Research Monograph
Equity through Systemic Reform: The Case of
Whole-School Mathematics and Science Restructuring in Puerto Rico
Alberto J. Rodriguez
Abstract
Even though Puerto Rico is a small Caribbean island, it has a population of 3.8 million Spanish-speaking people. Puerto Rico is also very poor—the current per capita income is less than half that in Mississippi, one of the poorest states in the Union. However, Puerto Rico may have one of the most promising science education reform programs of all the sites funded by the National Science Foundation's Statewide Systemic Initiative (SSI) reform program. This paper presents a case study of the Puerto Rico Statewide Systemic Initiative (PR-SSI) based on the analysis of data gathered from semistructured interviews with key officials, field notes from site visits, progress and evaluation reports, and documents used in dissemination workshops for teachers. Although substantial data on student achievement are not available at this time, the qualitative analysis conducted here indicates that the PR-SSI is implementing an innovative reform program that deserves close attention. The path toward more effective schools was laid out by the PR-SSI as the direct result of simultaneously developing and implementing a variety of strategies to tackle all elements involved in making education reform systemic (i.e., policy, curriculum, student assessment, professional development, project evaluation, monitoring, and administrative support). Also, the PR-SSI articulated a form of conceptual systemic clarity throughout the initiative that became the cohesive theoretical and ideological force driving the reform effort forward.