AR Program Helps Troubled Youth

posted by: Alix | June 17, 2011, 07:52 PM

Few states have discovered how to halt the snowballing effect of incarceration and lack of education. Statistics are daunting: Sixty five percent of convicts are high school dropouts and a drop out has an eight times higher likelihood of being in jail or prison during his/her lifetime than a college graduate. The United States averages about $9,644 per pre K-12 student compared to $22,600 per prison inmate. Increasing the high school completion rate by a mere one percent for men ages 20 to 60 would save the country up to $1.4 billion per year in reduced costs of crime.

Incarcerated youths are not only negatively impacted by the prison culture, but also, because of inadequate skill assessments, many fall behind in school. Risks due to incarceration are compounded when students end up in juvenile detention for 30 days, attending classes with over 30 other students ranging from ages 9 to 21. While these youths' peers are continuing their education, the detainees' education comes to a halt.

Marcia Harding, state director of special education for the Arkansas Department of Education, is responsible for the state's juvenile educational programs. Seeing the downward spiral of young prisoners' futures she implemented a pilot program using Skills Tutor, a networked version of diagnostic and prescriptive basic skills software, at Sebastian County Juvenille Detention facility in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The system helped teachers quickly gauge student's skill levels, allowing them to know what assigned work would be relevant and create a custom curriculum for each student.

Unfortunately, due to limited internet access, the learning was confined to the facility, making it difficult for students to continue their education behind bars. However, when the Sebastian County facility installed broadband students were able to continue learning, even after being discharged. Teachers in the students' local schools were able to request access to the program from teachers in the detention facility. This capability allowed teachers to keep students on track. Continuity of learning became possible for Arkansas' most marginalized groups. Seeing its success Harding expanded the program into all 15 of the state's juvenile detention facilities.

Do you think this is an effective way of providing continuity in the lives of Arkansas' most troubled students?
Comment below.

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