U.S. Department of Justice

T O EN F J TM U R ST A I Office of Justice Programs C P E E D

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O J C S F A V Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention F M O I N A C I J S R E BJ G O OJJ DP O F PR Juvenile Justice Bulletin JUSTICE OJJDP Update on Research

John J. Wilson, Acting Administrator October 1994

Juvenile Correctional Education: A Time for Change

Robert J. Gemignani

For too long, education has been regarded Teachers in correctional institutions ● Academic achievement is reinforced as just another service for incarcerated should incorporate innovative teaching through incentives, including diplomas youth. For too long, yesterday’s peda- methods to stimulate incarcerated youth and certificates. gogy has failed to educate delinquent to learn. Examples of effective educa- youth for today’s world. It is time for tional practices follow. ● Academic programs ensure educational change. This need for change is reflected equity for all. in an 18-month study conducted by the ● National Office for Social Responsibility Effective Schools Teachers are competent, committed, and active. (NOSR). Dr. Osa Coffey and colleagues A school’s learning and working environ- looked beyond traditional correctional ment determines its effectiveness. ● Parents and community volunteers are education literature and research to involved in the academic program. include lessons learned from Job Corps ● Education is regarded by facility and Job Training Partnership Act administrators as the most important educational programs. The researchers component of the rehabilitation process. Administration analyzed the findings from Effective Schools research and from the U.S. ● Education and training are priorities, Effective administrators stress the need Secretary of Labor’s Commission for not competitors with other programs. for education to be regarded as the Achieving Necessary . centerpiece of the rehabilitation process ● The comprehensive education program by educational and correctional staff. Today’s labor market demands a more includes basic academic skills, high They recruit high-quality teachers and comprehensive and advanced academic school completion, general equivalency provide them with equitable remunera- and vocational training curriculum. diploma (GED) preparation, special tion and adequate training opportunities. Incarcerated youth should be afforded the education, preemployment training, and opportunity to develop their competitive other programs aimed at enhancing ● Education is regarded by correctional skills and move beyond drill to tackle students’ social, cognitive, and life skills. facility staff as the key component of increasingly complicated tasks. each youth’s program. ● Student/teacher ratios reflect the needs Addressing juvenile offenders’ academic of the students, the demands of the subject ● Appropriate correctional school skills without paying equal attention to area, the availability of equipment and accreditation is maintained. their social and moral reasoning is futile. resources, and legal mandates.

From the Administrator Education is critical to the success of that Justice and Delinquency Prevention on the mission. Today’s demanding job market latest and most effective practices in While prevention intends to halt the progres- requires educated employees. Our society juvenile correctional education. sion from misbehavior to delinquency, and needs citizens with the knowledge of sound diversion seeks to provide alternative social and moral values and the will to act I commend the information provided by treatments to detention, a number of juvenile upon them. this bulletin to your attention and—as offenders require the setting and services of a practical—implementation. secure correctional facility. The objective, I am encouraged by the findings of recent however, remains the same: rehabilitation. research conducted for the Office of Juvenile John J. Wilson Acting Administrator 1 ● Periodic assessments are made of ● Knowledge sharing is emphasized ● Youth with learning disabilities should student and staff needs. through cooperative learning, peer be included in regular academic pro- tutoring, and team . grams, classrooms, and educational ● Staff are trained in the procedures and activities to the greatest extent possible. principles of providing educational ● Teachers model cognitive processes services in a correctional school setting. through a variety of instructional strate- ● Independent living, social, and gies, including externalizing thought vocational skills that prepare students for ● Staff are kept informed of current processes, encouraging multiple ap- adult living supplement the regular research on effective instructional proaches to problem solving, and academic program. strategies. focusing on dialog and reciprocal learning. ● The special education program should ● Site-based management affords help youth in their transition between administrators and teachers the authority ● A variety of assessment and evaluation public schools and corrections or to change structures and practices while measures are used. Progress is based on between corrections and independent accepting responsibility for outcomes. mutually defined student goals emphasiz- living and work. ing competence.

Academic Programs ● Instruction involves multiple strategies Psychoeducational A fundamental assumption underlying the appropriate to each learner’s interests and Programming academic curriculum in the past is that needs. Delinquents are often deficient in the basic skills have to be mastered before ● Reading, writing, and oral expression cognitive problem-solving skills, moral students are given more advanced tasks, such as problem solving, cognitive are interrelated. reasoning, and and essential for successful functioning reasoning, reading comprehension, and in daily life. Sound juvenile correctional written communication. Current thinking Special Education education programs enhance offenders’ challenges this concept. The new para- thinking and social skills while amelio- digm is based on the assumption that all As many as 40 percent of youth in rating their academic and vocational students can succeed and that education- correctional facilities may have some ally disadvantaged students can profit form of learning disability. It is essential deficiencies. that correctional education employ from more challenging tasks. ● Such programs include a social meta- trained and certified staff with the cognitive skills curriculum focusing on Classrooms in correctional settings often capacity and resources to provide a full reflect the old model, which emphasizes spectrum of special education programs such areas as social interactions and , moral and spiritual workbook exercises, remediation, drill, and services. values, problem solving, and conflict and practice in the basics. Under this ● resolution. model, educational assessments have Incarcerated youth with learning disabilities must be provided special focused on what students cannot do in ● Students are assessed in social skills education in full compliance with Federal order to provide remedial instruction. and cognitive reasoning. Classroom management has centered on and State law. discipline and control, with time-out ● Social skills education is integrated ● Correctional staff should be trained to periods in which unruly offenders are into life at the facility. separated from other students. A more meet the mandates of the Americans With effective model involves changes in Disabilities Act. ● Opportunities are created for prac- educational philosophy, curriculum, and ticing and applying social skills in the ● Essential components of an effective instructional techniques. community. special education program include: (1) ● The academic curriculum features assessment of the deficits and learning ● Students are afforded opportunities comprehension and complex problem- needs, (2) a curriculum that meets each to participate in school and facility solving tasks, allowing students to student’s needs, (3) vocational training governance. develop their cognitive skills. opportunities, (4) transitional services that link the correctional special educa- ● Academic and vocational instructors ● The curriculum integrates basic skills tion services to prior educational experi- are trained in such instructional tech- into more challenging tasks that allow ences and to the educational and human niques as modeling, small-group discus- students to apply these skills to real-life services needed after release, (5) a sions, and cooperative learning. situations. comprehensive range of education and related services, and (6) effective staff ● The curriculum allows for a number of training. discrete skills to be combined and applied to perform more complex tasks.

2 Employment Training reenrollment in school, their high school correctional education evaluation graduation rate, and their success in and research. The majority of delinquents age 16 and independent living and employment. older do not return to school after release ● Corrections education research should from a correctional setting or do not ● Incarcerated youth are provided be conducted in accordance with graduate from high school. While opportunities to acquire social skills, conventional standards of social science correctional educators must find better survival skills, independent living skills, research. ways to motivate students to return to preemployment training, and law-related school, they must also provide students education. ● Research findings are published and with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes disseminated to other practitioners, needed in entry-level jobs. ● Incarcerated youth have access to a researchers, policymakers, and legisla- comprehensive library that contains a tors and disseminated via existing ● Education programs should afford variety of materials related to transi- information systems and clearinghouses. students the opportunity to develop tional services. competencies in: (1) basic skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics; ● Student records are transferred in a The Next Step (2) thinking skills such as creative timely fashion between the releasing and As OJJDP continues its efforts to thinking, decisionmaking, and problem the receiving institutions. enhance juvenile corrections education, solving; and (3) personal qualities such as it seeks to demonstrate the effective responsibility, sociability, and honesty. ● Educational information is used to make prompt and appropriate placements. educational practices cited above. ● Students should develop workplace Demonstration sites will be provided competencies: (1) using resources and ● Students are scheduled and preregis- intensive onsite training and technical staff, (2) working productively with tered prior to their reentry into commu- assistance to transform corrections others on teams, (3) acquiring and nity schools. education from a supportive service to using information, (4) understanding the centerpiece of the incarcerated and utilizing systems, and (5) using juvenile’s institutional experience. technology. Program Evaluation and Research ● Opportunities should be provided For Further Information students to apply knowledge through Progress in correctional education The 193-page research report from on-the-job training, work experience, requires an increased level of research. which this bulletin is derived is available internships, apprenticeships, mentorships, Process as well as outcome research— from the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse or observing workers on the job. especially scientifically designed, for $15.00. To order a copy of Effective rigorous evaluation studies of effective Practices in Juvenile Correctional ● Students develop a portfolio that educational programs and practices—is Education: A Study of the Literature and includes credentials, work samples, work needed to assist practitioners. Legisla- Research 1980–1992 (NCJ150066) write the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse, P.O. history, resume, letters of recommenda- tors and funding agencies demand proof of effectiveness in determining policies Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20850, or call tion, relevant community service, and 800–638–8736. extracurricular experiences. and allocating resources.

● Partnerships are developed with ● Student intake data are collected and This bulletin was prepared by Robert J. employers to enhance current programs maintained in a systematic manner to Gemignani, president of the National Office for Social Responsibility, under grant number and provide postrelease support for provide a baseline for student achieve- ment. Performance data are linked to 92–JS–CX–K098 from the Office of Juvenile students. Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), specific areas and competencies. U.S. Department of Justice. Transitional Services ● Each student’s progress is evaluated Points of view or opinions expressed in this regularly, and cumulative data are document are those of the author and do not Expanded and improved transitional maintained for evaluating programs and necessarily represent the official position or services are needed to bridge the gap from policies of OJJDP or the U.S. Department staff. Evaluations are curriculum-based of Justice. community schools to correctional and assess mastery of specific compe- facilities, and from correctional facilities tencies by students, individually and in to home or independent living. Lack of The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delin- the aggregate. quency Prevention is a component of the services may undo many of the benefits Office of Justice Programs, which also students have received through their ● Juvenile correctional administrators includes the Bureau of Justice Assistance, educational programs while incarcerated. encourage and provide time and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Effective transitional programs resources for correctional education National Institute of Justice, and the will increase the students’ rate of staff to participate in and conduct Office for Victims of Crime.

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NCJ 150309