A brief history of the Institute of Educational Policy for Community Development

The Institute of Educational Policy for Community Development (IPEDCo) is the result of the transformation of the San Juan Metropolitan Alliance for Education (AMSJe), which joined CERI in 1997 after participating in the Urban Partnership Program.

The AMSJe began as an alliance between educational institutions, corporations and foundations in 1994. Its goal was achieving systemic change in the island’s public schools through collaboration and reflection starting off on the grassroots level.

Its founding members were the University of Sagrado Corazón (USC),
the College Board Office of Puerto Rico and Latin America (CB), ASPIRA of Puerto Rico, the Communitarian Foundation of Puerto Rico (FCPR) and the Department of Education of Puerto Rico (DEPR).

AMSJe achieved the continued participation of its original allies and developed and implemented a program for systemic change, Demonstrative District for the Systemic Change in Education (DECCES), in 72 schools in 6 school districts around the Island.
In DECCES, the Alliance encouraged the constituents of each school community, -including students, teachers, administrators, parents and so forth- to develop an agenda tailored to their school’s needs. AMSJe offered support during the decision making process, the development of the project, and its implementation.

Rooted on a constructivist model, the AMSJe Model for systemic change strategies included the development of a collaboration, critical mass, peer coaching, demonstration, empowerment, in-situ training, reflective practice, effective utilization of data, teamwork, capacity building and policy analysis. The model emphasized professional enhancement, public engagement, classroom building, student support, and sustainability, to promote long term change at all levels.

Approximately 2,700 teachers, 696 parents and tutors, 29,600 students and over 30 superintendents and facilitators were directly and indirectly reached by this program.
After years of direct work with schools and careful analysis of the lessons learned, the Executive Committee of the Alliance realized that the processes of systemic change required addressing educational policy –on the micro and macro level- as a major component.

The route for the creation of a educational policy analysis institute was paved, and the San Juan Metropolitan Alliance for Education became the Institute of Educational Policy for Community Development in 2004.

The mission of the Institute of Educational Policy for Community Development (IPEDCo) is to provide the educational community a voice through research, the analysis of educational policy, community participation and dissemination. It aims to assist community leaders, public policy developers, parents, school directors, and teachers, among others, to develop the conditions required to create an education of excellence.

The basic premise that underlies the Institute’s work is that the effectiveness and success of changes is contingent on a systemic change approach. Its document: Systemic Change in Education: Its Implications in Policies, Organizational, and Teaching/Learning Processes presents this framework.

Nowadays, IPEDCo continues to work vigorously towards systemic change in Puerto Rican education.

Its Research Unit is conducting a study on the school district and supporting undergraduate and graduate research projects through collaborations with university professors and over 20 students.

The Public Policy Unit is completing a critical analysis of Puerto Rico’s Organic Law No. 149, which has guided public education in the Island since 1999. The unit has also sponsored 5 dynamic forums (“Ciclos de Conversaciones”) for the critical discussion of pressing educational issues, in which dozens of members of the educational community have participated.

The results of these discussions will be published in 2008, and made available through IPEDCo’s new website, where visitors can find educational documents produced by the Institute, an education glossary, and even demos of the Institute’s television programs.

And speaking of television… IPEDCo’s Communications Unit broadcasts two educational shows “Rankéate” and “Aliados por nuestras escuelas” weekly, through local cable channels. The shows aim to improve the highly negative image of local public schools and document innovative pedagogical practices and collaborative efforts between communities and schools. In 2008, members of IPEDCo also participated in local radio and television shows, and published newspaper editorials.

In the community, the Institute promotes family participation in schools through its work with the Parents Network.