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Assessing the Education of Incarcerated Youth

NCJ Number
172285
Author(s)
K Dedel
Date Published
1997
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This report presents an overview of the crucial dynamics and program elements that shape the design and delivery of correctional education services for youth.
Abstract
The crucial elements include the context of correctional education services, the characteristics of correctional education students, program goals, curriculum, and interorganizational linkages that facilitate or hinder service delivery. However, no systematic and cumulative data exist to reveal what programs children in custody receive, from what kinds of personnel, at what costs, and with what results. The available data from the State Juvenile Corrections System Reporting Program of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency indicate that 75 percent of students in custody advanced less than a full grade level per year while in custody. In addition, for most students, the correctional education services are their last exposure to structured, formal education. The National Council on Crime and Delinquency is currently developing a strategy to augment existing data and facilitate the identification of more relevant and useful outcome measures to enable program administrators to develop programs that are more responsive to the immediate needs of correctional education students and that effectively transition the youth into education or work upon release. 13 references