The North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has developed two methods of working with low-literacy students. One is testing for accommodations for GED testing. The other is integrating the STAR literacy program for adult readers.

A widely cited Emory University study found that while 76% of incarcerated Americans return to prison within five years, that rate drops to 55% for those who take high school classes, 30% for those who complete vocational training, and 13.7% for those who complete an associate degree. Community colleges play a key role in ensuring that people…

Correctional education is a prevalent form of rehabilitation programming for prisoners in the United States. There is limited evidence, however, about the labor market returns to credentials received while incarcerated. Using incarceration, educational, and labor market data in Washington State, we study the labor market returns to GEDs and…

Since the early 1970s, exponential and unprecedented growth of incarceration rates of Black youths became a critical issue. One in twenty persons, or 5% of the total United States population serve at least six months in federal state prisons by age 40. Recidivism rates in excess of 50% compounded the problem. The purpose of this qualitative…

Numerous offenders are incarcerated in the United States. Many of these offenders will eventually be released without receiving any additional education or vocational training. The purpose of this mixed-method research study was to explore the lived experiences of (31) offenders who completed a GED/Vocational correctional education program,…

Discussions surrounding incarcerated juveniles, education programs, and recidivism are difficult to find. In fact, gathering data is incredibly difficult in juvenile facilities because of high turnover rates and difficult of obtaining permission to conduct studies in juvenile facilities (Calderone, Bennett, Homan, Dedrick, & Chatfield, 2009;…

This report is intended to serve as a companion to the "Career Preparation Expansion Act (CPEA) Report," produced by the Maryland Longitudinal Data System (MLDS) Center in collaboration with the Governor's Workforce Development Board. The CPEA Report focused on the workforce outcomes of high school graduates five years after graduation.…

Throughout the field of corrections in the United States, the prevalent question in regard to reentry preparation of offenders is, "what works?" With a renewed focus on providing meaningful program opportunities for offenders that enable real and sustained changes for reentry success, which has been partially driven by overcrowded prison…

The 2000s saw a change in South Africa's Department of Correctional Services' theorising about adult education's potential to shift incarcerated men's thinking about their future in a proactive way. The plan was to advance active citizenship in the incarcerated. As such, the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) introduced holistic, integrated…

Using all Arkansas correctional releases from 2005-2016 of adults who at intake lacked high school diplomas or GEDs, the authors examined how correctional education and its moderating factors affect recidivism (N = 32,174) and post-release employment (N = 40,667). Completion of GED and vocational programs were associated with financially viable…

Nearly all incarcerated adults will eventually be released to reenter communities and rebuild their lives. The literature indicates half of re-entering adults return to prison within five years and recidivism is higher for adults with low education attainment. The aim of this paper is to add to existing knowledge on incarcerated adult…

The Virginia Department of Corrections mandates that all offenders without a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma (GED) are required to be enrolled in GED programs offered in the prison system. However, these programs have shown varying rates of success. Supported by the constructivist theory, the purpose of this qualitative case…

Throughout the field of corrections in the United States, the prevalent question regarding reentry preparation of offenders is, "What works?" The RAND Corporation in 2014 published a comprehensive review of correctional education programs and reported that offenders involved in education programs were significantly more likely to realize…

The purpose of this quantitative, pretest-posttest causal-comparative with control condition study was to examine if there was a difference in misconduct, as measured by reduction in occurrences of disciplinary infractions while incarcerated. General strain theory of criminal behavior provided the theoretical context for this study. The Arizona…

The new Minnesota Standard Adult High School Diploma program has evolved into a viable secondary credential option within the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC). This competency-based credential broadened the scope of instruction to include digital literacy and work readiness, providing hope and opportunity for individuals struggling to…