With classrooms full of students who have varied educational backgrounds, low literacy rates and poor motivation, correctional educators are already challenged. But correctional education as a whole faces an uphill battle on other fronts and leaders in the field are strategizing on the best ways to fight it.

Although many are convinced that inmate education translates into reduced recidivism, educators regularly confront reduced budgets, experience security conflicts, and need to find new ways to engage the population and help them learn.

"You've got to use the resources that are available to bring education to these folks because they are going to get out. The more we empower them with education, the more we can see them turn themselves around. Recidivism is high, unacceptably high, and we need to look at prison programming," said Carl Nink, Executive Director of MTC Institute, the research arm of Management & Training Corporation, which studies and reviews best practices related to inmate employment and education.

Nink said correctional educators need to think outside the educational box in terms of teaching this population, look at the effects of what they do more closely and then be able to promote the benefits of programs to decision makers at all levels.

By taking this approach, prison programming and education may see more support and funding.

"We're in an environment of very tight money when the need for programs has never been greater. We need to understand things better than we do. There's a need for sustained investment in research. There is also an enormous need for building awareness among policy and political types through more effective marketing and advocacy work," said Gail Spangenburg, President of the Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy.

Tackling the Needs
 
As correctional educators work under those budget cuts, they have had to make some changes. One way that agencies have tweaked educational programs is by pairing them with re-entry efforts.

According to Nink, this will only increase as funding continues to become available on the national and state levels for transitional programs for prisoners.

"We need to look at it from a holistic point of view. Education, while demonstrating reduced recidivism, can also be partners with other programs and those can support a broader variety of programs that work together to improve an inmate's chance of being successful after release. And, 95 percent will get released," Nink said.

Nink suggests that correctional educators and planners look at how classroom learning interfaces with job training and, ultimately, placement after release. By promoting industry- recognized certificate programs, for example, offenders could potentially walk out of prison with both a GED and a certificate that means something in an industry that is hiring.

"Inmates need skills and abilities that will translate to jobs and a livable wage and being able to move up on the career ladder," said Nink.

Beyond this, educational programs could also provide contextual learning where the skills they learn in the classroom directly reflect the skills needed on the job.

"If you're engaged in a construction trade and then you are going to school and are asked to measure the square footage of a platform you are going to build, the skills are real-life skills," he added.

In Ohio, the Ohio Central School System, which provides education to the state's inmates, has been working to change the orientation of educational programming to support re-entry efforts.

According to Jerry McGlone, Superintendent of the Ohio Central School System, this type of change only makes sense.

"Integrating education into re-entry is really quite easy. There's been a real focus and we've made some re-alignments," said McGlone.

One change, he said, was beginning the system's pre-release program sooner so that it started at intake, not just six weeks prior to release.

"It's not a separate pull-out program anymore. It involves the entire institution from the case managers, to faith-based programming and other aspects, such as vocational programs," he said.

In addition, the system has contracted with three learning centers in the community to provide education to parolees and probationers. And, with the support of a federal grant, the department has created a partnership with a county jail to provide educational programming to those offenders to help them transition back to the community with skills or, if they end up serving a longer sentence in a state facility, to help them get a head start on their educational programming there.

Finally, the system plans to give its cognitive skills training a higher profile by making character education a department-wide initiative rather than only being a part of the education curriculum.

"Cognitive skills training lends itself extremely well to re-entry - you are looking at moral reasoning and effective decision making processes [which are needed after release]," McGlone said.

Nink said that anything that corrections agencies, and its educators, can do to promote success for offenders after release would be well worth the effort.

He said workforce projections show that there will be a need for all members of society to be trained to work.

"We can't afford not to do a good job training inmate students to take their place and contribute," he said.

In addition, studies have shown that inmates who receive education in conjunction with job training recidivate less, have higher wages and victimize fewer people.

"The compelling evidence is that it benefits everyone concerned. Investments in education programs have lessened over time, but some of what we should be doing is to promote those investments. It makes sound fiscal sense," Nink said.

Better marketing and research is another way that correctional educators can improve the quality of funding and attention their programs receive from decision makers.

Better Research

According to Spangenberg, who earlier this year published a study on correctional education, Current Issues in Correctional Education, one of the most pressing needs in the field is to have definitive research on the programs that work the best.

"We need information on effective models. What sort of program works for which inmate group? No one can answer that question really," she said.

Spangenberg said in her discussions with correctional educators for the study, research was identified across the board as a need in almost every aspect of the field.

From the elements of teacher training and curriculum content, to the configuration of educational staff and ways to use technology in correctional education, the needs for research are many.

"We know correctional education has benefits. There are numerous quantitative gains if you provide effective intervention, but we really don't have as much information as we ought to have," Spangenberg said.

Right now, limited funding forces education to be provided to only certain inmates, often those who already have a motivation and a likelihood of succeeding.

"You can't provide programs to everyone and you're not going to provide them to a Charles Manson," said Spangenberg.

As a result, some agencies are trying new programs with young, at-risk populations, others with low-risk populations. Others focus more on transitional programming.

But armed with evidence that programs can and do work, correctional educators may find that their programs are funded, that education is supported and that educators are better able to pinpoint the types of programs they need for the population they serve.

"Too often expectations are set unrealistically for what education alone can accomplish," said Linda Smith, Research Consultant and co-author of the recent study Education Reduces Crime.

Smith said that the multiple needs of offenders such as substance abuse treatment, employment training as well as academic instruction could all be uncovered by good research. And when it is, it can help frame how education should be presented to the inmate population.

"It is important to know as much about the population you are dealing with as possible," she said.

According to McGlone, Ohio's participation in the study, Education Reduces Crime, benefited his agency's programs.

"It was shown through research that education does make a significant difference in the reduction of recidivism in Ohio, in particular, because our inmate participation is mandatory," McGlone said.

McGlone believes that the system's mandatory education requirement has helped make a difference in preparing offenders for release and success after their sentences are over.

"For the most part, it's a 90-day program. Over 90 percent of our inmates stay in and that's a measure that they felt the relevance of our program," said McGlone.

According to Nink, research supporting mandatory participation, which has been adopted by other correctional systems, shows that it is the way to go.

"If the culture isn't such that education is valued, there's a potential that not only will you be harassed by your peer inmates about being involved in school, but with that [mandatory] culture it makes it so much easier to say I've got to go. It takes the excuse away," he said.

Nink said many inmates want a way out of the prison system and see education as one of the paths. Support from an institutional that promotes education helps make that happen more fluidly.

"Providing them with a culture and supportive institutional environment and then the necessary resources to learn and improve their skill level is infinite wisdom," he said.

With high offender participation and support from lawmakers, correctional systems can be freer to experiment with new programming that can further improve offender outcomes after release.

New Directions

Since 1999, the Ohio Central School, System has provided a distance learning network for offenders. After piloting the program in one institution, it has expanded today to 10 prisons in the correctional system.

According to McGlone, using T-1 lines and a central satellite, programming is brought to offender classrooms simultaneously. With teachers present in the classroom, the two-way technology allows for team-teaching opportunities, interaction between classrooms and saves money at the same time.

"We've had to be a little more innovative in using our distance learning alternatives," said McGlone.

Others also support the use of technology in educating offenders.

Nink said utilizing the Corrections Learning Network is one option.

With federal support, the CLN provides satellite dishes to correctional agencies free-of-charge and beams regular programming for offenders each week.

"Most prisons have some kind of closed circuit network so it is possible to [be involved] and that program is free. They simply need to hook up the dish and move the information into their system," Nink said.

This program may also allow agencies to provide educational programming to maximum-security offenders, who typically do not receive classroom instruction.

Beyond introduction of technology into correctional education, correctional educators have focused on the transition of prisoners into the community. And that, many say, is where the latest trend lies.

"There has to be an educational intervention of certain groups. Most go right back into the environment they came out of. You are talking, in many cases, about people with a low level of skills. You need programs that stay with them, including job training," said Spangenberg.

Along with that is an increased need for computer literacy, as education needs change both within the correctional environment and without.

"One of the things that hits you right between the eyes with this is that the possession of a GED is no longer adequate for doing much of anything," Spangenberg said.

That's why correctional agencies have improved and built-upon transitional programs and tied education into vocational training and job readiness.

"It's just a natural for us. We're going to be more and more tied to re-entry. It is the latest emerging criminal justice topic and it solidifies the need for education as a critical element to reducing recidivism," said McGlone.

By being innovative about educational programming, making new connections and showing through research that education is a viable budget line item, both correctional agencies and offenders will benefit. And that is the ultimate goal.

"When you talk to most [offenders] they don't wan to come back. You are giving them the tools so that they don't come back. The more we can support improved knowledge skills and abilities, it moves them down the road towards employment," said Nink.

Resources:

Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy, 212-512-2362
http://www.caalusa.org/

Current Issues in Correctional Education
http://www.caalusa.org/correct_ed_paper.pdf

MTC Institute - www.mtcinstitute.com

MTC Institute Reports:
http://www.mtcinstitute.com/publications.html#reports

Education Reduces Crime
http://www.ceanational.org/documents/EdReducesCrime.pdf

Corrections Learning Network
http://cln.esd101.net/