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

three stages: Stage 1 – becoming motivated to change (unfreezing); Stage 2 –moving to a new state (change); and Stage 3 – making the change permanent (refreezing). The theory of change is described by Schein (1999) as a theory of learning. If the theory of change is applied to English teachers from the PRDE, the change agent, or facilitator, will need to highlight the needs that require change and clearly provide teachers with guidance through the change process. Schools must accommodate the space, time, and tools necessary for the change process to occur. School facilitators must maintain open communication with teachers in order to clarify doubts and lower anxiety levels that might occur throughout the process, while providing guidance and supervision through their performance. The purpose for the research was to find answers to the following research questions: What are the most important duties that English School Facilitators have according to school directors and English teachers? Is there a discrepancy between the level of importance and the level of presence of duties of English School Facilitators, according to PRDE school directors and English teachers? Is there a significant difference between the perceptions of Puerto Rican school directors and perceptions of English teachers in relation to the level of importance and the level of presence on the duties of PRDE English School Facilitators? Research Design and Data Analysis This study explored school directors and English teachers perceptions on the duties and performance of English School Facilitators from the Puerto Rico Department of Education. The participating population consisted of 129 English teachers from the Puerto Rico Department of Education, Ponce Region and 43 school directors from elementary schools chosen randomly. The sample for the current investigation consisted of 49 English teachers and 15 school directors from Elementary School in the Ponce School Region of the Puerto Rico Department of Education. Because their perceptions are based on their experiences, participants were to complete a questionnaire designed by the researcher titled Questionnaire to Evaluate the Duties and Performance of English School Facilitators from the Puerto Rico Department of Education to evaluate how important they consider the duties performed by the English School Facilitators and how frequent they experience them. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: the first part of the questionnaire included three different columns in which the respondent use a Likert scale to assess the level of importance (Column A) and the level of presence (Column B) of the duties performed by the PRDE English School Facilitator (Column C). The Likert scale used ranged from one to five: five being the highest score and one being the lowest. The second part of the questionnaire was a demographic section in which participants answered questions about their gender, academic preparation, years working in the PRDE, years in their position, and professional title. Conclusions From the data analyzed the investigator concluded, that based on the perceptions of all participants, school directors and English teachers, all fourteen duties performed by the English School Facilitator and assigned by the Puerto Rico Department of Education are important. However, the presence in which theses duties are carried out is not observable. For research question 1: What are the most important duties that English School Facilitators have according to the perceptions of school directors and English teachers?; the data gathered, established that the following duties were considered the most important and yet, the less experienced by all participants (See Table 1). For research question 2: Is there a discrepancy between the level of importance and the level of presence of duties of English School Facilitators, according to the perceptions of the PRDE school directors and English teachers?, the findings revealed that any duty which received less than 70% versus a higher percentage, is to be considered an area with discrepancy between the perceptions of school directors and English teachers. In order to identify discrepancy, the researcher analyzed the duties with the highest percentage of level of importance with the duties that had to lowest percentage scores on the level of presence. In this case, the duties that show discrepancy were the following: Participate in the selection and evaluation of educational material needed to develop the English Program; , Help teachers interpret the data collected from the Puerto Rico National Academic Standardized Test (PRNAAST) in order to redirect the English Program’s objectives and teaching strategies; Gather qualitative and quantitative data based on the teaching methodologies used in the classroom; Prepare and present mini lessons to be observed by teachers to improve their teaching practice; and Provide teacher with orientation on assessment techniques. Table 1. Duties of the English School Facilitator Duties of the English School Facilitator Percentage of Level of Importance Participate in the process of defining the goals and objectives of the English program. 92% Provide teachers with guidance and orientation related to standards, expectations, the curriculum, and the skills and procedures of the program. 94% horizontes@pucpr.edu Años LVI-LIX Núms. 108-115 Horizontes – primavera / otoño 2013-2016 58