Institute of Statistics creates interactive map on

school and community profiles

Based on data from the Department of Education and the Puerto Rico Community Survey

From the Census Bureau

April 21, 2022: The executive director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, Dr. Orville M. Disdier, presented a new tool for geographical information and statistical content called “School Community Profile: The Interactive Map”. This new tool consists mainly of an interactive map that allows us to locate schools in the public system of Puerto Rico, to know the characteristics of these schools and their school population, while at the same time allowing us to know the sociodemographic characteristics of the communities close to the classroom. Among the characteristics of schools and their populations that can be found with this map are the school code, school enrollment, dropout rate, academic progress and performance (ESSA classification and STAR Framework classification), and contact information, among others. Regarding the sociodemographic characteristics of the communities, there are the percentage of children under 18 who live with their mother, the percentage of households without a computer, and the median household income, among many others. The tool also allows you to download raw data for more advanced analysis.

“Through this modern and innovative tool, it is possible to begin to explore and study possible social, ecological and economic relationships between schools, their students, and the communities in which these school populations are inserted. This will make it possible to promote true symbiotic relationships between schools and their surrounding communities, thus encouraging true open and community schools,” explained Dr. Disdier.

Disdier explained that the development of this tool was possible in part, thanks to the collaboration and contribution of the Puerto Rico Department of Education, who provided and continue to provide essential data and statistics about schools and their students. He also mentioned that this initiative is aligned with the vision of the Secretary of Education of Puerto Rico, Eliezer Ramos Parés, to bring parents and communities closer to schools. “In fact, the conceptualization and development of the tool benefited from ideas, recommendations and inputs from experts in the Department of Education,” said Disdier, who took the opportunity to thank Ramos Parés and his team of experts for their support.

For his part, the Secretary of the Department of Education said that “this tool is in addition to other efforts that personnel from the Planning Office of the Department of Education have developed for the implementation of educational strategies and infrastructure based on sustainable data. This project complements these initiatives, since it has valuable information, under the same platform, that will allow us to have a clearer picture of the school communities and the neighborhood in which they are located.”

The School Community Profile: The interactive map resides on the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics website and interested parties can access it at any time through the following e-mail address: School community profile.

“This is just the beginning of a series of improvements that this new tool will continue to receive. Eventually we hope to continue adding more geographical layers on variables related to health, environment, and economic, among others,” said Disdier.

For technical questions about this tool, you can send an email to: preguntas@estadisticas.pr.

About the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics

To learn more about the Institute of Statistics, you can access the website: www.estadisticas.pr.gov. On social media through Facebook accounts (@statistics.pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR), Instagram (@institutodeestadisticas) and LinkedIn (Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics).

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Contacts:

Idia M. Martinez, R-28, 787-603-3200

Lourdes Burgos, R-27, 787-562-2932

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San Juan, Puerto Rico — July 10, 2024. The Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics released the results of the Cost of Living Index (COLI) for the first quarter of 2024, whose data show that the urban area of Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) of San Juan-Bayamón-Caguas, is ranked 82nd out of 301 urban areas in terms of overall cost of living in the United States, with a composite index of 102.3. The 15 municipalities that make up the San Juan-Bayamón-Caguas MSA are: Bayamón, Caguas, Canovanas, Carolina, Cataño, Cidra, Dorado, Gurabo, Guaynabo, Rio Grande, San Juan, Toa Alta, Toa Baja, Trujillo Alto and Vega Alta.

At the national level, the average cost of living is set at an index of 100. The composite index of 102.3 for the urban area of the San Juan-Bayamón-Caguas MSA indicates that living in this region is 2.3% more expensive than the average of the 301 participating urban areas nationwide.

The composite index is derived from six main categories of consumer spending, of which the following table presents the Rankings for the urban area of the San Juan-Bayamón-Caguas MSA. The combination of higher costs in supermarkets and utilities is partially offset by relatively low costs in health care and miscellaneous goods.

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About the Cost of Living Index (COLI):

COLI is a crucial tool for understanding regional differences in the costs of consumer goods and services. The indices are calculated based on data collected quarterly by different entities in each participating urban area. The COLI has been calculated in urban areas of the United States since 1968, using the methodology developed by the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER), a non-profit organization dedicated to research on community and economic development. The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute, together with the network of members affiliated with C2ER, is responsible for collecting prices for goods and services established by C2ER.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute has designed a comparative calculator for the cost of living between the urban area of the San Juan-Bayamón-Caguas MSA and the rest of the participating cities in the United States. This tool is available at: https://apps.estadisticas.pr/coli/.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is an autonomous governmental entity responsible for coordinating the Government's statistical production service to ensure that the data collection and statistics systems, on which public policies are based, are complete, reliable, and have quick and universal access.

For more information you can visit the website: www.estadisticas.pr or write to preguntas@estadisticas.pr. They can also follow social networks through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), X (@EstadisticasPR), LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) and Instagram (@institutodeestadisticas) accounts.

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