Sheila Arens

This study addressed the need expressed by education stakeholders in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to better understand their high school students' social-emotional competencies and how those competencies might be associated with students' academic and behavioral outcomes in high school and college. Social-emotional competencies refer to the knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors that help students recognize and manage their emotions, build positive relationships, and make respo...

Policymakers and educators on Guahan (Guam) are concerned about the persistent shortage of qualified K-12 teachers. Staff at the Unibetsedat Guahan (University of Guam, UOG) School of Education, the only local university that offers a teacher training and certification program, believe that more students are interested in becoming teachers but that the program's admissions requirements--in particular, the Praxis(r) Core test, which consists of reading, writing, and math subtests--might be a b...

As of 2010, about 15 percent of residents older than age 25 on Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) had completed an associate degree or higher. To increase the number of college graduates, the Pohnpei Department of Education and the College of Micronesia--FSM are working together to improve the early college outcomes of their students. They noted that in 2018, 42 percent of applicants from Pohnpei to the College of Micronesia--FSM were not admitted or were admitted to a one-ye...

In the Republic of the Marshall Islands, college readiness and early college success are major concerns. More than 75 percent of a recent cohort of incoming students at the College of the Marshall Islands placed into developmental courses, which suggests that students might not be academically prepared to take postsecondary coursework. A lack of research on predictors of college readiness and early college success for Marshallese students makes it difficult to develop and implement targeted i...

On Guahan (Guam), the large percentages of students enrolling in non-credit-bearing courses at Kulehon Kumunidat Guahan (Guam Community College) and Unibetsedat Guahan (University of Guam) have raised concerns about college readiness and early college success. Without adequate research on predictors of college readiness and early success among students on Guahan, educators and other stakeholders find it difficult to identify and support students at risk of being underprepared for college. Thi...