How to become a teacher in Northern Mariana Islands

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is an insular area of the United States of America. Through the Covenant Agreement of 1976 (http://www.cnmilaw.org/covenant.htm), the CNMI entered into a unique political union with the US that exists to the present day. Recent changes in the CNMI-USA relationship, however, occurred in 2007 and have already had a significant impact in the CNMI. Namely, federal labor laws were implemented in July 2007. Prior to this, the CNMI had local control of labor. On August 30, 2011, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, signed the regulations governing foreign workers in the CNMI. Beginning November 27, 2011, foreign workers will need to have a U.S. employment visa to remain in the CNMI. Although it may not have a large impact on the number of teachers of the CNMI Public School System, it may impact the number of students whose parents fall under this category.

The Government of the CNMI, through the autonomous Board of Education (BOE) and the PSS, provides K-12 public school education within a single school district for all school children. There are twenty public schools in the CNMI servicing over 11,000 public school children. PSS employs over 1,000 employees. Of this number, approximately 500 are PSS classroom teachers.

The Northern Marianas College (NMC), accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), is the only institution of higher education (IHE) in the CNMI. The NMC School of Education (SOE) is dedicated to enhancing the quality of education in the CNMI by providing a Bachelor of Science degree in Education with emphasis in Elementary Education, Early Childhood, Special Education, and Human Services. The SOE also offers certificate programs in Early Childhood and Related Services designed to engage paraprofessionals in a developmental environment of acquiring the knowledge, attitudes, and skills to promote educational excellence and equity in the classroom. The NMC Elementary Education Program is designed to engage education students in the developmental process of acquiring the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to promote educational excellence and equity in the classroom. The Bachelor of Science degree program is based upon the latest research and current best educational and classroom practices. The NMC School of Education’s faculty design courses to incorporate the cultural strengths of the children of the CNMI and teach how to match those strengths to teaching practices.

The CNMI, located in the western Pacific region, is isolated and remote. Approximately eight flight hours west of Hawaii, or four hours south of Japan, the CNMI experiences teacher recruitment and retention challenges for all of its schools, particularly in the subject areas of secondary math, science, English and special education. The presence of only one teacher preparation institution in the CNMI results in lower numbers of teaching graduates to meet the CNMI’s recruitment needs. Consequently, the PSS relies on off-island teaching talent to supplement recruitment efforts. Online recruitment strategies and attendance to traditional recruitment events are utilized to meet this end.

Additionally, a sluggish CNMI economy has meant that the PSS has been operating on the same continuing budget resolution since 1998, despite adding five schools and over 2,000 students since then. In fact, in Fiscal Year 2007, the PSS suffered a five percent budget reduction, the lowest budget given to the PSS in almost ten years. For Fiscal Year 2009, the budget allocation for the PSS remained the same. And for Fiscal Year 2010, the PSS was allotted $2 million less than the previous Fiscal Year. The budgetary constraints do not allow PSS to offer a more generous compensation package, including relocation expenses or housing allowance for any off-island hire, thereby exacerbating the recruitment challenge. The budgetary and geographic constraint also inhibits recruitment efforts.

Despite the budgetary challenges of the CNMI, the CNMI Legislature provides educational assistance to aspiring local college students. The CNMI Scholarship Office (http://www.cnmischolarship.com/index.html) offers financial assistance to US citizens with residency in the CNMI. The Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance Program (SHEFA at http://www.saipanshefa.com/default.asp ) is also available to all US citizens with residency on the island of Saipan. At the conclusion of college studies, recipients of these programs, whether attending NMC on-island or attending any other off-island institution of higher education, are obligated to return within three months to the CNMI to work for a certain number of years. Failure to return and serve in the CNMI requires scholarship recipients to repay the CNMI government.