NCJ Number
205440
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 66 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2004 Pages: 88-91
Date Published
April 2004
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article offers suggestions for addressing some of the obstacles to the provision of effective education services for inmates.
Abstract
Instructors and students face substantial intrinsic and extrinsic challenges to education achievement in the correctional system. Teachers must deal with students' low educational levels, the preponderance of learning difficulties and styles, and the lack of inmate motivation to learn. Correctional educators must also fight for adequate funding and resources; and the prison environment itself contains several obstacles, including inmate transfers, competition with prison jobs, interruptions for inmate counts, and staff attitudes that oppose educational programming. Effectively instructing a variety of students at various educational achievement levels requires grouping students by achievement level as much as possible. Educators can then use the instructional tools most likely to be effective with each level. Presenting instructional material in a context familiar to inmates can also increase their understanding and retention of the material presented, even when students have learning difficulties; e.g., math could be taught in the context of performing a job, such as carpentry, with which the students are familiar. Regarding the lack of inmate motivation to participate and learn in education programs, correctional systems are increasingly using mandatory education policies that require inmates to attend educational classes until they reach a specified achievement level. This is a sound policy as long as sufficient monetary and management support is available to make the outcomes attainable. Resource limitations can be addressed by reducing wasteful spending through cost-effective analysis of all correctional operations, as well as through peer tutoring. Trained inmate tutors have proven effective in increasing the literacy of inmates. Finally, prison administrators must ensure that the prison culture and staff attitudes give high priority to educational and other rehabilitative programming, such that every effort is made to reduce obstacles to the effective delivery of educational services. 18 notes