Puerto Rico Department of Education
Student-level data on Puerto Rico public school students, including enrollment, attendance and grades
Public kindergarten through 12th grade students in Puerto Rico
Access
Puerto Rico Department of Education data sets are available to researchers that present a detailed description of their institution’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. Researchers have to complete a Solicitud de Datos Estadísticos al Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico (SDE, Request for Statistical Data of the PRDE) shown in Appendix A (pp.52-53). The request should specify what are the data requested, what level of data will researchers use and why do they need these data. Data at the student level can only be released if the researcher completes an Acuerdo de Confidencialidad de Datos del Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico (ACD, pp.54-55, Data Confidentiality Agreement), and an Acuerdo de Divulgación de Datos del Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico (ADD, Appendix C, pp.56-61,Data Sharing Agreement). After they complete the study, they will also need to fill out a Formulario de Garantía de Destrucción de Datos e Información Confidencial del Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico (FGDD, Appendix D, p. 62, Guarantee Form of Data and Confidential Information Destruction)
The ACD details the responsibilities of the researcher with respect to the privacy protection of students or personnel. The researcher has to clarify why the personally identifiable information (PII) is needed.
The ADD establishes that the researcher will not use or share any PII acquired to any purpose other than the ones specified for the research project. It also guarantees that the researcher will comply with all the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) regulations, and that the researcher will work with the legal representation of the PRDE to complete the ADD. All data from the PRDE are subject to this agreement. This document also contains data security requirements, such as data access and storage specifications
When the request is completed, the researcher should send the forms with all the required documentation via email or hand delivered to the Education Research and Innovation Center (CIIE) which belongs to the Secretary of Transformation, Planification and Performance (SATPRE). If the request is not approved, researchers may ask PRDE to reconsider and the PRDE will reply within the next ten days
If the research requires the collection of additional data, the researcher should access CIIE’s platform that leads the researcher through the steps to get authorization to perform research directly in Puerto Rico schools. They will also need to complete the Solicitud de Autorización para realizar Investigaciones o sus Fases Relacionadas: la Validación de Instrumentos o Prueba Piloto en el Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico (Authorization Request Form to Perform Research and its Related Stages: Instrument Validations or Pilot Tests at the Puerto Rico Department of Education) that can be found in (pp.11-12) and describes additional research requirements.
Finally, after the research is over, the researcher should complete the FGDD, including how and when the data were destroyed, together with any printed copies.
Timeline for Access
The majority of the PRDE’s data are updated on an academic yearly basis. The data become available with a one-year lag, with the exception of enrollment data, which become available the same year. For example, non-enrollment data for the 2018-2019 academic year will be likely released during the 2019-2020 academic year.
After an application is approved, the completion of the request could take more than a week if it is very complex. It also depends on the resources available to work on the request. However, data that are used regularly by the PRDE may only take a couple of days.
Lag Time
Most of the records are available with a one-year lag.
Cost
There is no cost associated with getting PRDE’s data. If there were any costs associated due to the specific proposal requirements, the PRDE will provide an estimation of time and cost before completing the request.
Linking
There is no standard process to link PRDE data to researchers’ data, but an ad hoc agreement can be set in place by contacting the Quality and Data Management Unit at 1-787-773-4081 (or 1-787-773-3649). In case the research requires a visit to the schools, for example, to obtain consent from students’ parents, researchers should contact the CIIE via their platform
Identifiers Available for Linking
- Unique Student ID: It is assigned randomly, the same ID is never used for different students, and it remains the same from pre-K until 12th grade (the PRDE plans to extend the use of the Unique Student ID from pre-K until age 20 workforce).
Data Contents
The PRDE has data at the individual level through the Student Information System (SIE) that contains student data. The SIE collects and manages all data related to the students and the academic offer at schools; it includes demographic, academic, school organization, disciplinary incidents, enrollment, attendance and grades.
Partial List of Variables
Unknown.