 64% 63% 64% 2001 6 14 20 5 10 15 83% 71% 75% 2002 10 14 24 7 12 19 70% 85% 79% 2003 13 12 25 11 10 21 84% 83% 84% 2004 10 10 20 9 8 17 90% 80% 85% 2005 17 7 24 14 7 21 82% 100% 88% 2006 16 12 28 9 11 20 56% 91% 71% 2007 15 11 26 12 9 21 80% 81% 81%

Table 18 (b): Student Enrollment in local Institution of Higher Education (Preliminary USP) Preliminary Level Student enrolled Student Passed Pass Percentage Year Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total 1996 30 22 52 18 8 26 60% 36% 50% 1997 27 20 47 18 11 29 66% 55% 62% 1998 25 28 53 16 8 24 64% 28% 45% 1999 11 13 24 7 8 15 63% 62% 63% 2000 14 26 40 7 13 20 50% 50% 50% 2001 13 16 29 10 12 22 76% 75% 76% 2002 27 19 46 23 16 39 85% 84% 85% 2003 31 39 70 28 35 63 90% 88% 90% 2004 30 33 63 28 19 47 93% 57% 75% 2005 27 29 56 17 15 32 62% 51% 57% 2006 29 32 61 26 25 51 89% 78% 84% 2007 27 31 58 19 14 33 70% 45% 57%

76 Appendix ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Table 19: Number of Higher Education graduated by diploma/degree (CMI)

Number of Students Enrolled (Double Major Students Percentage of Students Enrolled in Semester and Degrees Awarded Course are Counted Once in Each Program) Each Program Year Female Male Total Female Male Total Fall 2004 84 111 195 43.10% 56.90% 2004-05: 35 Business Fall 2005 70 93 163 42.90% 57.10% 2005-06: 19 Administration Fall 2006 56 89 146 38.40% 61.00% 2006-07: 21 Fall 2007 131 2007-08: Fall 2004 51 76 127 40.20% 59.80% 2004-05: 20 Fall 2005 88 92 180 48.90% 51.10% 2005-06: 29 Education Fall 2006 78 111 189 41.30% 58.70% 2006-07: 29 Fall 2007 142 2007-08: Fall 2004 73 104 177 41.20% 58.80% 2004-05: 20 Fall 2005 60 82 142 42.30% 57.70% 2005-06: 15 Liberal Arts Fall 2006 86 94 180 47.80% 52.20% 2006-07: 14 Fall 2007 111 2007-08: Fall 2004 59 51 110 53.60% 46.40% 2004-05: 6 Fall 2005 64 49 113 56.60% 43.40% 2005-06: 16 Nursing Fall 2006 71 47 118 60.20% 39.80% 2006-07: 10 Fall 2007 168 2007-08:

Other (including all Certificates: certificate programs, 7 TESOL Fall 2004 7 6 13 53.80% 46.20% unknown, and audit 13 Counseling students) 4 Marine Science

Certificates: 13 TESOL Fall 2005 2 3 5 40.00% 60.00% 5 Counseling NOTE: Most stu- 5 Marine Science dents’ majors are one of the four degree programs of the col- Certificates: lege (as listed above) 19 TESOL Fall 2006 9 5 14 64.30% 35.70% 0 Counseling 0 Marine Science

Fall 2007 8 2004-05: 105 degrees/ Fall 2004 274 348 622 44.10% 55.90% certificates issued to 101 unique students All Five Programs (Double-Major stu- 2005-06: 102 degrees/ dents are counted Fall 2005 284 319 603 47.10% 52.90% certificates issued to 90 once in each pro- unique students gram. So, some students may be 2006-07: 93 degrees/ counted more than Fall 2006 301 346 647 46.50% 53.50% certificates issued to 84 once.) unique students 2007-08: 91 Degrees/ Fall 2007 560 certificates issued to 78 unique students.

Appendix 77 ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Table 19: Number of Higher Education graduated by diploma/degree (CMI) (continued)

Number of Students Enrolled (Double Major Students Percentage of Students Enrolled in Semester and Degrees Awarded Course are Counted Once in Each Program) Each Program Year Female Male Total Female Male Total 2004-05: 105 degrees/ Fall 2004 274 348 622 44.10% 55.90% certificates issued to 101 unique students All Five Programs (Double-Major stu- 2005-06: 102 degrees/ dents are counted Fall 2005 284 319 603 47.10% 52.90% certificates issued to 90 once in each pro- unique students gram. So, some students may be 2006-07: 93 degrees/ counted more than Fall 2006 301 346 647 46.50% 53.50% certificates issued to 84 once.) unique students 2007-08: 91 Degrees/ Fall 2007 560 certificates issued to 78 unique students.

Table 20: Percent of base-school-age population in school by age group.

Year Age 4-5 Age 6-13 Age 14-18 2006-2007 49% 99.70% 47.60% 2007-2008 54% 93% 49%

78 Appendix ANNUAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 Ministry of Education

Appendix 79