Instituto Nueva Escuela (INE) is a non-profit organization committed with Puerto Rico's social reconstruction and development trough Montessori education in the public school system. INE helps and guides Puerto Rican communities through the transformation of their communities schools into the Montessori method, establishing a peace culture through collective work, shared governance and healthy coexistence.
Puerto Rico has a fiscal and social crisis exacerbated by Hurricane Maria, that has led to the closure of more than 300 public schools, weakening the already fragile public education system. As a consequence of the fiscal crisis the funds directed towards the betterment of the children and youth's education suffered a 33.5% budget cut, diminishing the quality of the education offer to this low income at risk population which every day watches as their opportunities are being limited even more.
The INE staff works tirelessly to transform a fragile and bureaucratic education system into a community based project using the Montessori method as the agent of transformation. The Montessori methodology is wold wide renowned as a scientifically proven pedagogy based in a deep respect for the child potencial. By transforming the schools to the Montessori method these disadvantage children and youth gain access to an education of excellence which otherwise would be out of their economic means.
In the schools transformed by the Montessori method the community has witnessed a positive change in the students' academic performance. Reducing drugs and violence incidents to 0 and stoping dropouts, while at the same time increasing the students attendance to 94%. By 2025 The INE project itself to be present in a 100 school communities transforming and empowering them to take the reins of their future.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
