“Until now, 1,500 teachers have taken our professional development courses. The training sessions focus mostly on content, but methodology is also demonstrated during that time. The trainers show the teachers how to conduct ongoing assessment, how to maintain an ideal classroom environment, how to deal with students, and how to ask questions that will encourage the students to elucidate their thoughts. AlACiMa views science and math as ways of interpreting the world, acknowledging and respecting its differences. Our intention with this professional development is that teachers learn to emulate the thought processes of scientists and mathematicians, their ethics and actions, their objects of study, and their approach to problem solving,” says Arce.

One of the major challenges for any teacher is transferring knowledge acquired during professional development to the classroom. To facilitate this process, AlACiMa has established 29 Professional Resource Centers for Science and Mathematics (CRPCM by its Spanish acronym) on the island. Elementary, intermediate, and high school levels of the ten educational regions of the island has, or will soon have, a CRPCM. These centers provide teachers professional development and support needed to use curriculum materials and integrate educational technology. Originally, the teachers had to travel to universities in order to receive training, but now science, math, and education professors go to the CRPCMs to work with the teachers. This allows the professors to observe the teachers’ working environment and identify the specific needs of each zone.

Each center is equipped with educational resources, such as science and math books, teaching guides for the instructors, reference books for professional development, basic science laboratory equipment, math manipulatives, audiovisual equipment, and computer programs.

As the AlACiMa coordinator in charge of implementing these learning communities, AlACiMa consultant Sara Santiago, tries to promote a culture that allows the school to evaluate itself and keep learning. The school culture—in other words, the beliefs, the attitudes, the customs, and the strong interrelationships between the members of the institution—is related to the academic progress of the students. By the end of the project, AlACiMa schools are expected to have a school culture that fosters improved science and math education.

“We cannot keep saying that our children don’t learn because there is a lack of resources or because they live in such–and–such a neighborhood. The school has to assess itself and consider what it is teaching, why, and how it is being taught. We work with developing a strong school culture and one that is open to innovation. To this end we have developed the strategies for forming Base Teams in each school,” says Santiago.

Each Base Team has a director, a lead science teacher, a lead mathematics teacher, support personnel, and two teachers whose teaching subject is neither math or science. Each team represents the philosophy of AlACiMa and leads the process of transforming the schools into learning communities. Occasionally, Base Teams meet for weekend retreats designed specifically to give the participants an opportunity to exchange ideas, reflect on their teaching practices, and make plans—conceptual and methodological—that facilitate transformation to a learning community.

One of the main tasks the Learning Community Team leaders assign the schools is to write their “paths.” “Right at the beginning of the project we asked the schools, by reflecting, to retrace everything that had taken place within their schools in the past ten years and to recreate that journey. However, we didn’t want a chronological account; instead we wanted them to think about the events, processes, and people that have formed the school. This was done at all participating schools. Through retreats and counseling, we were able to help each school document its path. These documents helped us evaluate the culture in each school and how we could better guide the school in the process of creating a learning community,” explains Santiago.

To evaluate the development of learning communities in the schools, AlACiMa created specialized questionnaires and gathered data using the evaluation model, “mapping change in schools,” designed by Cambridge University. AlACiMa adapted this model to the island’s individual school populations, which allowed it to examine each school’s culture and take into consideration its social structure and conditions. The Knowledge Base Team is in charge of processing the data and compiling the results. They train the Base Teams to read the data and share the results with the rest of the school community.

Everything is evaluated. The principal objective of the Knowledge Base Component is to generate knowledge about the processes of learning science and math and the educational practices that promote these processes. They generate knowledge by evaluating the decisions made in the project, promoting assessment practices, providing evidence of learning, and generating research projects.

The process of evaluation has two components: evaluation of the results and evaluation of the process itself. Evaluation of the results is done in cooperation with internal and external evaluators, who use qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the effectiveness of the actions taken and monitor the progress and current results. The second component promotes learning the project’s organizational processes to ensure that the alliance understands it effectiveness and is able to reach both the institutional goals as well as those of the teachers and students.

AlACiMa researchers have made presentations in China, Peru, Equador, Greece, and the United States on the success of their professional development projects and its positive effects on student achievement. AlACiMa also participates in improving the education of future teachers.

During the past summers, some teachers-in-training have conducted scientific research with the support of university researchers and have been able to present their results in various publications and meetings. During this academic year, the Pre-service Component will train future teachers in special education. “Next, we hope to publish a book with math and science activities specifically adapted for special children,” says Bernadette Delgado, Ph.D., pre-service coordinator. Future teachers are given the opportunity to act as auxiliary trainers for AlACiMa.

The Certification Team helps uncertified teachers to complete the requirements in their areas of instruction. The Induction Team works with the Department of Education to help teachers who have just graduated to transfer theoretical knowledge they learned at the university to students, a challenging undertaking. The project also offers advice during this initiaton period and provides workshops on classroom discipline, student retention, and strategies to involve parents.

By now, the 167 schools have received more than 1,714 hours of professional development in science and math, more than 865 hours of retreats directed to develop learning communities, and a technology package that permits teachers to communicate with science, mathematics, and education specialists online.

In 2007, the science section of the standard academic achievement test of the Puerto Rico Department of Education will be evaluated for the first time, in compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act. NSF funding for AlACiMa ends in August, 2008. By this date, all AlACiMa schools are expected to meet Puerto Rico government standards, and their students are expected to meet the academic achievement levels required by the federal government.

“Puerto Rico has a group of people who have given serious thought to education issues and who have proposed alternatives to improve the situation of our educational system. AlACiMa is part of this group. We are striving to bring theory into practice and transform abstract proposals into action. Tremendous dedication and collective willpower are needed to create change. The Department of Education, teachers, students, parents, social workers, university professors, and members of the society must collaborate. Our project wants to achieve one of the most difficult tasks of any educational endeavor—to sustain the changes, analyze them, and improve them,” says Arce.

In five years AlACiMa will have contributed directly to the development of more that 30,000 students, 2,000 teachers and 200 schools.

Information for this article provided by Betzaida Ortiz.

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The fifth grade students from the Ana Dalila School, in Morovis, wanted to meet in person one of the scientists mentioned in their textbook. So, in November 2005, they invited Josefina Arce (center) to give the class a scientific demonstration.

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