Education in
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
is overseen by the
Department of Education of Puerto Rico
The Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDOE; ) is one of the statewide public education system in the United States, with (Hawaii being the other). The PRDOE is the state education agency in charge of managing public schools in Puerto Rico as ...
and the
Puerto Rico Education Council ''Their mission'' is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access to all the students.
The Council of Education of Puerto Rico es, Consejo de Educació ...
. The Department oversees all
elementary
Elementary may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''Elementary'' (Cindy Morgan album), 2001
* ''Elementary'' (The End album), 2007
* ''Elementary'', a Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin album, 1977
Other uses in arts, entertainment, a ...
and
secondary public education while the Council oversees all academic standards and issues licenses to educational institutions wishing to operate or establish themselves in Puerto Rico.
Instruction in Puerto Rico is compulsory between the ages of five and 18, which comprises the
elementary
Elementary may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''Elementary'' (Cindy Morgan album), 2001
* ''Elementary'' (The End album), 2007
* ''Elementary'', a Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin album, 1977
Other uses in arts, entertainment, a ...
and
high school grades. Students may attend either
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
or
private school
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
s. As of 2013, the island had 1,460 public schools and 764 private schools; there were 606,515
K–12
K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an American English expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States, which is similar to publicly supported school grades ...
students, 64,335
vocational
A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. People can be given information about a new occupation through student orientation. Though now often used in non-religious c ...
students, and 250,011 university students.
In 2021, the average public school size was 355 students. Because of damage caused by
Hurricane Maria
Hurricane Maria was a deadly Category 5 hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the worst natural disaster in recorded history to affect ...
in 2017, a shrinking population, deteriorating infrastructure, and the
Puerto Rican government-debt crisis
The Puerto Rican government-debt crisis was a financial crisis affecting the government of Puerto Rico. The crisis began in 2014 when three major credit agencies downgraded several bond issues by Puerto Rico to "junk status" after the governmen ...
, 283 schools were closed in Puerto Rico by 2018.
The literacy rate of the Puerto Rican population is 93%; when divided by gender, this is distributed as 92.8% for males and 93.8% for females. According to the 2000 Census, 60.0% of the population attained a high school degree or higher level of education, and 18.3% has a bachelor's degree or higher.
History
![Students at Belen Blanco De Zequeira, Loiza, Puerto Rico](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Students_at_Belen_Blanco_De_Zequeira%2C_Loiza%2C_Puerto_Rico.jpg)
The first school in Puerto Rico was the ''
Escuela de Gramática'' ( en, Grammar School). The school was established by Bishop
Alonso Manso in 1513, in the area where the
Cathedral of San Juan was to be constructed. The school was free of charge and the courses taught were
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
,
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
,
Latin language
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of t ...
,
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
,
philosophy,
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
and
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
.
The concept of public school wasn't used on the island until 1739; an official education system was created in 1865. At the time, attendance was compulsory until age 9. Public Education was organized into 500 centers by 1897.
The
Foraker act
The Foraker Act, , officially known as the Organic Act of 1900, is a United States federal law that established civilian (albeit limited popular) government on the island of Puerto Rico, which had recently become a possession of the United State ...
of 1900 established the commissioner of education in Puerto Rico and created the department of public education. The commissioner of education was appointed by
William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
, President of the United States. The first commissioner 1900 – 1902 was
Martin Grove Brumbaugh
Martin Grove Brumbaugh (April 14, 1862March 14, 1930) was an American Republican politician who served as the 26th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1915 until 1919. He is frequently referred to as M.G. Brumbaugh, as is common in the Brumbaugh fa ...
, who was the first professor
pedagogy
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...
at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, and was president of
Juniata College
Juniata College is a private liberal arts college in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1876 as a co-educational school, it was the first college started by members of the Church of the Brethren as a center for vocational learning for those wh ...
. He reorganized the public school system, encourage both pupils and teachers to become
bilingual in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, and built a normal school for training teachers. Brumbaugh's education policies promoted
Americanization
Americanization or Americanisation (see spelling differences) is the influence of American culture and business on other countries outside the United States of America, including their media, cuisine, business practices, popular culture, te ...
, which followed the policies of Puerto Rico's two political parties, which both were committed to turning Puerto Rico into an
American state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
. Samuel McCune Lindsay, appointed by the
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
, President of the United States served as Education Commissioner 1902 – 1904 continued the policy preparing Puerto Rico for
American statehood. Laws passed in 1899 required education in Puerto Rico to consist of a public system for ages six to eighteen, to limit the student/teacher ratio to 50:1, and to be coed. The 1900 Department of Public Instruction became the
Department of Education
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
in 1989.
Julian Go argues that the primary goals of American policy were:
:Under American control, Puerto Ricans and Filipinos would vote in free elections, take up office, help devise legislation, and administer the colony's daily affairs-first in local (municipal) governments and later in national legislative assemblies. The native officials would be given more and more autonomy as they moved through this system, slowly learning their so-called "object lessons" in American-styled governance. Local governments would be granted more duties and functions, the legislative assemblies would be allowed to devise laws "with less and less assistance," and in general American control would be slowly loosened. The underlying principle of political education was thus: "Free self-government in ever-increasing measure."
According to Go, in actual practice there was less and less local autonomy and more and more centralized control of education. The problem was that rich local elites based in the Federal Party had taken local control, and were not prepared to introduce local democracy against their personal interests. Go argues that the local elites were corrupt and used the system for their own personal benefit, including pocketing a slice of the local government budget.
The commissioner of education led efforts to introduce
American culture
The culture of the United States of America is primarily of Western, and European origin, yet its influences includes the cultures of Asian American, African American, Latin American, and Native American peoples and their cultures. The U ...
in preparation for a democratic society that would be admitted as an equal state to the union.
[Moral, del & Moral, del. ''Negotiating Empire: The Cultural Politics of Schools in Puerto Rico, 1898–1952.'' Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2013. ''Project MUSE'',] English-language instruction was dominant until 1939, when Spanish was made the official language of instruction. English is currently taught as a second language beginning from first grade and continuing straight through senior year of high school.
Following American principles of
separation of church and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
, public school education became independent of religious instruction. The teaching of
US history, replacing Puerto Rican historical figures with American ones, reciting the
Pledge of Allegiance
The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is a patriotic recited verse that promises allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States of America. The first version, with a text different from the one used ...
, and the celebrating American holidays were means to Americanize students on the island. Americanization was meant to uplift the locals. The United States founded schools and trained both US and Puerto Rican teachers in education. Puerto Rican teachers were sent to the United States to receive training. In the island, US teachers would train Puerto Rican teachers. By 1913, the US government had invested 14 million dollars on public education in the island and 1,050 schools had been built in rural areas.
Protestants from the mainland arrived to build a non-Catholic educational infrastructure.
Presbyterians were highly active and founded many primary and secondary schools. Presbyterian missionaries all spoke Spanish and were committed to supporting the local
Hispanic cultural heritage.
Despite the dominance of Protestant and secular public education, Catholic schools also expanded during the early twentieth century. During the colonial era, there had been only three Catholic schools, but by 1917, there were twenty-seven. Another twenty-five had been founded by 1940.
Levels
Since an educational reform in 2018, the public school system in Puerto Rico has been organized into the following levels:
Some Puerto Rican schools, known as (second unit) schools, serve kindergarten and first through ninth grades (K–9).
As of 2013, the overall educational system in Puerto Rico consists of seven categories. These categories are based on the educational levels covered:
Some Puerto Rican schools, most notably in rural areas, offer
kinder to
ninth grade (K–9) at the same institution and are referred to as ''Segunda Unidad'' ( en, Second Unit). Other schools offer
seventh grade
Seventh grade (or grade seven) is a year or level of education. The seventh grade is the eighth school year, the second or third year of middle school, and the first year of junior high school. Students are around 13-14 years old in this stage of ...
to
twelfth grade
Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...
(7–12) at the same institution and are referred to as ''Nivel Secundario'' ( en, Secondary Level).
Elementary and secondary education
Public education
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico grants the right to an education to every citizen on the island. To this end, public schools in Puerto Rico provide free and
secular education
Secular education is a system of public education in countries with a secular government or separation between religion and state.
An example of a secular educational system would be the French public educational system, where conspicuous reli ...
at the elementary and secondary levels.
The public school system is funded by the
commonwealth and is operated by the
Puerto Rico Department of Education
The Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDOE; ) is one of the statewide public education system in the United States, with (Hawaii being the other). The PRDOE is the state education agency in charge of managing public schools in Puerto Rico as ...
(''Departamento de Educación del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico''
Inicio The department employs over 45 thousand teachers of which 32,000 have full-time tenureships and are organized under several independent unions, including the
Puerto Rico Teachers Association
The Puerto Rico Teachers Association (Spanish: ''Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico'') is one of the trade unions that represents teachers in Puerto Rico. Its mission is to promote and defend the right of every person to free secular public ...
and the
Teachers' Federation of Puerto Rico
The Teachers' Federation of Puerto Rico ( es, Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico, FMPR) is a trade union federation of teachers in Puerto Rico. With currently 32,000 members, it is one of the most important non-US-aligned unions in the terri ...
. The remaining teachers are either temporary or contracted on a yearly basis.
Preschool
A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary sch ...
education, care, and services (including
Early Head Start and
Head Start) are free for low income families with private
daycare
Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...
s being common and within walking distance in urban areas. Primary and secondary education is
compulsory and free regardless of income through more than 1,400 public schools. Ten public schools are considered prestigious locally. All of them being
magnet schools
In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school ...
, which graduate the highest scores on the island of the
College Board's PEAU (Latin America's equivalent of the
SAT
The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...
). Two examples of these are
CIMATEC and
CROEM which focus on
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
,
technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...
, and
mathematics.
Public schools in Puerto Rico are subject to the federal laws of the United States. The NCLB,
No Child Left Behind Act included Puerto Rico until president Obama approved a waiver on October 22, 2013.
Education Department spokeswoman Yolanda Rosaly told
The Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newsp ...
on May 5, 2017 that approximately 27,000 students will be moved, as a result of 184 public school planned closings. The
economic crisis in Puerto Rico drove the decision to close the schools, which officials have said will save millions of dollars.
Governor
Ricardo Rosselló proposed a radical education reform bill in February 2018. The reform bill hopes to give Puerto Rico's public school teachers the first raise in over ten years; an idea that some find skeptical. He signed the legislation in March to incorporate a
charter school voucher system after more than 600 amendments were made during debate.
Hurricane Maria
Hurricane Maria was a deadly Category 5 hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the worst natural disaster in recorded history to affect ...
caused an exodus of more than 25,000 students; the single centralized school district is projected to lose 54,000 students by 2021. The voucher system is going to limit private schools to 3 percent of the student population; whereas the charter schools will receive 10 percent.
Language
Unlike most
schools in the United States, public school instruction in Puerto Rico is conducted entirely in Spanish. English is taught as a second language and is a compulsory subject at all levels. In the early years following the
1898 American occupation of the island, the opposite was true: public schooling was entirely conducted in English, and Spanish was treated as a special subject as sanctioned by the US from 1903 to 1917 for grades 1 through 4; only by 1934 were grades five through eight also being taught in Spanish. Upon the appointment of
Blanton Winship
Blanton C. Winship (November 23, 1869 – October 9, 1947) was an American military lawyer and veteran of both the Spanish–American War and World War I. During his career, he served both as Judge Advocate General of the United States Army and ...
to be governor of Puerto Rico, English was reinstated as the educational language until 1941; again, only utilizing English in primary schools.
Luis Muñoz Marín
José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín (February 18, 1898April 30, 1980) was a Puerto Rican journalist, politician, statesman and was the first elected governor of Puerto Rico, regarded as the "Architect of the Puerto Rico Commonwealth."
In 1948 he ...
, the first popularly elected governor in 1948 appointed
Mariano Villaronga Toro, Commissioner of Education on the island, and with him, an immediate switch back to using Spanish for instruction. By the 1970s, bilingual programs were introduced to 113 of the schools in Puerto Rico. In 2012, pro-statehood Governor
Luis Fortuño
Luis Guillermo Fortuño Burset (born 31 October 1960) is a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, from 2009 to 2013.
Fortuño served as the first secretary of econom ...
caused controversy when he proposed that all courses in Puerto Rico public schools be taught in English instead of Spanish as they currently are.
Popular culture
Academic disciplines such as
ethnomusicology,
folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
, and
cultural studies have helped legitimize
scholarship
A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need.
Scholars ...
on
vernacular culture
Vernacular culture is the cultural forms made and organised by ordinary, often indigenous people, as distinct from the high culture of an elite. One feature of vernacular culture is that it is informal. Such culture is generally engaged in on a ...
. For example.
Afro-Puerto Rican bomba has been included.
Private schools
Private schools in Puerto Rico are operated by non-governmental institutions. While accredited elementary and secondary private schools in Puerto Rico must meet minimum public education requirements for academic work, accreditation is optional. There aren't any current policies regarding
nursing
Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...
/
health
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
, technology,
professional development, or reimbursement when performing state/local functions.
There are more than 700
private school
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
s on the island and over 8,000 teachers, most of them
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
It is constitutionally illegal to deny entrance or take action against students that profess a difference faith than the school they attend or intend to attend. Students from differing denominations are legally freed from attending religious activities on the schools they attend. Prominent private schools include
The Episcopal Cathedral School,
Colegio Católico Notre Dame,
Academia Bautista de Puerto Nuevo,
Academia del Perpetuo Socorro
Academia del Perpetuo Socorro (English: "Academy of Our Lady of Perpetual Help") was founded in 1921 as a Catholic parochial school of the Perpetuo Socorro Parish at the Archdiocese of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The school is located in Miramar in Pu ...
,
Academia Maria Reina
Academia Maria Reina is a Catholic middle (7th to 12th) and high school for girls in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Educative mission
Academia Maria Reina is a school of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Brentwood, New York. The educative mission of thi ...
,
Academia San Jorge
Academia San Jorge ("Saint George Academy") is a private, Roman Catholic school in San Juan, Puerto Rico founded in 1925 by Rev. Msgr. José M. Rivera as a parochial school with 53 students from grades K–3. Shortly after, the school started const ...
,
Colegio Marista Guaynabo
Colegio Marista de Guaynabo is a private Roman Catholic school in Puerto Rico conducted by the Marist Brothers. It is one of the many Marist schools that take place within 80 countries around the world, being this one the first one to be located ...
,
Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola
Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola is a private, Catholic, Jesuit, all-male college-preparatory school run by the U.S. Central and Southern Province of the Society of Jesus in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1952. , and
Colegio San José which maintain a high rate of students being accepted into prominent universities in the United States.
Homeschooling
Homeschooling, an alternative form of education, is legal in Puerto Rico but is neither regulated nor legislated.
However, as of June 2017, Puerto Rico is the first among the US states and territories to declare homeschooling a fundamental right.
The issue of legislation has caused a serious rift within the homeschooling community. While some of these parents want the government to establish a public policy on homeschooling, others oppose all forms of legislation. They also allege that the lack of regulation has led them to confront difficulties when interacting with the government, as evidenced in the case of a home schooled student who was denied federal Social Security benefits.
From the Applicable Law portion of the decision:
Higher education
Over half of the students entering college level institutions in Puerto Rico, never graduate: 41% of four-year students in public universities and 33% in private institutions get a
diploma.
8.90% of people in Puerto Rico earn an
associate degree and 6.30% of people get
graduate or
professional degree
A professional degree, formerly known in the US as a first professional degree, is a degree that prepares someone to work in a particular profession, practice, or industry sector often meeting the academic requirements for licensure or accreditatio ...
s.
Community colleges and technical institutes
There are a number of
technical school as well as
community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior se ...
in the town, including the Huertas College, and Mech-Tech College in
Caguas
Caguas (, ) is a city and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Central Mountain Range of Puerto Rico, south of San Juan and Trujillo Alto, west of Gurabo and San Lorenzo, and east of Aguas Buenas, Cidra, and Cayey. Caguas was founde ...
, the ICPR Junior College in
Hato Rey
Hato Rey is a former barrio located in the northwest part of the dissolved municipality of Río Piedras. It now stretches over three barrios, of the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico:
Urban landscape
Its name means "king's cattle farm" (' ...
and
Manati, American Educational College in
Bayamón and
Manati), the
Instituto de Banca y Comercio, and the
National University College
NUC University, (formerly known as National University College) is the largest for-profit private university in Puerto Rico with its main campus in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. The university was founded in 1982 as the National College, and offers unde ...
(NUC) in
Arecibo
Arecibo (; ) is a city and municipality on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Utuado and Ciales; east of Hatillo; and west of Barceloneta and Florida. It is about west of San Juan, th ...
,
Bayamón,
Caguas
Caguas (, ) is a city and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Central Mountain Range of Puerto Rico, south of San Juan and Trujillo Alto, west of Gurabo and San Lorenzo, and east of Aguas Buenas, Cidra, and Cayey. Caguas was founde ...
,
Ponce and
Rio Grande. There is one state-run system, the Puerto Rico Technological Institute in
San Juan, which possesses several programs at the local level and whose costs are significantly below market prices. Also, this can be very opinionated depending on what people are pursuing.
*
Instituto de Banca y ComercioPonce Paramedical College
Colleges and universities
The three major university systems on the island are the
University of Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...
with 11 campuses, the
Ana G. Méndez University System (SUAGM) with 3 major campuses and some satellites, and the
Interamerican University of Puerto Rico
The Inter American University of Puerto Rico (Spanish: ''Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico''; often abbreviated to ''UIPR'' or ''Inter'') is a private Christian university with its main campus in San Germán, Puerto Rico. It also has c ...
(Inter) with 9 campuses and 2 specialized schools.
The University of Puerto Rico performs the following"
The system is a source of
patronage. Its
board of trustees,
chancellor,
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
s,
dean
Dean may refer to:
People
* Dean (given name)
* Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin
* Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk
* Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean
Titles
* ...
s, and
program directors change
whenever a different political party gains power (about every 4 or 8 years), as the university is
a government-owned corporation. Its flagship campus is also prone to
student strike
Campus protest or student protest is a form of student activism that takes the form of protest at university campuses. Such protests encompass a wide range of activities that indicate student dissatisfaction with a given political or academ ...
s, averaging about one strike every three years that halts the whole campus, with the system as a whole averaging about one strike every five years
that halts the whole system. Most strikes derive from the university management attempting to raise the cost per credit the institution offers. This has been $55 per undergraduate credit and $117 per graduate credit. It is highly unlikely that a student graduates with college debt as a full
Pell Grant
A Pell Grant is a subsidy the U.S. federal government provides for students who need it to pay for college. Federal Pell Grants are limited to students with financial need, who have not earned their first bachelor's degree, or who are enrolled i ...
covers most costs for low income students, and those that don't receive a full Pell Grant or a Pell Grant at all can easily cover tuition costs. This economic accessibility comes at a price for the taxpayers of Puerto Rico: 9.6% of the
General Budget of the Government of Puerto Rico is automatically assigned to the university by law. In 2008, when the economy shrunk, so did the university's endowment. This resulted in problems for an already highly indebted university incapable of generating enough revenue to maintain itself. Because of this, the board of trustees increased tuition costs, which led to strikes. Other strikes were caused by the suggestion of reducing the percentage automatically assigned to the university. No bill has been filed for such purpose.
The University of Puerto Rico offers the largest academic choices with 472
academic
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...
programs of which 32 can lead to a
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
. UPR is also the only system with a business school, an engineering school, a law school, a nursing school, a school of architecture, and a school of medicine. Almost all its schools and programs rank first on the island although competition has increased in the last decades with private universities gaining track at a fast pace. The Ana G. Méndez System, the Interamerican University, and the
University of the Sacred Heart possess a business school with the University of Sacred Heart leading in
non-profit management and
social enterprise
A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners.
Social enterprises ca ...
, as well as in communications. The
Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico and the
Turabo University both have engineering schools with the Polytechnic University leading in
computer security
Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, t ...
and offering the only master's degree in
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...
on the island. Ranking regarding law schools is subjective with the
University of Puerto Rico School of Law
The University of Puerto Rico School of Law is a law school in Puerto Rico. It is one of the professional graduate schools of University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus and the only law school in the University of Puerto Rico System. It ...
, the
Interamerican University of Puerto Rico School of Law
The Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Faculty of Law ( es, links=no, Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico) is the school of law of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, a private co-educational corpor ...
, and the
Eugenio María de Hostos School of Law considered the best although UPR still leads in
constitutional law
Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in fe ...
. The
University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine and the
University of Puerto Rico School of Dental Medicine lead in medicine and dentistry.
The
Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, School of Optometry
Founded in 1981, the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, School of Optometry (IAUPR) offers a four-year Doctor of Optometry program and is located in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. In 1992, the School of Optometry became a separate autonomous aca ...
is the only school of optometry on the island. The
Carlos Albizu University
Albizu University is a private university with its main campus in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a branch campus in Miami, Florida, and an additional instructional location in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. It focuses on psychology, health, education, and huma ...
leads in psychology. The
Metropolitan University leads in
environmental management, The UPR leads in environmental science.
In terms of arts, the
Atlantic University College
Atlantic University College (AUC) is a private college in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1983 by Colonel Ramón M. Barquín. It is one of the only colleges or universities in the Caribbean specializing in digital arts education in all ...
leads in digital arts. The
Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico
The Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music ( es, Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico) is a public conservatory in San Juan, Puerto Rico.Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto RicoSOBRE EL CONSERVATORIO DE MÚSICA DE PUERTO RICO: Información General d ...
and the
Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico
The Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico ( en, School of Plastic Arts and Design of Puerto Rico) is an institution of higher learning engaged in the training of students in the visual arts. It is located in Old San Juan, San Ju ...
are considered leaders in music and arts respectively. The
school of international relations was created in November 2013 under the name of
Morales Carrión Diplomatic and Foreign Relations School, ascribed to the
Department of State of Puerto Rico
The Department of State of Puerto Rico was created in July 1952 and is responsible of promoting the cultural, political, and economical relations between Puerto Rico, other jurisdictions of the United States and foreign countries.
History
The ...
and still in development.
Almost all junior colleges, colleges, universities, and schools are accredited by the
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Specific programs tend to possess their respective accreditation as well (such as
ABET
The ABET (incorporated as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc.) is a non-governmental organization that accredits post-secondary education programs in applied and natural sciences, computing, engineering and engineering ...
,
AACSB
The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, also known as AACSB International, is an American professional organization. It was founded as the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business in 1916 to provide accreditation to ...
,
LCME, and so on) although it is not uncommon for programs to not possess its expected accreditation—for example, only two business schools are accredited by AACSB.
See
List of colleges and universities in Puerto Rico
, Ave. Las Americas, Bo. Canas Urbano,
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.
Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...
,
![School of Tropical Medicine - Univ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/School_of_Tropical_Medicine_-_Univ._of_Puerto_Rico.jpg)
,
Contemporary issues
Dropout rate
A study showed that about 19.10% of all students do not finish
9th grade
Ninth grade, freshman year, or grade 9 is the ninth year of school education in some school systems. Ninth grade is often the first school year of high school in the United States, or the last year of middle/junior high school. In some countries ...
.
According to the census, the high school graduation rate was 73.9% as of 2016. Some mainland US citizens question whether the median household income contributes; Puerto Rico's median household income is less than $20,000, with 43% of people in poverty.
Current educational issues
The government announced the closure of 283 schools and a new pilot plan for charter schools and vouchers.
From 2010-2018 a total of 682 schools where closed of which only 17 where sold afterward. The school system has lost about 38,762 students since May 2017 due to closing of schools.
In addition, between August 2017 and January 2018 another 27,000 students will be out of the school systems.
Some of the schools don't have running water or electricity.
Education Secretary Julia Keleher has mentioned that they will save $150 million by closing most of the schools. However, on March 29, 2018, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló signed a bill that will allow
charter school
A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
s and
voucher programs to be established. The governments are trying to cut funding from education in order to restore the island after all the hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico.
Teachers have also lost their jobs. Based on
United Federation of Teachers
The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is the labor union that represents most teachers in New York City public schools. , there were about 118,000 in-service teachers and 17,000 paraprofessional educators in the union, as well as about 54,00 ...
, it mentioned more than 2,600 teachers have received a letter saying they were excessed. Also, no teacher has received a raise since 2008 and beginning teachers earn $1,750 a month, although the cost of living is 10 percent higher than on the US mainland.
Parents' participation
A January 2014 news report stated that 55 percent of parents with children in public schools picked up their children's grades for the first semester of 2013–2014 school year on the scheduled day.
Poor performance in public schools
According to the
Economist Intelligence Unit
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, providing forecasting and advisory services through research and analysis, such as monthly country reports, five-year country economic forecasts, ...
, 95% of public school students in Puerto Rico graduate at a sub-basic level while 60% do not even graduate.
Furthermore, according to the
Department of Education of Puerto Rico
The Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDOE; ) is one of the statewide public education system in the United States, with (Hawaii being the other). The PRDOE is the state education agency in charge of managing public schools in Puerto Rico as ...
in 2012, 39% of public school students perform at a basic level (average performance) in Spanish in the
Puerto Rican Tests of Academic Achievement.
Likewise, 36% perform at a basic level in
Mathematics while 35% perform at a basic level in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and 43% at a basic level in
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
in said tests.
![Naep-scores-for-puerto-rico-2005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Naep-scores-for-puerto-rico-2005.png)
Moreover, studies published in 2003, 2005, and 2007 by the
United States National Center for Education Statistics as part of the
National Assessment of Educational Progress
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what U.S. students know and can do in various subjects. NAEP is a congressionally mandated project administered by the ...
(
NAEP) concluded that Puerto Rico falls below basic levels when compared to the United States
– being ''basic'' defined as "partial mastery of the knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work" according to NAEP. In particular the findings showed that:
* Overall, fourth- and eighth-grade students in Puerto Rico scored lower, on average, than public school students in the continental United States.
* 12% of students in Puerto Rico scored at or above basic in
fourth grade
Fourth grade (also called grade four, equivalent to Year 5 in England and Wales, and Year 4 in Australia) is a year of Elementary education in some countries. In North America, the fourth grade is the fifth school year of elementary school. Stud ...
in comparison to the continental United States, where 79% of students scored at or above basic in the same grade.
* 6% of students in Puerto Rico scored at or above basic in
eighth grade in comparison to the United States where 68% of students in the United States scored at or above basic in the same grade.
As a result of this, 1,321 out of 1,466 public schools in Puerto Rico (about 90%) do not comply with the academic progress requirements established by the
No Child Left Behind Act.
In 2013, the Nation's Report Card concluded that Puerto Rico falls below basic levels when compared to the United States.
In particular the findings showed that:
* Overall, fourth- and eighth-grade students in Puerto Rico scored lower, on average, than public school students in the United States.
* 11% of students in Puerto Rico scored at or above basic in
fourth grade
Fourth grade (also called grade four, equivalent to Year 5 in England and Wales, and Year 4 in Australia) is a year of Elementary education in some countries. In North America, the fourth grade is the fifth school year of elementary school. Stud ...
in comparison to the continental United States, where 89% of students scored at or above basic in mathematics.
* 5% of students in Puerto Rico scored at or above basic in
eighth grade in comparison to the United States where 95% of students in the United States scored at or above basic in Mathematics.
Also, the Nation's Report Card reported an average of 309 students per school in P.R., where in United States there are 504 students per school.
In 2017, Puerto Rico again ranked dead last in fourth-grade and eighth-grade math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests.
Market demand for college graduates
Puerto Rico is atypical as many youngsters pursue post-secondary studies even though the local market has no demand for them. For example, in 2012 50,000 students graduated at the undergraduate and graduate level while the labor market generated about 6,000 jobs per year of which 25% of those required that level of education. This effectively means that the Puerto Rican market has no demand for 97% of those who graduate with an undergraduate or graduate degree in Puerto Rico, although many find jobs out of the island.
Notable Puerto Rico educators
*
Lolita Tizol
*
Alfredo M. Aguayo
*
Mariano Villaronga-Toro
*
María Teresa Babín
*
Elías López Sobá
*
Eugenio María de Hostos
Eugenio María de Hostos (January 11, 1839 – August 11, 1903), known as "''El Gran Ciudadano de las Américas''" ("The Great Citizen of the Americas"), was a Puerto Rican educator, philosopher, intellectual, lawyer, sociologist, novelist, an ...
Notes
References
Further reading
''La Junta Local de Instrucción Pública de Ponce: una Experiencia Histórica (1900–1910).''Cristina R. Torres. Caribbean University, Recinto de Ponce. 2011. (Accessible through La Revista de Investigación Cualitativa, ISSN 2164-7216, Unión Puertorriqueña de Investigadores Cualitativos (UPIC), sistema de acceso abierto (OJS). "Revistas de la Universidad de Puerto Rico." University of Puerto Rico.) Discusses the topic of the municipalization of public education in Puerto Rico.
* Solsiree del Moral, ''Negotiating Empire: The Cultural Politics of Schools in Puerto Rico, 1898–1952.'' Madison, WI; University of Wisconsin Press, 2013.
{{Portal bar, Puerto Rico, Education
Society of Puerto Rico