Helping Students Prepare for Careers in Yap and Beyond
Summary
The Yap Partnership for College and Career Readiness and Success is committed to using research results, data, and best practices to guide policy and practice to increase college and career readiness and success. Partnership goals include:
- Supporting collaboration among members from the K–12 school system, college, and career settings.
- Guiding policy and practice to increase college, career and life readiness and success.
- Increasing awareness of evidence-based strategies used to help more students transition successfully from high school to college and careers.
- Increasing the number of students who are prepared to take credit-bearing courses, a key indicator of college readiness.
High-Leverage Need
In Yap, only 66 percent of school-aged children attend secondary school, as it is not compulsory. Subsequently, only 20 percent of students who graduate high school in Yap pass college entrance exams. In addition, 19 percent of the households on Yap lived below the FSM basic needs poverty line in 2013. These statistics highlight the education and economic challenges that Yap and other REL Pacific jurisdictions face, and the need for local schools to prepare secondary students for college and careers that foster educational and economic success, as more and more jobs are demanding postsecondary education or training. Combined with accelerating levels of emigration due to limited on-island economic opportunities, these issues have created challenges for Yap's continued economic development.
REL Pacific Project Support
To support the Partnership's goals, REL Pacific is conducting ongoing training and coaching sessions to help stakeholders implement evidence-based strategies that better align school and career systems and subsequently decrease reliance on foreign workers. These collaborative training and coaching sessions focus on strategies to support students in the transition from school into the workforce and provide information regarding the evidence-based research on Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs.
Contact
Max Altman, managing researcher, provides research and consultation support for a variety of projects under the REL Pacific contract, primarily in the areas of early literacy and college and career readiness and success. Max holds a Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Policy from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Secondary Education/Mathematics from Vanderbilt University. Contact Max at maltman@mcrel.org or call 1.808.664.8179.