College and career readiness is a priority area throughout the REL Pacific region, as many recent high school graduates place into developmental education courses, rather than credit-bearing classes, when they enroll in college. In December, REL Pacific staff traveled to Kolonia, Pohnpei to meet with stakeholders from the Pohnpei College and Career Readiness and Success (CCRS) Partnership to begin to collaboratively design a high school math transition course that will transition students directly into credit-bearing math courses at the College of Micronesia-FSM (COM-FSM), which stakeholders hope will increase their college graduation rates.
During this training session, participants learned about some of the basic tenets of improvement science and how they might impact the work to come, and discussed the student characteristics (such as motivation, sense of belonging, and a growth mindset) that Partnership members had indicated in prior meetings were key to ensuring that students had the tools necessary to succeed in college. Participants also began work on an aim statement to determine the percentage of students who, by fall 2020, will complete the transition course and enroll in credit math at COM-FSM. The exact percentage of students will be determined prior to the next training session.
What would it mean for Pohnpei if more students were able to graduate from COM-FSM? Participants noted that this type of change would improve the work force and individual outcomes in ways that could better support communities in Pohnpei and match local graduates to needed employment. REL Pacific looks forward to continuing to work with these dedicated educators to meet this goal, with student success as everyone's highest priority.
Learn more about the Pohnpei College and Career Readiness and Success (CCRS) Partnership here: https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/pacific/partners-pohnpei-cc-readiness.asp .
Interested in joining a Partnership, or want to learn more about existing Partnership work? Contact us at relpacific@mcrel.org.
