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$7.5M in grants allocated to various PSS programs
A total of $7,578,110 in consolidated grants had been allocated to support the various programs of the Public School System. The consolidated grants are aligned to PSS’ strategic priorities for the coming school year.
A huge chunk of the grant—or $2 million—will go directly to schools in providing supplemental materials for classroom instruction, while $1,672,841 is for 35 class size reduction teachers at the elementary and secondary levels to decrease the teacher-to-student ratio in each class.
Another $1.1 million is for the expanded on the job-training program in all public high schools, which aims to have 500 students enrolled per year, while $797,707 is allocated for distance education with 36 courses offered.
Title 1 that would focus on tutorials for Kindergarten to the third grade will be receiving $687,342 and $670,000 for the Heroes to Teachers Program. A total of $650,220 is for K-3 with coaching intended for teachers aimed to reduce variability of instruction of 80 percent of students’ reading OGL by 2020.
PSS has provided professional development training for highly qualified and effective teachers and school leaders, and tutorials to more than 1,500 students that are performing below their grade levels.
The tutorials resulted to an 84-percent improvement with 231 students leaving the tutorial program after performing above-grade levels based on the 2014-2015 school year federal monitoring report.
Computers, LCD projectors, Internet connection, SMARTboards, digital capture devices, electronic libraries, and other materials for learning have been provided to most of the classrooms while the distance education allowed Tinian and Rota students access to high school courses offered only on Saipan.
The PSS has also partnered with the Saipan Chamber of Commerce and other agencies to prepare students for the workforce through various mentoring and internship programs.
The PSS has secured a low interest loan from Rural Development to build new kindergarten classrooms and other school facilities.
