Report of appeal for immediate corrective action

Report of Appeal for Suggestive Immediate MIHS Corrective Action Report Summary We teachers and staff of MIHS are writing in response to the current state of the high school and its students. We are proposing for immediate corrective action with the Ministries support.

After a recent survey conducted by teachers, we’ve all noticed in the report and in our own personal professional observations that students are not at the academic level that they are supposed to be in. This problem has been brought to your attention previously by our principal indicating that more attention should be given to the feeder schools that pass students that are not ready to be in high school. As the only public accredited institution in this country, it is vital that we uphold our duty as educators to ensure that our current education system is efficient to produce the right type of performance results. Student performance at MIHS is at an all time low mainly because of the above mentioned issue. Students are passed at primary into secondary even though they lack the basic knowledge to perform at the high school standards set by the Ministry.

We applaud the efforts of the Ministry for taking the initiative to assist elementary school teachers but we at the high school feel that this initiative should also be extended to our premises where students who are preparing for college are in need of dire assistance. Educators at MIHS lack the current capacity to teach students who lack the primary knowledge to carry them out effectively in high school. Teachers are getting burnt out because they are forced to teach content that was supposed to be taught in primary in addition to secondary material that has been set by the Ministry. This has also produced problems at the High school as performing students are often neglected because they are the minority. A majority of the students, as indicated in the attached surveys, showcase the current problem in effect in black and white. It is too late as students are already affected by our current system of passing but with the Ministries assistance we can slowly fix the problem by building the teachers current capacity. We at MIHS are proposing the following actions: 1. Regular Workshops/Classes for teachers to learn the Marshallese Language: a. Teachers believe that it is important to know the language to effectively communicate to students who lack the basic English speaking skills that were supposed to be taught in Elementary. This is a temporary solution until the Ministry produces more Marshallese teachers. A fine example that highlights this basic communication necessity is how students can’t even follow directions.

2. Increase the passing rate from 50% to 70 % of the high school entrance exam. a. This helps us properly identify students who are ready to be in high school.

3. Hire experts to work with High school teachers to build our current capacity to address this issue.

Report of Appeal for Suggestive Immediate MIHS Corrective Action a. This issue is unique to the Marshall Islands. More learning strategies need to be taught to teachers to help combat this issue that is affecting student performance and teachers.

In our own effort to fix the problem ourselves at MIHS, we teachers & staff have begun initiating several programs to build our own capacity. Here is an example of some of the corrective initiatives that have taken place thus so far: 1. Utilization of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) a. Teachers have actively used this strategy to discuss student performance issues and come up with workable solutions through unified lesson plans.

2. Private Tutoring a. Some committed teachers have begun tutoring non readers and using their own preparation periods to assist struggling students that need to catch up 3. Workshops a. MIHS Principal has already planned out workshops to increase teacher capacity in addressing student performance issues.

4. Principal a. Principal has already taken the initiative and approached MOE to increase the entry exam’s passing rate.

5. MIHS Outreach Program a. MIHS has initiated an outreach program for struggling students in an effort for more parent involvement. Parent involvement has been proven to increase student performance.