Xavier High School in Chuuk announced earlier this week it would accept eight upcoming freshmen from Marshall Islands following an entrance test that was given to over 200 eighth graders in Majuro, Ebeye and Jaluit.
Although the same test was given to the three atolls, only eight from Majuro passed.
Majuro Middle School made history for having students pass the test for the first time. Three of the eight students are from the public school, with two from Assumption School, two from Majuro Cooperative School and one from Majuro Baptist Christian Academy.
Students in Chuuk and the Marshall Islands had passing rates on the Xavier High School entrance test well below the 12 percent average for all test-takers. A total of 1,002 students in the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and Marshall Islands, including 15 islanders living in Guam and Hawaii, recently took the entrance test for the 2016-17 school year. Of these, 117 passed both the English and math portions of the test. Kosrae had the highest passing rate of 31 percent, as nine of the 29 students there passed. The Marshalls passing rate was four percent (eight of 222), and Chuuk’s passing rate was less than two percent (two of 128).
Read more about this in the April 15, 2016 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.