In 1934, both New York State and the Federal prison system established compulsory courses for functionally illiterate inmates. From these early beginnings, the scope of education and training in State and local correctional systems has steadily increased. The emergence of sociological and psychological theories of education produced the conceptualization of correctional education as the socialization of inmates through varied activities, with emphasis on individual inmate needs. By 1977, correctional education was making good use of educational technology through the use of computerized instruction, closed-circut television, the teaching machine, and other methods of increasing the speed and effectiveness of learning. While correctional education can be considered to have reached a plateau of success, its continued and increased effectiveness will depend upon planning that foresees changes in correctional education tailored to general socioeconomic changes and particularly, to changes in the form of corrections. Systematic planning must include (1) planning the goals to be reached and the means for achieving them, (2) planning implementation activities, and (3) planning the evaluation. Planning must look toward a radical decrease in the institutionalization of offenders by the end of the century, as public and private community agencies assume more and more of the responsibility for rehabilitating and controlling offenders. Flexibility and adaptation to change will be the keys to continued effectiveness in correctional education. Six references and one footnote are provided. For related papers, see NCJ 74750.