January 2015 Education


Guidance Package on Quality Education Services to America’s Confined Youth Announced


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The Hampton Roads Messenger 11


The Administration believes that even youth in correctional facilities can play their part in helping us achieve that vision.


For young people who are


incarcerated, access to a high-quality education during their confinement is a vitally important and cost-effective strategy for ensuring they become productive


members of their


communities. The average cost to confine a juvenile is $88,000 per year – and a recent study showed that about 55 percent of youth were rearrested within 12 months of release. Inmates of all ages are half as likely to go back to jail if they participate in higher education – even compared to inmates with similar histories.


This joint effort by the


departments of Education and Justice is one of a number of notable actions that they have taken to ensure that education


programming justice residential ALEXANDRIA, Va. announced a – U.S.


Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder today


provided to America’s Correctional


Education Guidance Package aimed at helping states and local agencies strengthen the quality of education services


estimated 60,000 young people in confinement every day.


This guidance package builds on recommendations in the My Brother’s Keeper Task Force report released in May to “reform the juvenile and criminal justice systems to reduce unnecessary interactions for youth and to enforce the rights of incarcerated youth to a quality education.” Today’s guidance package is a roadmap that states and local agencies can use to improve the quality of educational services for confined youth.


“Students in juvenile transition justice


facilities need a world-class education and rigorous coursework to help them successfully


out of


facilities and back into the classroom or the workforce becoming productive members of society. Young people should not fall off-track for life just because they come into contact with the justice system,” Duncan said.


"In this great country, all children


deserve equal access to a high-quality public education – and this is no less true for children in the juvenile justice system," said Attorney General Holder. "At the Department of Justice, we are working tirelessly to ensure that every young person who’s involved in the system retains access to the quality education they need to rebuild their lives and reclaim their futures. We hope and expect this guidance will offer a roadmap for enhancing these young people's academic and social skills, and reducing the likelihood of recidivism."


"Today's announcement directly responds to the call to action made by President Obama's My Brother's Keeper Initiative. It is imperative that we ensure that incarcerated


youth


are receiving a quality education and provide them with the necessary tools for a second chance. I applaud Attorney General


Eric Holder and Secretary Arne Duncan for highlighting this critical issue," said Broderick Johnson, White House Cabinet Secretary and Chair of the My Brother’s Keeper Task Force.


The guidance package includes four components:


A set of Guiding Principles for Providing High-Quality


Education


in Juvenile Justice Secure Care Settings outlines five principles and supporting core activities to improve education practices, or implement new ones. Authored jointly by the U.S. departments of Education and Justice, the guide is meant to help agencies and facilities serving youth in correctional education provide education services comparable


to the Education


Individuals Act


those for available


students in community schools. A Dear Colleague


Letter to on


with Disabilities Students


with


Disabilities in Correctional Facilities from Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to clarify state and public agency obligations to ensure the provision of a free appropriate public education to eligible students with disabilities in correctional facilities.


A Dear Colleague Letter on the


Civil Rights of Students in Juvenile Justice Residential Facilities clarifying how the Federal civil that


rights laws prohibit race, color, national


origin, sex, religion, and disability discrimination


against students in


traditional public schools also apply to educational services and supports provided to youth in juvenile justice residential facilities.


Access to Federal for Students


A Dear Colleague in


Letter Pell Juvenile on


Grants Justice


Facilities explains the extent to which confined youth may be eligible for the Federal Pell Grant Program, and is accompanied by a fact sheet for students and a detailed set of questions and answers for institutions of higher education.


“High-quality correctional


education is thus one of the most effective


crime-prevention tools we


have,” Duncan and Holder wrote in a dear colleague letter to chief state school officers and state attorneys general.


“High-quality correctional


education – including postsecondary correctional education, which can be supported by Federal Pell Grants – has been shown to measurably reduce re- incarceration rates. Less crime means not only lower prison costs – it also means safer communities.”


The President has set a goal


that, by 2020, our nation will have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world and that all Americans complete at least one year or more of college or career training.


Our Faith


"The Power of Fellowship" By Rev. Dr. Gregory Headen


Too many of us are trying to live our lives in isola- tion from


people. Individu- alism


may


other have


some positive as- pects to it, but it tends to make us selfish and self- centered


as it


serves as a barrier to authentic rela- tionships with other people. Images of church that we find in scripture are "body", "fellowship", "communion", and "people". The body is not one member but many working in con- cert to make one body. "Fellowship" (koinonia) in the New Testament means authentic relationship based on common faith. It was more than eating and talking together. It was caring so much that no one felt that the things he possessed was his own, but to be shared in community with brothers and sisters. Communion is a word that comes from the root that is also used to form the word "community". "People" is a word that suggest more than one person, but rather a group of people. God did not design us to be in the world alone, but to be in community. Truly there are some problems that affect individuals that cannot be solved dis-


connected from others. It is so sad to see so many people struggling to sur- vive disconnected from family and having no family to lean on. People burn bridges to family through dis- honesty, deceit, and disrespect. Oth- ers have been so abused and broken by family members that they feel that they have no family. This alienation often


extends beyond immediate


family to extended family. Some- thing called "Sin" is at the root of broken relationships. When we are out of sync with the God who created us, it follows that we are out of re- lationship with others that God also created. Thus we see the need for the Spirit's work of forgiveness, recon- ciliation, justification, and sanctifica- tion. All of these involve the work of the Holy Spirit, and without these we are poor indeed. In community and fellowship, we get a different defini- tion of ourselves. We can accomplish so much more working together. We do not have to cry alone, struggle alone, rejoice alone. This means that each of us must open himself/herself to the possibility of receiving love from others and giving love to oth- ers. There is a word that needs to be lifted up for wholesome community. It is "integrity". We need to be genu- ine in community, saying what we mean and meaning what we say.


in facilities


juvenile is


comparable to services provided in any school. The departments have been working together to help communities reduce the number of youth entering the justice system and to ensure that those in the system return to their communities with dignity, skills and viable


education Education released Discipline and employment


opportunities including the following efforts this year:


and Justice


a School Climate Guidance


practice Package


jointly and to


provide schools with a roadmap to reduce the usage of exclusionary discipline


and clarify


schools’ civil rights obligation to not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin in the administration of school discipline.


Education released the the country and certain results


of the 2011-2012 Civil Rights Data Collection,


discipline data from most every school in


which includes school juvenile


with


justice facilities. Education and Justice filed a joint


Statement of Interest in the G.F. v. Contra Costa County lawsuit in support of confined youth with disabilities who alleged that they were placed in solitary confinement for 22 hours or more per day, discriminated against on the basis of their disability, and denied their right to a free, appropriate public education.


leaders


Duncan and from


housing, Holder met with 22 agencies for a


Federal Interagency Reentry Council meeting to discuss actions to reduce reentry barriers to employment, health,


and education commission a


philanthropies School


for


individuals who are transitioning from incarceration to community.


Education and Justice engaged various


to


Consensus Project, led by the Council


of State behavioral Governments,


Discipline to


bring together practitioners from the fields of education, juvenile justice,


health, and law


enforcement, to develop recommenda- tions to address the school-to-prison pipeline, including recommendations for strengthening services to youth in confinement.


and supported the National Leadership Summit


Climate and


Education and Justice coordinated on School


Discipline in Washington, D.C. The summit focused on deepening partnerships between local and state education and justice officials and community stakeholders.


All youth are deserving of an appropriate, high-quality education. This guidance package clarifies that obligation for confined youth, as well as advocating that they have a real chance at a second chance in their lives. A solid education


that


unleashes and expands their potential to contribute to their communities is a step in the right direction.


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