This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(December 2017) |
Founded | 2002 (21 years ago) |
---|---|
Founder | Kristin Ehrgood Vadim Nikitine |
Type | 501(c)(3) public charity |
Focus | Improving public education in Puerto Rico |
Location |
|
Area served | Puerto Rico |
Method | adaptive leadership model |
Key people | Kristin Ehrgood, President José Armando Martínez, Executive Director |
Subsidiaries | Coalition for Equity and Educational Quality |
Endowment | $783,660 USD |
Website | sapientis |
Part of a series on |
Education in Puerto Rico |
---|
Primary and secondary school |
Higher education |
Non-profit organizations |
Sapientis is a nonprofit organization based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, that improves public education to reduce poverty, stimulate economic growth, and enhance the standard of living in Puerto Rico.
With over 500,000 children and over 1,500 schools, Puerto Rico's public education system is the third largest in the United States. It also ranks at the very bottom on all indicators of academic achievement in comparison to other states and U.S. territories. Over half of its schools are not making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. The 2008 island-wide standardized academic performance tests show that 45% of students are not proficient in Spanish, 40% are not proficient in English and 45% are not proficient in math. It also revealed that 91% of fourth grade students in Puerto Rico scored below grade level in math in comparison to their peers according to the 2004 National Assessment of Educational Progress. [1]
Sapientis' purpose is to mobilize an island-wide network of diverse and informed change agents who exercise leadership to improve the quality of public schools for all Puerto Rican children.
Sapientis believes that the most successfully way to improve schools, all sectors of society must connect and engage, and not rest until every child in Puerto Rico has access to a quality public education system that develops students' abilities, nurtures their talents and prepares them to compete internationally. The organization also believes that when concerned citizens come together with specific ideas about improving schools, positive change can become a reality. An analogous process is the Civil Rights Movement in the American South in the 1960s. Pressure for change and acts of leadership came from all sectors: formal authority (President Lyndon B. Johnson, Congress, the Courts), the media, from persons of authority within the black community (Martin Luther King Jr.), the general white and black populations, governors who forced schools to integrate and more.
The organization, created by Harvard Kennedy School alumni [2] Kristin Ehrgood and Vadim Nikitine, designs and implements programs built on a leadership model developed by renowned leadership professor Dr. Ronald Heifetz. [3] The model incorporates elements of disciplines as diverse as philosophy, biology, political science, administration, social psychology and music. It has been developed over 20 years and has been implemented in approximately 85 countries around the globe.
Contrary to leadership models that focus on traits or characteristics of a traditional "leader" the adaptive leadership model views leadership as an action, not a person. Any individual, with or without formal authority can exercise leadership by observing, interpreting and intervening within a group or organization. Exercising leadership is a recurring activity that forces the organization or group to face its most critical challenges and mobilize its resources in order to generate progress.
Sapientis' goal over the next three years is to use this model as an essential tool to fulfill its purpose as an organization.
The name Sapientis comes from Latin and means common sense, knowledge, and wisdom, the organization's core values.
Through its programs, Sapientis intends to spur change at the local level and help recruit individuals from different sectors into the network:
Schools on the Move
Over three years, Sapientis has worked with a cluster of seven schools to ensure that members of the schools' Improvement Teams (teachers, principals, parents, community members and non-teaching staff) exercise leadership to improve student achievement and their learning environments. It builds a team in each school to help it diagnose root problems, create and implement a series of interventions, evaluate progress and continue the improvement cycle. This program is being implemented in the Luis Llorens Torres public housing complex, home to over 40,000 residents in the heart of San Juan. [4]
Youth Leadership
Sapientis recruits and trains middle and high school students in the adaptive leadership model. It also provides follow-up support to ensure student participation in their schools' Improvement Teams. Sapientis provides financial support via small grants to support leadership efforts and assist seniors in their higher education goals. [5]
Frontline Educators
Sapientis works with teachers and school directors through a fellowship program that provides participants with a deeper understanding of the adaptive leadership model. This model is presented as a useful tool for diagnosing challenges and generating progress in student achievement and the school environment. [6]
Get Involved
Sapientis engages concerned individuals and socially responsible corporations as supporters of its efforts to improve the quality of Puerto Rico's public education. The program provides information about Puerto Rico's public education system, Sapientis, and the adaptive leadership model, as well as opportunities to visit public schools. To raise the public's awareness of the education system, the "Get Involved" program holds an annual event, Sapientis Week, with approximately 15 distinguished individuals volunteering their time to teach a class at a public school. Participants come from the public, private, and non-profit sectors and join Sapientis in bringing attention to challenges faced by public schools as well as to the important role that teachers play in society. [7]
Sapientis also offers ADAPTA, a leadership seminar for private companies, non-profit organizations and other groups. ADAPTA attempts to unleash Sapientis' theory of change in other spheres and fosters a better understanding of the adaptive leadership model. [8]
By 2012 Sapientis will:
Mobilize over 10,000 individuals to join and participate in its network.
Make the quality of public education one of the top three priorities in Puerto Rico.
Measure and disseminate the results of its programs and leadership efforts.
Guarantee stability and financial diversity.
Sustain efficiency and effectiveness as an organization.
Since 2002, Sapientis has raised more than $5 million from corporations, foundations, and individuals in Puerto Rico and in the US.
In December 2006, Sapientis and the Puerto Rico Department of Education signed an agreement that allows Sapientis to develop leadership programs to improve students' achievement in the island's most under-performing public schools.
To date, Sapientis has trained nearly 500 teachers, principals and education community members.
Richard L. Carrión Rexach is the executive chairman of Popular, Inc., the parent company of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and Popular Bank. Prior to assuming his current position in July 2017, he served as chairman and chief executive officer of Popular, Inc. for over 20 years. He is on the board of directors at Verizon Communications and Centro Financiero BHD and the supervisory board of NIBC Holding N.V. Carrión is currently a partner at J.C. Flowers & Co. He served as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2008 to 2015.>
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals could improve individual outcomes in education. The Act required states to develop assessments in basic skills. To receive federal school funding, states had to give these assessments to all students at select grade levels.
Albizu University is a private university with its main campus in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a branch campus in Miami, Florida, and an additional instructional location in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. It focuses on psychology, health, education, and human services.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what U.S. students know and can do in various subjects. NAEP is a congressionally mandated project administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. The first national administration of NAEP occurred in 1969. The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) is an independent, bipartisan board that sets policy for NAEP and is responsible for developing the framework and test specifications.The National Assessment Governing Board, whose members are appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Education, includes governors, state legislators, local and state school officials, educators, business representatives, and members of the general public. Congress created the 26-member Governing Board in 1988.
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) was a measurement defined by the United States federal No Child Left Behind Act that allowed the U.S. Department of Education to determine how every public school and school district in the country was performing academically according to results on standardized tests. As defined by National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), AYP was "the amount of annual achievement growth to be expected by students in a particular school, district, or state in the U.S. federal accountability system, No Child Left Behind (NCLB)." AYP has been identified as one of the sources of controversy surrounding George W. Bush administration's Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Private schools were not required to make AYP.
The University of Puerto Rico School of Law is a law school in Puerto Rico. It is one of the professional graduate schools of University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus and the only law school in the University of Puerto Rico System. It was founded in 1913 at its present site in Río Piedras, which at the time was an independent municipality and is now part of the City of San Juan. The School of Law has been accredited by the American Bar Association since 1945 and by the Association of American Law Schools since 1948.
Literacy in the United States was categorized by the National Center for Education Statistics into different literacy levels, with 92% of American adults having at least "Level 1" literacy in 2019. Nationally, over 20% of adult Americans have a literacy proficiency at or below Level 1. Adults in this range have difficulty using or understanding print materials. Those on the higher end of this category can perform simple tasks based on the information they read, but adults below Level 1 may only understand very basic vocabulary or be functionally illiterate. According to a 2020 report by the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of adults in the United States have English prose literacy below the 6th-grade level.
Since gaining independence from France in 1956, the government of Tunisia has focused on developing an education system which produces a solid human capital base that could respond to the changing needs of a developing nation. Sustained structural reform efforts since the early 1990s, prudent macroeconomic policies, and deeper trade integration in the global economy have created an enabling environment for growth. This environment has been conducive to attain positive achievements in the education sector which placed Tunisia ahead of countries with similar income levels, and in a good position to achieve MDGs. According to the HDI 2007, Tunisia is ranked 90 out of 182 countries and is ranked 4th in MENA region just below Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan. Education is the number one priority of the government of Tunisia, with more than 20 percent of government’s budget allocated for education in 2005/06. As of 2006 the public education expenditure as a percentage of GDP stood at 7 percent.
The Pilar Barbosa Education Program is a program in Puerto Rico created as a means to provide professional development training opportunities for public school practitioners and educators in that city. The program serves as a catalyst for long term educational realignment using the graduates as agents of sustainable reform in the public school system.
The University of Puerto Rico School of Dental Medicine is the dental school of the University of Puerto Rico. It is located on the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is the only dental school in Puerto Rico. It is accredited by the American Dental Association.
WestEd is a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization. The organization's mission states, "WestEd, a research, development, and services agency, works with education and other communities to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children, youth, and adults."
The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics is a multi-agency working group within the Department of Education charged with strengthening the nation's capacity to provide high-quality education while increasing opportunities for Hispanic American participation in federal education programs. In addition, the Initiative serves as a resource for information related to closing the educational achievement gap for Hispanic Americans. Finally, the Initiative provides staffing to support and coordinate the mission of a President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) is a state agency in Rhode Island that oversees the elementary and secondary education system from pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade. It is headquartered in Providence. RIDE works closely with the Rhode Island Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner (RIOPC), the agency charged with overseeing higher education. Together, RIDE and RIOPC aim to provide an aligned, cohesive, and comprehensive education for all students.
The WIDA Consortium is an educational consortium of state departments of education. Currently, 41 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, as well as Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands, participate in the WIDA Consortium. WIDA designs and implements proficiency standards and assessment for grade K-12 students who are English-language learners, as well as a set of proficiency standards and assessments for Spanish language learners. WIDA also provides professional development to educators and conducts research on instructional practices, as well as the results and use of the ACCESS and W-APT English language proficiency assessments.
Teach For All is a global network of 61 independent, locally led and funded partner organizations whose stated shared mission is to "expand educational opportunity around the world by increasing and accelerating the impact of social enterprises that are cultivating the leadership necessary for change." Each partner aims to recruit and develop diverse graduates and professionals to exert leadership through two-year commitments to teach in their nations' high-need classrooms and lifelong commitments to expand opportunity for children. The organization was founded in 2007 by Wendy Kopp and Brett Wigdortz. Teach For All works to accelerate partners' progress and increase their impact by capturing and sharing knowledge, facilitating network connections, provisioning global resources, and fostering leadership development of staff, teachers, and alumni.
Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, born January 17, 1954, in Puerto Rico, is a Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor at the Department of Public Policy and Administration and Director of the Center for Strategic Urban Community Leadership at Rutgers University-Camden. She is also the founder of Leadership, Education, and Partnership (LEAP) Academy University Charter School located in Camden, New Jersey. Created in 1997, LEAP is one of the 17 inaugural public charter schools in New Jersey. As the founder of LEAP, Bonilla-Santiago created a merit pay/pay-for-performance program designed to reward excellence in teaching and improve student academic outcomes.
The Puerto Rico Coalition for Equity and Educational Quality —Spanish: Coalición por la Equidad y Calidad Educativa (CECE) — is a non-profit lobby group that advocates for changes in public policy aimed towards improving the quality of public education in Puerto Rico. The group is focused on raising awareness of the challenges faced by school directors and advocates before the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, especially towards members of the Senate of Puerto Rico Commission on Education and Family Affairs and the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico Commission on Education and Nonprofit Organizations and Cooperatives. The group is led by Sapientis.
The Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL) is a Caribbean library organization founded in 1969. It is based in the José M. Lázaro Library of the University of Puerto Rico.
Family, Career and Community Leaders of America is a nonprofit national career and technical student organization for young men and women in Family and Consumer Sciences education in public and private school through grade 6–12. Since 1945, the goal of FCCLA members has been to make a difference in families, careers, and communities by addressing personal, work, and societal issues through Family and Consumer Sciences education.
Enrique R. Vivoni is a Puerto Rican scientist and engineer specializing in hydrology who studies the interactions of water throughout the atmosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere. His research is focused on the southwestern United States and Mexico for the purpose of improving water management in urban and rural settings.