Puerto Rico has done something most U.S. states have not: it has mandated a specific number of hours for social-emotional instruction at every grade level.
12 Hours. Every Year. Every Grade. K-12.
Carta Circular núm. 010-2024-2025 establishes twelve annual contact hours of “Salud Emocional en Acción” (Emotional Health in Action), covering education in emotion management from kindergarten through twelfth grade.[1]
This is not a framework. It is not a set of voluntary competencies. It is a numbered annual time requirement for social-emotional instruction, issued through the DEPR's formal Carta Circular process.
Salud Emocional en Acción: The 12-Hour Annual Mandate
12
Hours per year
K-12
Every grade
~1hr
Per month
Grounded in Law 57-2023 (Ley de Bienestar y Protección de los Menores), the policy operationalizes student well-being law within the school setting through a specific time requirement for emotional health education.[1]
What This Means for Elementary Schools
Twelve annual contact hours works out to approximately one hour per month, or roughly 20-25 minutes per week. Schools can meet this requirement through a structured curriculum that provides weekly lessons in emotional identification, self-regulation, conflict resolution, empathy, decision-making, and goal setting.
The DEPR's Compendio de Actividades Socioemocionales provides individual activities, but a compendium is not a scope and sequence. Schools delivering twelve hours through a structured, developmentally sequenced program need a curriculum designed for that purpose.
The DEPR's Vision
“Reconocemos la importancia del desarrollo del conocimiento y las competencias académicas, en armonía con el desarrollo emocional y social del estudiante.”[4]
(We recognize the importance of the development of knowledge and academic competencies, in harmony with the emotional and social development of the student.)
Bullying Prevention: Carta Circular 018-2022-2023
The DEPR's comprehensive bullying prevention policy establishes detailed procedures for prevention, intervention, and follow-up of bullying cases (acoso escolar).[2]
CoCE Committees
Each school must establish a Comité de Convivencia Escolar for bullying prevention and response
Investigation Protocols
Schools must investigate incidents, notify families, and monitor students for minimum one month
School Climate Surveys
Annual perception surveys on school climate for students (grades 3-12), teachers, and parents in Aug-Sept
Digital Tracking
Bullying incidents registered through the Sistema de Información Estudiantil
Students taught empathy, conflict resolution, respect, kindness, and self-control are less likely to engage in bullying and more likely to contribute to positive convivencia escolar.
Suicide Prevention & School Counseling
Protocolo Uniforme
The DEPR maintains a uniform suicide prevention protocol providing standardized procedures for prevention, intervention, and follow-up.[3] SEL instruction builds the protective factors: self-awareness, emotional regulation, and help-seeking skills.
Programa de Consejería
School counselors provide direct social-emotional support.[3] But twelve annual contact hours across all grades requires classroom-based instruction reaching every student. A structured curriculum provides the classroom component that counseling builds on.
Perfil del Estudiante Graduado
The DEPR envisions a graduate of “integrated, holistic personality, sensitive as a citizen, committed to the common good, with the skills and attitudes that allow them to contribute to Puerto Rico and their community proactively.”[5]
This profile explicitly includes both academic competencies and personal/social development as interconnected outcomes. Social-emotional instruction at elementary builds the foundation.
Puerto Rico's Unique Context
Spanish-First Education
Puerto Rico is the only U.S. jurisdiction where the education system's primary language of instruction is Spanish. Curriculum materials must be accessible in Spanish.
Bilingual curriculum is a functional requirement, not just a feature. Monolingual English materials are inaccessible.
Resilience After Disasters
Puerto Rico's student population has experienced significant collective trauma from Hurricane Maria (2017), earthquakes (2019-2020), and subsequent disasters. Emotional regulation, coping skills, and help-seeking behaviors are especially urgent needs.
How to Align Your Elementary Program
Deliver the 12 Annual Contact Hours
A 40-week curriculum providing 15-20 minutes per week exceeds the minimum while ensuring consistent delivery.
Cover Emotion Management Content
The policy specifies “el manejo de las emociones.” Document how your curriculum teaches emotional regulation, self-control, and stress management at each grade level.
Support Bullying Prevention
Document how instruction teaches empathy, respect, conflict resolution, and communication for positive convivencia escolar.
Complement the Suicide Prevention Protocol
Document how your curriculum builds protective factors: self-awareness, emotional regulation, help-seeking, and connection to trusted adults.
Coordinate With School Counseling
The twelve-hour requirement demands classroom-level delivery. Align with the counselor's services for a unified approach.
Comunicación con los Padres / Communicating With Parents
Referencia a la Política / Reference the Policy
“El Departamento de Educación requiere doce horas anuales de ‘Salud Emocional en Acción’ para todos los estudiantes, de kínder a duodécimo grado. Nuestro programa enseña a los estudiantes a identificar y manejar sus emociones, resolver conflictos, establecer metas, mostrar empatía y tomar decisiones responsables.”
(The Department of Education requires twelve annual hours of “Emotional Health in Action” for all students, K-12. Our program teaches students to identify and manage their emotions, resolve conflicts, set goals, show empathy, and make responsible decisions.)
Conexión con la Visión del DEPR
“El DEPR reconoce que el desarrollo académico y el desarrollo emocional y social van de la mano. Nuestro programa enseña las destrezas socioemocionales que ayudan a los estudiantes a tener éxito en la escuela y en la vida.”
(The DEPR recognizes that academic and emotional/social development go hand in hand. Our program teaches the social-emotional skills that help students succeed.)
Sea Concreto / Be Concrete
“Los estudiantes aprenden a identificar y manejar sus emociones, resolver desacuerdos de manera pacífica, establecer y perseguir metas, mostrar empatía y amabilidad, perseverar ante los retos y tomar decisiones responsables.”
Choosing a Curriculum for Puerto Rico Schools
Meets the 12-hour annual contact requirement. Carta Circular 010-2024-2025 requires twelve hours per year. Your curriculum must deliver at least this.
Addresses emotion management. The policy centers on “el manejo de las emociones.” Curriculum should teach emotional regulation, self-control, and stress management.
Is available in Spanish. Bilingual curriculum in English and Spanish is essential. Monolingual English is inaccessible.
Supports bullying prevention. Teaches empathy, conflict resolution, respect, and communication.
Aligns with CASEL competencies. A CASEL-aligned curriculum provides the five-competency framework comprehensively.
Provides grade-band differentiation. Programs providing distinct content for each grade level match developmental progression.
Offers a full-year scope and sequence. 40 weeks of sequenced instruction exceeds the twelve-hour minimum and ensures developmental progression.
Requires no devices or student accounts. Device-free, teacher-led programs eliminate privacy concerns and work in schools with limited technology.
Requires minimal prep. Ready-to-use weekly lessons ensure consistent implementation.
What to Avoid
Treating the 12 hours as an annual event
Two full-day workshops do not build skills. Social-emotional competencies require consistent, repeated practice. A weekly curriculum distributes the hours across the year — how skills are actually developed.
Using the Compendio without a scope and sequence
Individual activities without a scope and sequence create episodic rather than developmental instruction. The Compendio can supplement a structured curriculum. It should not replace one.
Delivering instruction only in English
Puerto Rico's system operates in Spanish. English-only curriculum is inaccessible. Bilingual materials ensure every student can access the instruction the policy requires.
Separating Salud Emocional from bullying prevention
Both address the same outcomes. Running them as separate programs fragments the student experience. A unified curriculum teaching emotion management, empathy, and conflict resolution satisfies both through one coherent approach.
Final Thoughts
Puerto Rico has established one of the most specific social-emotional instruction mandates in any U.S. jurisdiction: twelve annual contact hours of “Salud Emocional en Acción” for education in emotion management from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The DEPR's vision explicitly harmonizes academic and social-emotional development. The bullying prevention policy requires comprehensive strategies with school climate surveys. The suicide prevention protocol provides standardized procedures.
The mandate is quantified. The vision is explicit. The prevention infrastructure is comprehensive. For Puerto Rico elementary schools: choose a program available in Spanish that meets the twelve-hour requirement, addresses emotion management, supports bullying prevention, and delivers structured instruction to every student, every week, all year. Twelve hours. Every year. Every grade. Deliver them well.
References
- DEPR. Carta Circular núm. 010-2024-2025: Salud Emocional en Acción. intraedu.dde.pr (PDF)
- DEPR. Carta Circular núm. 018-2022-2023: Bullying Prevention. intraedu.dde.pr (PDF)
- Programa de Consejería: Protocolos and Cartas Circulares. consejeriaenlajosefa.weebly.com
- DEPR. Sobre Nosotros. de.pr.gov
- DEPR. Carta Circular núm. 021-2025-2026: Organización Escolar. de.pr.gov (PDF)
- DEPR. Carta Circular núm. 009-2023-2024: Organización Escolar 2024-2025. intraedu.dde.pr (PDF)
- Durlak, J. A., et al. (2011). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis. Child Development, 82(1), 405-432. doi.org
- Cipriano, C., et al. (2023). The state of evidence for social and emotional learning. Child Development, 94(5), 1181-1204. doi.org
Aprendizaje Socioemocional para Puerto Rico
Be The Buffalo provides bilingual instruction that meets Puerto Rico's Salud Emocional en Acción requirement. 40 weeks of K-5 curriculum covering emotional regulation, conflict resolution, decision-making, goal setting, empathy, and relationship skills. Full bilingual content in English and Spanish. Interactive projector activities, original songs, stories, printable worksheets, and teacher guides. No student accounts. No devices. No prep. Twelve hours and beyond.
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