Former Schools in Puerto Rico
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2021-12-17T21:33:38-05:00
Hurricane Maria did a great amount of damage to the educational system in Puerto Rico. However, much of the damage they did was in excerbating preexisting issues in the system. Since 2006, the total of operational schools on the Island was 1,515 (its peak) and in 2018, sat at just 855.
This problem is not germane to any one area on the Island; "Most school closures disproportionately occurred in the Island's rural areas (65%) relative to urban areas (35%)." (1) As the map in the previous page displayed, the school closures occurred all over the island. The Hurricane also
caused students to miss, on average, 78 days of school (2), and the fourth grade and eighth grade mathematical benchmark exams showed that Puerto Rico declined in its achievement benchmarks from 2017 (the year the hurricane hit) to 2019. (3) Furthermore, the number of children that are in the Puerto Rico educational system with special needs is already high, and their education is struggling due to the Hurricane; The institute’s study also found that in addition to the 10.3 percent of special needs students who still have not had their special education services restored,more than 84 percent of students in special education experienced an interruption in their education services after Maria. In addition, the report detailed the share of students who were having various troubles in school—the institute found 12.3 percent of children in the study were having trouble concentrating"(4).To tie in current events, the Hurricane decimated the island, but the following earthquakes, withholding of Government Grants (5) and COVID-19 pandemic have stalled relief and repair efforts across the whole island (not just in the educational sector). That being said, the children of Puerto Rico need consistency and structure in their educational careers; as spoken about prior; "Puerto Rico’s students cannot afford to miss any more school. When math results from the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)—the United States’ report card on the progress of its public schools—were released, Puerto Rico was the poorest performer in a group that also included all 50 states and Washington, D.C.* The island received an average score of 190 for fourth-grade students, a full 49 points below Louisiana, the U.S. state ranked last, which scored a 239." (6)
The above picture is of Escuela de la Comunidad de Bella Vista, an elementary school that was forced to close because of Hurricane Maria.
See this photo essay from the New York Times to see how the Hurricane impacted school buildings and the communities they resided in.
Continue to read my policy brief, outlining some important steps for Puerto Rico and its educational system.
