Who we are Instituto Nueva Escuela (INE) is an independent 501c3 non-profit organization committed to strengthening the public education system of Puerto Rico through the Montessori methodology. INE believes that school to school, we can achieve PEACE in Puerto Rico. INE currently serves 49 public schools in 27 municipalities of Puerto Rico, reaching more than 4,000 students and reporting 0 school dropouts. 0 drug and serious violence incidents. INE accomplishes its mission by partnering with public schools to train and certify classroom teachers in Montessori education and provides leadership, support and technical assistance to public schools and to community partners. Our History Dr. Ana García-Blanco, INE’s Executive Director, is the founder and former principal of the first public Montessori school in Puerto Rico – Juan Ponce de Leon Elementary School (JPL) in the municipality of Guaynabo (established in 1990). The school’s Montessori model, with its strong parent and community engagement component, is credited with transforming student outcomes and the school’s surrounding community. In response to growing requests from other communities across the island to replicate JPL’s public Montessori model in their neighborhood schools, Dr. García-Blanco founded INE in 2008. Since then, INE has been able to reach forty-nine (49) public schools across twenty-seven municipalities in Puerto Rico to train and certify teachers in Montessori education and provide technical assistance to school leaders, parents, and community leaders.