Sapientis
Encyclopedia
Sapientis is a non-profit organization
based in San Juan
, Puerto Rico
whose mission is to improve the quality of public education as a means to reducing poverty, stimulating economic growth and enhancing the standard of living in Puerto Rico.
. 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. 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
.
An analogous movement 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 (Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.), the general white and black populations, governors who forced schools to integrate and more.
’s Kennedy School of Government– Kristin Ehrgood and Vadim Nikitine – designs and implements programs built on a leadership model developed by renowned leadership professor Dr. Ronald Heifetz. 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. Thus, the name embodies the organization's core values.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
based in San Juan
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
whose mission is to improve the quality of public education as a means to reducing poverty, stimulating economic growth and enhancing the standard of living in Puerto Rico.
Context
With over 500,000 children and over 1,500 schools, Puerto Rico’s public education system is the third largest in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. 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. 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
National Assessment of Educational Progress
The National Assessment of Educational Progress is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what our nation’s students know and can do in core subjects. NAEP is a congressionally mandated project administered by the National Center for Education Statistics , within the ...
.
Purpose
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.Strategy
Sapientis believes that to successfully 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 movement is the Civil Rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
in the American South in the 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
. Pressure for change and acts of leadership came from all sectors: formal authority (President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
, Congress, the Courts), the media, from persons of authority within the black community (Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.), the general white and black populations, governors who forced schools to integrate and more.
Adaptive Leadership
The organization, created by two graduates of Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
’s Kennedy School of Government– Kristin Ehrgood and Vadim Nikitine – designs and implements programs built on a leadership model developed by renowned leadership professor Dr. Ronald Heifetz. 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
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and means common sense, knowledge, and wisdom. Thus, the name embodies the organization's core values.
Programs
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
Luis Lloréns Torres
Luis Llorens Torres , was a Puerto Rican poet, playwright, and politician. He was an advocate for the independence of Puerto Rico.-Early years:...
public housing complex, home to over 40,000 residents in the heart of San Juan.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Goals
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.
Highlights of Sapientis’ work
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.