Education: Don’t Leave Prison Without It

By Conlon, Bill Harris, Scott; Nagel, Jeffrey; Hillman, Mike; Hanson, Rick

Providing high quality academic and vocational education to juvenile offenders is a top priority in Oregon. Research shows that educational attainment is a significant factor in reducing recidivism rates. This article will focus on the educational programs at the two largest youth corrections schools in the state, William Lord High School at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility and Robert Farrell High School at Hillcrest Youth Correctional Facility. The Willamette Education Service District (WESD) oversees two schools and is taking a leadership role in the statewide discussion of improving and aligning educational services for juvenile offenders throughout the state. WESD, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) and the Oregon Youth Authority (OYA) have partnered to ensure quality education for juvenile offenders in Oregon based on three premises:

* The fundamental mission of a youth corrections organization is to turn around young lives, thus decreasing recidivism;

* Increasing educational accomplishment for incarcerated youths reduces the risk of recidivism – a fact that is supported by research; and

* The core function of turning lives around cannot be accomplished by any one of the partnering agencies but requires the collaboration and synergy of all.

Keys to Success

MacLaren YCF houses 325 male juvenile offenders, and Hillcrest YCF houses 200 male and female offenders under juvenile and adult commitments. Both schools are fully accredited, comprehensive high schools with strong Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. A successful youth corrections education program is no accident. Deliberate planning, clear vision and competent staff all play a critical role. Good teachers are essential to the equation but do not guarantee success. Several factors have contributed to the success of the educational programs at Hillcrest and MacLaren YFCs:

* Strong working relationship between WESD and OYA;

* Competent education staff;

* Committed educational leadership;

* Clear vision and mission;

* Regular and accurate assessment;

* Commitment to moving students forward from where they are;

* Strong vocational program;

* Post-secondary and work experience program for graduates; and

* Transition specialists to ease reentry into the community.

Collaboration between ODE, OYA and WESD has been key in providing a quality education program. This collaboration takes place at all levels, from line staff and teaching assistants to program directors. Staff discuss with each other the day-to-day logistics of serving incarcerated youths and brainstorm ways to improve services for those youths. The key to this collaboration is open communication and mutual trust based on respect. Because of open communication, each organization can specialize in its area of strength so that duplication of services is dramatically reduced and youth success increases.

The quality of the education staff is critical to ensuring student success. Because the schools are relatively small, teachers must have a wide variety of competencies and subject matter endorsements. Federal No Child Left Behind legislation requires that teachers be highly qualified in the core subject areas they teach. Robert Farrell and William Lord high schools have responded to this challenge in several ways. Teachers have been encouraged to add subject areas to their licensure to increase the number of subjects they can teach. The schools’ master schedules have been carefully crafted to ensure close alignment between teacher endorsements and the classes they teach. In addition, when new staff members are hired, great care is taken to ensure that they are highly qualified in core subject areas.

Another critical area is transition services. Quality transition specialists help students transition back into the community after release and are critical to reducing recidivism. Both high schools employ a full-time transition specialist to work with youths as they near the end of their sentences. The specialist provides a variety of services, including career counseling, job placement, finding a suitable living arrangement, and development of soft and hard employment skills.

The building principals play a fundamental role in keeping the focus on student learning. They are strong educational leaders who help teachers maintain a strict focus on student achievement. The schools also enjoy outstanding support from WESD central administration, as well as from top administration at ODE and OYA. These leaders monitor the pulse of the schools and help ensure that teachers are sing evidence-based best practices to guarantee youth success.

Youth corrections education is successful in Oregon because it is highly individualized. Each student is assessed when he or she first arrives and again every six months thereafter, with instruction tied directly to his or her assessed skill and knowledge level. Students are assessed using a computer-based test, which is tied to state content and performance standards. The majority of students are at least two grade levels behind peers of the same age, and many have dramatic gaps between their chronological age and expected skills and knowledge. Thirty-nine percent of students in youth corrections in Oregon qualify for special education services, compared with approximately 13 percent in other Oregon schools. With these barriers, it is essential that the instructional program use accurate assessment data to identify where students are and then target instruction to help them move forward.

The first goal of the education program is to help students earn a high school diploma. Research indicates that attainment of a high school diploma will dramatically increase earnings during a lifetime. Students who are nearing their release dates but are seriously deficient in credits are given the opportunity to test for a GED when earning a diploma is not possible. Simultaneous with earning a diploma, students are given opportunities to participate in strong CTE programs, which can lead to high-demand, living-wage jobs. The schools have worked hard to attract and retain quality CTE teachers with connections to local industries. Many of the students are not traditional college material, but the program must at least prepare all of them for successful employment.

Education does not end with the attainment of a high school diploma. William Lord and Robert Farrell high schools offer a comprehensive program of dual-credit classes (simultaneous high school and college credit), work experience programs, CTE programs and college programs. Oregon’s Measure 11, a mandatory minimum- sentencing law, ensures that some students will remain at the schools for at least five years and 10 months, which allows plenty of time to develop a long-term educational plan. Both schools enjoy a strong partnership with Chemeketa Community College, and many high school graduates take online courses through Chemeketa and a variety of other colleges. Success is growing – 25 students have earned associate degrees in the last five years, and three students have earned bachelor’s degrees.

Examples of Success

Strong CTE programs are a critical element in preparing youths for successful re-integration into their communities. One CTE program with a clear impact is the welding program at William Lord High School. One of the two fulltime welding instructors provides a high school component for younger students, while the other conducts a college-level program for older youths, which includes earning certifications through the American Welding Society (AWS). By earning AWS certificates, graduates from William Lord High School have an advantage over participants in other vocational programs when seeking employment. During the past six-and-a-half years, more than 1,320 students at MacLaren have earned AWS certificates. Students reentering society from MacLaren YCF with welding certificates have had success securing jobs that pay a living wage. Nearly every young man who has received multiple certifications in a variety of welding skills before being paroled is employed and successful in the community. The following are two success stories involving MacLaren youths:

Upon his release from MacLaren YCF, a youth with two years of training in the welding program was employed at a Portland, Ore., structural steel factory. He worked there for only five months before becoming a nondestructive tester technician at an American Society of Mechanical Engineers pressure vessel facility. Today (four years later), he is inspecting with a Positive Materials Identifier license, which only three inspectors in Oregon hold. He certifies welds in accordance with the American Society for Nondestructive Testing. He is scheduled to take the American Welding Society’s Certified Welding Inspector (AWS-CWI) test in March 2008 and is a Level II Magnetic Particle and Penetrant Certified technician. Last year his income was $60,000 with full benefits.

When another youth was introduced to the welding program he exclaimed, “I’ve been lied to my whole life; I’ve got 18 more months in this place; I’ve been here over five years; and I want nothing to do with your welding program!” Despite his initial response, this youth participated in the program. After 18 months of training and upon his release, he was employed as a swing shift quality assurance manager for one of North America’s largest bridge builders. Ten months later, he took the AWS-CWI test, which 70 percent of first- time applicants fail. This young man passed in the upper ninetieth percentile and has since become a certified welding inspector in Portland’s largest independent testing lab. He currently earns $70,000 annually with full benefits. With the nationwide shortage of qualified welders, manufacturers are hiring graduates of William Lord High School as fast as they are released, at wages upwards of $20 per hour. Clearly, this program motivates youths, and for many, recidivism becomes a nonissue.

At Robert Farrell High School, youths have different CTE opportunities, but with similar positive results. In Robert Farrell’s cosmetology program, youths are able to earn Oregon state licensure in hair design and nail technology. After completing the mandatory 1,700 hours of instruction and practice in the two skill areas, students take written exams from the Oregon Cosmetology Board. Successful completion of this program enables youths to work in public salons as state licensed cosmetologists. One example of the program’s success follows:

A youth completed the cosmetology program and, upon his release, worked in a salon for a number of years. When he recently visited his cosmetology instructor at Robert Farrell High School, he reported that he had gotten married and is now the proud father of a baby boy. This young man had significant behavior problems when he arrived at Hillcrest. The OYA unit manager where he lived credited the cosmetology teacher with helping him make the behavior changes that eventually enabled him to earn a living sufficient to provide for his young family.

A Brief Research Review

Research has demonstrated that reduced recidivism rates are a secondary outcome of a successful education program in youth corrections. Youths who are successful in school are statistically less likely to recidivate. Every degree or certificate that a student earns translates into improved opportunities for employment and a greater likelihood of success in the real world. Education is a critical component of an overall plan for the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders.

In Oregon, data accumulated by the OYA Research and Evaluation Unit has continued to demonstrate that education is a key factor in reducing recidivism, which is at a remarkably low 28 percent for those youths released from OYA close custody in the last 36 months.1 A great deal of research literature is available to demonstrate the positive effect that education has on recidivism rates. Long-term observations and studies of criminal behavior have indicated that using prisons as educational correctional facilities instead of punishing centers can considerably reduce recidivism rates.2 According to a study by Nuttall, Hollmen and Staley, 31.8 percent of offenders who earned their GEDs while in one state’s department of corrections were returned to correctional facilities within 36 months after release, compared with 36.6 percent of inmates who did not earn a GED.3

The significance of school in the sphere of emotional development and in the promotion of children’s self-esteem is considerable. Students who are successful in school learn the skills that enable them to be rewarded in society and give them the ability to sustain higher employment rates with higher incomes than students who are unsuccessful in schools.4 Low attendance in school can become an element that contributes to delinquent activity. Educationally deficient students take failures seriously and search for alternative pursuits, which may result in criminal behaviors. This gives support to the inference that association with juvenile delinquency at later stages of a young person’s life is influenced by earlier failures in school.5

A 1997 survey, conducted by Stevens and Ward, compared recidivism rates for inmates who completed post-secondary degrees while in prison with inmates who did not undergo similar educational training.6 The researchers analyzed data from prisons in Alabama, Maryland, New York and Texas. Results for these states are shown in Table 1. This study clearly demonstrates that recidivism rates decline dramatically with completion of degree programs during incarceration.

Aside from the obvious social benefits associated with helping incarcerated youths, the impact of avoiding the financial cost of recidivism is tremendous. For example, the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice found that a 4 percent reduction in recidivism between fiscal years 1997 and 1999 resulted in almost $65 million in avoided costs to victims and criminal justice

Final Thoughts

The young people directly referenced in this article are great examples of individuals who made substantive changes while incarcerated. It is important to note, however, that these are not isolated examples. Literally hundreds of incarcerated youths return to their communities each year and use the skills they learned to make substantial societal contributions. Many factors contribute to the success of the Oregon youth corrections program, and education is clearly an important one. However, the most critical factor in achieving and ensuring the continuation of youth success is the heartfelt commitment of ODE, OYA and WESD to put the benefit of youths first. Protecting the public will always be the top priority in this field, but a close and interrelated second should be accepting incarcerated youths for who they are and working consistently and patiently toward success for each of them. As the partnering agencies in Oregon continue to follow that practice, success will inevitably continue to follow.

The majority of students are at least two grade levels behind peers of the same age, and many have dramatic gaps between their chronological age and expected skills and knowledge.

ENDNOTES

1 Oregon Youth Authority. Available at www.oregon.gov/OYA/ rpts_pubs.shtml#OYA_Recidivism_Findings.

2 Nuttall, J., L. Hollmen and E.M. Staley. 2003. The effect of earning a GED on recidivism rates. Journal of Correctional Education, 54(3):90-94.

3 Nuttall, J., L. Hollmen and E.M. Staley. 2003.

4 Interview with Cheryl Bower, former principal of William Lord High School, MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility, July 22, 2005.

5 Winters, C. A. 1997. Learning disabilities, crime, delinquency and special education placement. Journal of Adolescence, 12(1):81- 86.

6 Stevens, D. and C. Weird. 1997. College education and recidivism: Educating criminals meritorious. Journal of Correctional Education, 48(3): 106-111.

7 Sickmund, M. and Y. Wan. 1999. Census of juveniles in residential placement data book, fact sheet. Washington, D.C: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Bill Conlon is the principal of Robert Farrell High School. Scott Harris is the principal of William Lord High School. Jeffrey Nagel is a teacher on special assignment at Robert Farrell High School and William Lord High School. Mike Hillman is the administrator of Supplemental Education Programs for the Willamette Education Service District. Rick Hanson is director of the Instructional Services Department for Willamette Education Service District.

Copyright American Correctional Association, Incorporated Feb 2008

(c) 2008 Corrections Today. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.