The Puerto Rico Department of Education identified 141 schools with the greatest need in Spanish and social studies instruction to launch the “Support for the Reading Promoter Teacher” initiative, which will use an individualized teaching methodology. The initiative seeks to develop and strengthen literacy skills among students from kindergarten through third grade after reading test results over three years (2022-2024) showed minimal improvement, according to an investigation by the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI).
Adequate reading proficiency by the end of third grade is associated with students’ future academic success because classes from fourth grade onward become more technical and focus on specific topics and subjects with more complex vocabulary, according to a study by the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics and Flamboyán Foundation, as well as several experts consulted by the CPI.
Last June, Early Childhood Education Program Manager Indhira Castro said the initiative would begin in August and is expected to improve academic achievement in the language acquisition course, which is taught from first through third grade to develop “linguistic, literary, pragmatic and communicative competencies through the integration of Spanish and social studies,” according to an Education Department circular letter. The new reading promoter program also seeks to increase the percentage of students who advance to the next grade.
According to the circular letter released Oct. 1 announcing the launch of “Support for the Reading Promoter Teacher,” 282 part-time positions of three hours each will be filled to support reading promoter teachers: 141 retired teachers and 141 aides. The positions will be funded with federal Title I funds.
Current teacher training does not ensure mastery of the essential practices for teaching reading in the primary grades. For that reason, the Senate Education Committee recommended in August 2025 that the Teacher Certification Regulations be amended to require teachers to have university-level training and demonstrate mastery of evidence-based practices.
Of the 141 schools participating in the project to improve reading, 38 are in the San Juan educational region, 24 in the Ponce region, 21 in the Humacao region, 16 each in the Arecibo and Caguas regions, 15 in the Mayagüez educational region and 11 in the Bayamón region.
A 2018 study by Flamboyán Foundation and the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics on literacy learning in the primary grades of public schools recommended that the Education Department “create a comprehensive and integrated system for assessing reading progress in grades K-3.” But reading mechanics tests were introduced five years later, in 2023. In late 2024, the department recognized literacy as a priority with the publication of a manual to promote reading.
Basic reading skills from first through third grade are assessed through reading mechanics tests, which consist of seven subtests that do not measure reading comprehension. Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, the reading test included a retelling subtest to determine if students understand what they read.
Reading setbacks are not unique to Puerto Rico. The U.S. public education system entered a “learning recession” as early as 2013, according to a recent study by researchers at Stanford University, Harvard University and Dartmouth College . “In reading, the average annual achievement loss before the pandemic (2017-2019) was just as large as it was during the pandemic (2019-2022). In reading, achievement continued to decline through 2024,” the report states.
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