Administrators at Pohnpei Department of Education (PDOE) and COM—FSM want to better understand the high school experiences of graduates who are more prepared to succeed at COM—FSM based on measures of early college success and college readiness, including earning all attempted credits in first-semester courses, placement into credit math and English courses, and persisting to a second year of college enrollment. This study will identify the specific student characteristics and aspects of students' high school preparation that predict early success in college and college persistence, and the percentage of Pohnpei high school students who participated in the types of academic preparation found to predict college success.
Most teachers hired by the Guam Department of Education (GDOE) are graduates of the University of Guam School of Education (UOGSOE). Potential teacher candidates must pass the Praxis Core exam prior to being accepted into UOGSOE, but to date, the percentage of teachers who pass the Praxis Core exam is low. Because most students who enter UOG have graduated from Guam Public Schools, this study will examine the academic and demographic characteristics of high school students who plan to become teacher candidates.
Many Guam public high school graduates who enroll as first-time freshmen at the University of Guam and Guam Community College are placed into non-credit bearing developmental courses instead of credit-bearing courses. Because early college success has important implications for students and educational institutions, stakeholders in Guam have expressed a need to learn more about early college success and its predictors in this population. This study will use existing data to examine early college success, as well as demographic and academic preparation characteristics, of recent graduates from Guam public high schools who enrolled at the University of Guam or Guam Community College from 2012 through 2015.
This study will examine the relationships between high school academic preparation, high school academic achievement, intrapersonal competencies, and the outcome of interest: early college success.
As part of its Education Master Plan 2026, the Palau Ministry of Education (MOE) and Palau Community College (PCC)–the island's lone public postsecondary education institution–are working to align their education systems to better prepare Palau students for the rigors of college-level coursework. This study will identify (a) the specific student characteristics and aspects of students' high school preparation that predict early success in college and graduation, and (b) the percentage of Palau High School students who participated in the types of academic preparation found to predict college success.
One pressing challenge in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is a shortage of qualified teachers. Using existing data, this study will examine variability in the demographic characteristics and the college academic preparation variables of teacher candidates who graduated from the College of Micronesia-FSM from 2012 through 2016 and who passed or failed the National Standardized Test for Teachers (NSTT). In addition, this study will examine what demographic and college academic preparation factors predict NSTT performance in this context.
More than 75% of recent incoming students at College of the Marshall Islands (CMI) are initially placed in non-credit developmental courses rather than credit-bearing courses. Using existing data, this study will examine various demographic and academic preparation characteristics of three cohorts of recent graduates from the RMI public school system who enrolled in CMI from 2013 through 2015. The study will also examine which demographic and academic preparation characteristics predict college readiness and early college success among these students.