Puerto Rico Education Department outlines recovery plan and data tools for special-education students after the pandemic

The Puerto Rico Department of Education on Jan. 25 presented its academic recovery plan for students in the special-education program, telling a Senate special monitoring commission that it has deployed data dashboards, student and teacher profiles and targeted intervention programs to address pandemic-driven learning gaps.

Department presenters described six areas of focus: improving data quality and regional dashboards; accelerating learning through summer and remediation programs such as RAE and a "proyecto de leer" adapted for students with visual impairments; strengthening socioemotional and health supports; expanding professional development for teachers; enhancing family integration and parent academies; and building partnerships with private and nonprofit providers to expand services.

To measure progress, the department relied on MetaPR results spanning 2019 2023. Officials said comparisons show declines tied to the pandemic followed by year-to-year improvements in Spanish, math and science for some cohorts. The department also announced a new assessment tool to be administered at the end of the school year and referenced a guidance document (published Oct. 31, 2022) that prescribes ten-week cycles for individualized progress monitoring.

On contingency planning, officials presented curricular-adaptation guides for emergency situations, a list of vetted educational platforms (published in January 2022), and a structure of regional and school-level "data teams" tasked with collecting, analyzing and translating local data into targeted instructional plans. The department said it has piloted recovery activities in specific regions, reporting participation in 24 schools in Humacao and 15 in San Juan for the current school year.

Department representatives briefed the commission that most teachers have received training in alternative instructional methods; they estimated teacher preparedness at about 85 percent. They also acknowledged shortcomings in available instruments for assessing all special-education subgroups and said the MetaPR data should be interpreted cautiously and complemented with school-level progress reports.

Committee members asked the department to provide additional documentation requested by the commission, including the list of platforms, the curricular-adaptation guide, attendance and cost details for the monthly "cumbres" for school directors, and the underlying data used in the MetaPR comparisons. The department said it would supply those materials and remain available to the commission.

The department's presentation concluded with an offer to receive recommendations from the commission and an acknowledgement that some contingency plans and documents need review and updating to reflect new platforms and organizational changes.