Revista Horizontes: primavera/otoño 2013 | Año LVI-LIX Núms. 108-115

4. turning school facilities into attractive and comfortable places in order to promote higher levels of the teaching-learning process, 5. allowing only instructors with fluency in the English language to teach English courses, and 6. elaborating programs for the recruiting of personal suitable for positions in the teaching of English. By July 15, 1999, the PRDE adopted Law 149 (PRDE, 1999), approved by the Legislative Branch of Puerto Rico. The law establishes the role of the school director as the person in charge of planning, organizing, leading, supervising, and assessing all activities that are relevant to the school’s faculty. The law also stipulates the duties that are to be performed by the school facilitators, formerly known as zone supervisors, of each of the PRDE School Regions. The duties assigned to the school facilitator fall under two categories: administrative and managerial duties and academic and pedagogical duties. According to the PRDE, the duties assigned to the school facilitators are to be met in order to comply with federal and state regulations. These duties will help establish a continuous process of supervision that will enable schools to provide quality academic services for students (PRDE, 2011). For the English School Facilitators, the PRDE created more specific duties that would help teachers meet the standards and expectations established by the English Program. The duties to be carried out by the English School Facilitator (ESF) are to: 1. participate in the process of defining the goals and objectives of the English program, 2. provide teachers with guidance and orientation related to the standards, expectations, the curriculum, and the skills and procedures of the program, 3. develop a plan to provide teachers with assistance and guidance in order to ensure the program’s objectives are met, 4. collaborate in the revision and design that curricular lessons and activities are carried out according to the standards established by each grade level, 5. mplement and provide follow-up on the implementation of the curriculum guides of each grade level, 6. actively participate in developing innovative teaching strategies and ideas that will enhance the learning process, 7. participate in the selection and evaluation of educational material needed to develop the English Program, 8. help teachers with the interpretation of the data collected from the Puerto Rico National Academic Achievement Standardized Tests (PRNAAST) in order to redirect the English Program’s objectives and teaching strategies, 9. gather qualitative and quantitative data based on the teaching methodologies used in the classroom, 10. prepare and present mini lessons, to be observed by teachers, with the purpose of helping teachers improve their teaching practice, 11. provide teachers with orientation on assessment techniques, 12. collaborate with the development of socio-cultural and academic activities that will develop students’ interaction, 13. provide continuous and ongoing classroom visits with the purpose of observing the teaching-learning process and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the teaching content and methodology, and 14. complete any other tasks that are required in order to improve the teaching- learning process. According to the PRDE (2011), teachers and school directors must abide to any recommendations given by the school facilitators that will improve the teaching- learning processes, while at the same time, meeting state and federal regulations established. Based on previous literature, a study was conducted to find out the following: Are Puerto Rican English teachers receiving the orientation and help needed from the English School Facilitators? Which are the most important duties these English School Facilitators have, among all of the assigned, according to English teachers? Which of the duties are more experienced and observed by English teachers and school directors? Research Questions and Theoretical Framework The current research on the duties and performance of English School Facilitators and its implications for educational management used Lewin and Schein’s 1947 Theory of Change. Lewin and Schein theorized a three-stage model of change that has come to be known as the unfreezing-change-refreeze model that required prior learning to be rejected and replaced with new knowledge. The model of change was divided into horizontes@pucpr.edu Años LVI-LIX Núms. 108-115 Horizontes – primavera / otoño 2013-2016 57