The Puerto Rican Tests of Academic Achievement es, Pruebas Puertorriqueñas de Aprovechamiento Académico (PPAA) are a set of

standardized Standardization or standardisation is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments. Standardization ...

achievement test An achievement test is a test of developed skill or knowledge. The most common type of achievement test is a standardized test developed to measure skills and knowledge learned in a given grade level, usually through planned instruction, such as tr ...

s provided 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 ...

that evaluate the academic achievement of students 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 ...

. The tests cover the subjects of

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

, mathematics,

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in th ...

, and

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 ...

. The tests are aligned with the content standards of excellence established in 2000 by the Department of Education of Puerto Rico and meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. Historically, public school students tend to perform poorly in the tests, with thirty-nine percent (39%) of public school students performing at a basic level (average performance) in Spanish. 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 ...

. Until 2008, the students that exceeded the 95 percentile could received a monetary reward as a check, if their family received government assistance. After 2008 this was changed.

History

Statistics

Comparison to the United States

Comparison to other nations

References