Pilar Barbosa Federal Internship Program for Teachers
Encyclopedia
The Pilar Barbosa Education Program is a program in 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...

 created as a means to provide professional development
Professional development
Professional development refers to skills and knowledge attained for both personal development and career advancement. Professional development encompasses all types of facilitated learning opportunities, ranging from college degrees to formal coursework, conferences and informal learning...

 training opportunities for public school practitioners and educators in that city. The program serves as a catalyst for long term educational realignment using the graduates as agents of sustainable reform in the public school system.

The program

On July 27, 1997, the Senate of Puerto Rico
Senate of Puerto Rico
The Senate of Puerto Rico is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate is composed of 27 senators, representing eight constituent senatorial districts across the commonwealth, with two senators elected per district; an...

 approved law #53, authored by Sen. Kenneth McClintock
Kenneth McClintock
Kenneth D. McClintock-Hernández is the current Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. Mr. McClintock served as co-chair of Hillary Clinton presidential campaign's National Hispanic Leadership Council in 2008, co-chaired Clinton's successful Puerto Rico primary campaign that year and served as the...

, a Barbosa protege, which created "The Pilar Barbosa
Pilar Barbosa
Dr. Pilar Barbosa de Rosario was an educator, historian and political activist.-Early years:Barbosa born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, was one of twelve children of Jose Celso Barbosa, also known as the "Father of the Puerto Rican Statehood Movement". Her father was a member of the Puerto Rican Senate...

 Program of Educational Interns". The program was later renamed "The Pilar Barbosa Educational Internship Program."

Program participants are K-12 public school teachers and administrators from Puerto Rico. Every summer, 25 participants go to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 to take part in a myriad of activities including workshops, tours, lectures and group assignments that focus on U.S. education trends and policies in the context of Puerto Rico, integration of technology in the curriculum, innovative curriculum design, and educational leadership.

Close to 300 public school educators have participated in the program since its inception. The Washington Cente for Internships and Academic Seminars successfully administered the Pilar Barbosa Education Internship Program in Washington, D.C. the summers of 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005-2009. The Washington Center provides an integrated academic and work experience
Work experience
Work experience is the experience that a person has been working, or worked in a specific field or occupation.- Volunteer work and internships :...

 to prepare participants for lives of leadership, profesional achievement, and civic engagement
Civic engagement
Civic engagement or civic participation has been defined as "Individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern."-Forms:...

.

Goals and themes

The Pilar Barbosa Internship Program is designed within the context of four basic themes: Leadership in Education, Federal Education Policies in the Context of Puerto Rico, 21st Century Teaching and Integration of Technology in the Classroom.

Leadership in education allows participants to look into education trends and how they may impact K-12 education in Puerto Rico
Education in Puerto Rico
Education in Puerto Rico is overseen by the Department of Education of Puerto Rico under the Government of Puerto Rico, which provides primary and secondary school education....

. Federal education policies in the context of Puerto Rico focuses primarily on No Child Left Behind and other federal education issues. 21st century teaching looks particularly into various models on innovative teaching in math and science, and strategies for curriculum integration. Finally, models for utilizing technology in the classroom demonstrate practical uses of multimedia in K-12 teaching.

The Pilar Barbosa Education Internship Program delivers on these themes using a series of seminars, orientations, panels, workshops and visits to educational facilities, through which participants broaden their perspectives about innovating education in Puerto Rico.
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