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Narrative Report for Northern Mariana Islands 2021

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Section 1

State Leadership Funds (Adult education and family literacy act Section 223 (AEFLA))

Describe how the State has used funds made available under section 223 (State Leadership activities) for each the following:

AEFLA Section 223(1)(a)

Alignment of adult education and literacy activities with other one-stop required partners to implement the strategies in the Unified or Combined State Plan as described in section 223(1)(a)

State Leadership funds are extremely limited. Despite this obstacle, our office works closely with the CNMI Department of Labor/WIA and the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation.  We have an MOU outlining services to offer, such as assessment testing, career goal advising, and workplace skills training for their clients.  Our office is familiar with our core partners' staff and works closely together with them to share data

Due to the pandemic, our office was not able to complete the Virtual One-Stop System (VOS) training.  A team, however, plans to attend a training to be held in October 2022.  This will help us to link our system with WIA/Labor to streamline data sharing, client services, and reporting requirements.

AEFLA Section 223(1)(b)

Establishment or operation of a high-quality professional development programs as described in section 223(1)(b)

The office was able to attend a virtual COABE conference focusing on IETs.  Meetings with the college academic leadership were scheduled and held to introduce the IET concept and to brainstorm ideas on how it could work.  The leadership was very interested and a lot of discussions were centered on the Criminal Justice and Nursing programs.

Discussions were placed on hold in order to focus on the hiring of the new college president and then recently, a new academic dean.  The new dean is the former head of the Criminal Justice program.  This is extremely positive as he was particularly excited to create new opportunities for students to earn credentials.

The new dean is still settling into his role, but there are plans to continue discussions.

AEFLA Section 223(1)(c)

Provision of technical assistance to funded eligible providers as described in section 223(1)(c)

Our office operates as both state and local.  We provide instruction, assessment, testing, and professional development for the CNMI.  Within the program year, the office often meets to address needs and concerns.  Because we operate as both state and local, issues are addressed quickly.  And, because of the nature of our island community, students are able to comfortably share their successes and challenges with the program. We use the information to continually update and improve our program and the services we offer them and to the community.

AEFLA Section 223(1)(d)

Monitoring and evaluation of the quality and improvement of adult education activities as described in section 223(1)(d)

Our office participates in a college-wide program review process where we evaluate the services we offer to our students.  We look at how we gather and share data, assess student and program outcomes, professional credentials and training of our faculty and staff, and community engagement.

Our office also regularly participates in professional development training on adult education, online instruction, curriculum improvement, in-take process delivery, as well as inclusivity, cultural sensitivity, and disability awareness and support. 

There are plans for the state core partners to participate in an Evaluation Peer Learning Cohort (EvPLC) training in Fall 2021.  We hope that this will provide our core group team members the guidance and foundation to apply what is learned in order to monitor and evaluate program activities in a way that brings value back into the programs.

AEFLA Section 223(a)(2)

As applicable, describe how the State has used funds for additional permissible activities described in section 223(a)(2)

Funding was very limited so we were only able to focus on receiving training for the VOS and IET development.

Section 2

Performance Data Analysis

Describe how the adult education program performed in the overall assessment of core programs based on the core indicators of performance. Discuss how the assessment was used to improve quality and effectiveness of the funded eligible providers and any plans to further increase performance in future reporting years.

Despite enrollment decreasing yet again this program year 2021-2022, we were still able to Improve the percentage of Periods of Participation (PoP) with Measurable Skills Gains (MSG) from 52.73% in PY 2020-2021 to 61.18% this year.  We worked hard in preparing those who were getting ready to achieve their goal to graduate. Our office graduated 30 students.

Face-to-face courses were converted to online instruction.  It was a great challenge for all of us who were not used to this delivery mode.  We opened up all lines of communication with our students.  They were able to contact us through personal phone numbers, emails, social media messages, and WhatsApp.  They could contact most of us anytime during the week, including evenings and weekends.  Some students who were not able to do online courses were treated as independent study students and did assignments or projects through emails or through packets.  We tried to accommodate students in different ways.  We weren’t able to increase our enrollment, but we also didn’t lose too many of our students.

Students were able to continue to come on campus to take their assessments.  Individual student profile reports were given to instructors to incorporate into their online lesson plans to ensure weak skills, as well as strengths, were addressed and reinforced.  Northern Marianas College’s General Education Learning Outcomes (GELOs), CASAS competencies, Adult Education CCRS, and Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) were all mapped and laid out in the program course syllabi.  Students entered the online class knowing what they were going to learn as well as the expectations from the instructor.

Our intake process continues to be improved to meet student needs. Educational advising sessions were scheduled often to track progress towards goals and individual concerns were also addressed during these sessions.  We’ve found that this particular practice has had a positive effect and student retention improved overall with them posting enough hours to posttest and continuing until they fulfill their goals. We also created a separate email for potential students to send inquiries.  This helped us track the different types of requests that came in.  

The office continues to communicate with the institution and a research associate from REL (Regional Educational Laboratory) for the pacific region at McREL International (a non-profit, non-partisan education research and development organization) to assist in the development of an IET program that will work and be sustainable as well as meet the needs for our community.  We plan to continue working on developing an IET program and hopefully launch it in the near future.

Section 3

Integration with One-stop Partners

Describe how the State eligible agency, as the entity responsible for meeting one-stop requirements under 34 CFR part 463, subpart J, carries out or delegates its required one-stop roles to eligible providers. Describe the applicable career services that are provided in the one-stop system. Describe how infrastructure costs are supported through State and local options.

The NMI is currently transitioning to have a one-stop center.  Labor/ Workforce Investment Agency (WIA), Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR), and the Adult Education State Office are still working with Guam’s DOL to develop a Virtual Online System to satisfy one-stop requirements. The state core partners attended training for the VOS and had been starting the process when the pandemic happened.  The VOS training will continue in the Fall of 2022 and we hope to be able to start using the system to streamline services for shared clients.

In the meantime, the office works closely with WIA.  They continue to refer clients to be assessed and in doing so found several to need our program services.  The clients that enter our program lack basic skills and need further instruction.  The clients/students also work with WIA to be placed for employment.  The office continues to work closely with them and hopes to soon be able to gather more employment data to improve our reporting counts.

We continue to refer students to OVR for services when needed.  Our office also utilizes the Disabilities Coordinator at Northern Marianas College to assist us in offering accommodations, resources, and counseling for the students referred to our program.

Most of our award under the program is used for the purpose of offering core subject instruction and integrating career skills into the curriculum.  The students entering our program lists going to college and getting a job as their main goals in their applications.  College and career training and activities are brought into the classrooms to accommodate the students’ schedules. We do our best to make sure students meet their goals in order to succeed in their life plans.  Students regularly call in to speak with their advisors to ensure goals are being met and that they are receiving the services that they need from the program.

Section 4

Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education

Describe how the state is using funds under Section 243 to support the following activities under the IELCE program:

IELCE Funds and grants

Describe when your State held a competition [the latest competition] for IELCE program funds and the number of grants awarded by your State to support IELCE programs.

Not Applicable.

Training activity

Describe your State efforts in meeting the requirement to provide IELCE services in combination with integrated education and training activities;

Not Applicable.

IELCE Section 243(c)(1)

Describe how the State is progressing towards program goals of preparing and placing IELCE program participants in unsubsidized employment in in-demand industries and occupations that lead to economic self-sufficiency as described in section 243(c)(1) and discuss any performance results, challenges, and lessons learned from implementing those program goals; and

Not Applicable.

IELCE Section 243(c)(2)

Describe how the State is progressing towards program goals of ensuring that IELCE program activities are integrated with the local workforce development system and its functions as described in section 243(c)(2) and discuss any performance results, challenges, and lessons learned from implementing those program goals.

Not Applicable.

Section 5

Adult Education Standards

If your State has adopted new challenging K-12 standards under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, describe how your Adult Education content standards are aligned with those K-12 standards.

Since 2014, our state office formally adopted the Adult Education CCR standards. Comprehensive and organized course syllabi were implemented on July 1st, 2014 and updated annually.  The office continues to incorporate CCR standards into its curriculum.  The materials and information gathered and learned in trainings attended were instrumental in working on the curriculum and course syllabus changes.

Mathematic and Language Arts’ Student Learning Outcomes were mapped out to include the Adult Education CCR Standards as well as the CASAS competencies, the college’s General Education Learning Outcomes.  These are all shared with students in the course syllabi.  Copies were also shared with the college’s academic dean and vice-president.  The college and the public-school system are working together to develop college and career readiness standards.  Our office has incorporated its standards into our curriculum and has mapped them out per student learning outcome.

Section 6

Programs for Corrections Education (AEFLA Section 225)

What was the relative rate of recidivism for criminal offenders served? Please describe the methods and factors used in calculating the rate for this reporting period.

We were not able to serve any in the Department of Corrections (DOC).  In addition to ongoing pandemic protocols, there are internal issues with staffing the institution and being short in manpower.

Our office, though, continues to work closely with the Drug Court System with them referring clients to our office to comply as a condition in lieu of being incarcerated.  We send them regular progress reports.

We also remain steadfast in maintaining our services to the substance abuse rehabilitation center.  It is a relatively new program, but because of our success with providing services to the drug court system, we were identified as a program that can assist clients in re-entering the community as productive citizens.