A software program to combat school failure, MAPIE, will be presented on Friday in Marinha Grande, in the Leiria district. The promoter company has the ambition to reach 150 school groups in Portugal and 200 in Brazil by 2022..

School Failure Early Warning Map (MAPIE) succeeds SAPIE - School Failure Early Warning System, a project of the association Bright Times developed with researchers from the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Coimbra and implemented in 2018.

Since then, SAPIE has operated in 102 school clusters from the north to the south of the country, monitoring about 100,000 students from more than 60 counties.

The promoters estimate that the service has so far avoided 500 retentions, which means "savings equivalent to 1.8 million euros," add in a statement the heads of the now MAPIE, assumed as the next step in the "fight against school failure.

"More than the metrics," emphasizes Núria Costa, the company's public relations officer, "the balance is spectacular, because in the field we realized that in many groupings the data collected by the system ended up making the professional life of teachers and grouping directors much easier.

The IT solution has now been enhanced to define "even more rigorous risk profiles" by adding health indicators and socio-demographic data to the algorithm that follows the American model, combining attendance, behavior, and achievement.

The mother's schooling or the social welfare bracket are some of the new information taken into account to, "in an increasingly refined way", anticipate the incidence of failure.

"We listened to the various agents involved and built graphics that were better adapted to their needs, allowing access to information that was not otherwise available," reinforces Núria Costa, pointing out the improved "'layout', the mapping of the territory, the creation of MAPIE Autarquia, and simplified interventions" as other novelties.

By cross-referencing all the information, MAPIE works as "a radar that monitors risk indicators and generates early warnings," sending them to teachers, school group leaders, families, and municipalities.

With this evolution of software, comes also the bet on internationalization. MAPIE wants to reach "new markets" and incorporate "knowledge from the outside in.

By 2022, internally, the goal is to grow 50% and reach 150 school groupings. Abroad, the ambition "is to reach 200 school groups in Brazil and enter the market in Angola and Mozambique," says the company's manager.