A NAEP report published by the IES in 2007 assessed academic achievement of Puerto Rico’s public schools in Mathematics to be, on average, 50% below the national average by the time students reach the fourth grade. This disparity continues as students reach the eighth grade. It is estimated that Puerto Rico’s educational system lost access [...]

Read more of Low Performing School Communities and the Digital Divide…

I am sure I will find little argument when I say "schools and the education system of any population are the foundation for any sustainable economic development."  But then most people who agree would go on to talk about the importance of science and math, technology and global perspectives, and all these issues are important [...]

Read more of Addressing Identity and Empowerment in Schools…

The many in Puerto Rico’s working class will do most anything to avoid putting their children in the public education system. The reputation earned in the community at large and the media is of a bloated, broken bureaucracy that suffers a drop out rate by 7th grade of over 40% and results in systematic failure [...]

Read more of Poison Pills and Miracle Cures in Education…

In reading Charles Glenn’s book "Educational Freedom in ­Eastern Europe" (1995) I delve into the world of totalitarian states, regimes that looked to education to perpetuate a carefully tailored ideology that would ensure the perpetuation of the state.  Slowly as I read on, current day issues distract me and compel me search for implications this [...]

Read more of The Role of Parents and Community in Education…

My kids see my husband and I all the time. Up to the age of 4 we are both the primary care givers. Once they begin school and music lessons they begin to meet the world. Schooling ends and again they are again in the fold of their parents. So much togetherness forces the issue [...]

Read more of Why so concerned with “happiness”…

I now I am not alone when I wondered what my children would be like. However, I thought we would have more time – "more time" for our lives to change and somehow be "more ready" to help them as they each found their way. But here I am. Not much has changed but our [...]

Read more of The New Generation Begins to Make Their Mark…

I was having another quiet morning digesting educational research in preparation to resume writing my dissertation. This morning I was reading Loli Arnaut’s description of her Amara Berri project.  I was trying to understand how news of the "success" of the Amara Berri project was spreading and individual teachers were inte­rpreting, adopting and adapting what [...]

Read more of Cross-disciplinary Education for Global Economy…

Almost a month ago, at the request of the Universidad de Puerto Rico in Arecibo’s Business Administration Faculty I offered a conference on how to apply corporate social responsibility to the small and medium sized business.  A month before the conference I had been brought aboard a project by a client of mine that sought [...]

Read more of Exploring the limits: CSR to Individual Social Responsibility…

I was just writing down how many Basque parents in Oarsoaldea had an intuitive Gramscian perspective on schools when  I got a call from  a dear friend. The call was welcome because though on a self imposed silent retreat to write, her voice takes me back to my college years. I shared with her what [...]

Read more of Basque is in the air…

Jim works with the prison ministry and this past tuesday they resumed the group of mentors resumed their visits to the local juvenile detention center. I know he was upset to be unable to attend. Tired and stressed as he might be on any given day, when he does go connect with any one of [...]

Read more of Threads Leading up to Proyecto Siembra…