slide 1 literacy and system-involved youth: strategies for improving outcomes june 23rd, 2008 evan...
TRANSCRIPT
Slide 1
Literacy and System-Involved Youth:Strategies for improving outcomes
June 23rd, 2008
Evan Elkin - Director of the Adolescent Reentry Initiative & Adolescent Portable Therapy, Vera Institute of Justice
Slide 2 • April 18, 2023
Goals of Presentation
• Scope of the problem: Overview of relevant national and local research findings on literacy and incarcerated youth
• Overview of promising practices and blueprint recommendations in the literacy education field for incarcerated youth
• Snapshot of recent literacy programming developments here in New York City
• Describe a new literacy initiative and pilot program developed by the Vera Institute of Justice in partnership with NYC Council, DOC and the Queens Public Library
• Workshop exercise: generating new recommendations for the field
Slide 3 • April 18, 2023
Criminal Justice System-involved Youth: Key Research Findings
• Youth in correctional facilities on average read at the 4th grade level (Brunner 1993)
• 80% of incarcerated youth read at one or more grade levels below their same age peers (Malmgren & Leone, 2000)
• More than 50% of youth on Rikers Island read below the 6th grade level (Internal statistics, Island Academy)
• Matching national figures, roughly 35% of Rikers youth carry a special education classfication (Internal statistics, Island Academy)
Slide 4 • April 18, 2023
Key Research Findings Cont’d
• Less than 1/3 of youth returning home from NYC jails enroll in school (Fruedendberg, 2000)
• Youth with significant academic delays are twice as likely to recidivate or violate parole (Archwamety & Katsiyannis, 2000)
• High school dropouts are 3.5 times more likely than graduates to be arrested (US DOE, 1994)
• Incarcerated youth were 37% less likely to return to prison if they learned to read at re-entry (Criminal Justice Policy Council, 1998)
Slide 5 • April 18, 2023
The Problem
• Low Literacy is correlated with:• Disengagement from formal education
• Unemployment and lower wages
• Arrest, incarceration & recidivism
• Programming options (GED prep, vocational training etc) for low readers (Below 6th grade) are profoundly limited
• Lack of innovative literacy teaching strategies tailored to the needs system-involved youth and young adults
Slide 6 • April 18, 2023
Vera’s Involvement with Literacy: Developing a set of program recommendations
• ARI program faced the crisis of excluding half of eligible youth because of literacy levels and lack of community programs
• Vera conducted a detailed review of the literature and existing promising programs
• Examined evidence-supported and promising practices through a re-entry lens
• Developed a set of a recommendations
• Assembled NYC stakeholders to reach consensus on a blueprint
• Vera developed and launched a literacy intervention pilot
Slide 7 • April 18, 2023
Recent Developments in NYC
• Deputy Mayor Gibbs’ office and CEO launched a literacy intiative this year
• Based on Vera blueprint
• Drawing on NYC strengths: library systems, literacy providers contracted through DYCD
• Seeks to stimulate innovation and curriculum development
• Multi-site implementation of the CEPS model in NYC • Promising early results
• Will play a coordinating/guiding role with the CEO initiative
• Vera’s Adolescent Reentry Initiative (ARI) launched a pilot of a literacy model for youth returning from adult jail
• Plans to continue to refine and test curriculum and programming approach
• Our goal is to take the program to scale and expand to other populations
Slide 8 • April 18, 2023
Promising Programs
• NYC: Community Education Pathways to Success (CEPS) model• Integrates literacy learning with wraparound youth services in a community based
setting
• Developed by the Youth Development Institute (ydiinstitute.org)
• Uses Ramp Up curriculum
• Oakland CA: Project Choice• Integrates literacy learning with multi-target prison reentry services (pre and post-
release phases
• 34% improvements in recidivism
• Designed and tested their own curriculum
• Yo! Baltimore• “Community center” approach with multiple services including job readiness and
placement, a recording studio and a health club
• Serves criminal justice, child welfare involved youth as well as school disconnected youth
• Modest improvements in recidivism and strong employment outcomes
• Literacy element consists of online and tutoring for GED prep
Slide 9 • April 18, 2023
Promising Curricula
• RAMP Up• Used by CEPS programs
• Strong outcomes for youth reading at 6th grade and above
• Integrates vocational material
• Read 180• Used by Job Corps
• Software driven and bilingual
• Good track record with adults
• Not tested with a system involved youth population
• REWARDS • Success with 2.5 to 4.0 readers
• But its use has been with 4th and 5th graders, not older adolescents, young adults or system-involved populations
Slide 10 • April 18, 2023
Integrating Re-entry Needs of the System-Involved Youth: Lessons from ARI
• History of academic failure leads to very low frustration tolerance and sense of hopelessness about entering an educational program
• The “re-entry window” - where motivation to make changes is high – can close very quickly (nationally - 25% of youth drop out of programs at 30 days post reentry)
• A traditional classroom setting can be daunting for youth who have been disengaged from school
• Rigid rules and excessive structure may be difficult from some youth post-incarceration
• Program attendance = lost wages: The need to earn money can make regular attendance in a program challenging for some youth
• Class/semester schedules don’t line up with release dates
Slide 11 • April 18, 2023
Youth Re-entry Needs Cont’d:
• Rates of substance use, mental health difficulties and family problems among detained and incarcerated youth are very high
• Stigma of criminal justice history makes return to traditional education settings daunting (and often impossible without advocacy)
• Many community programs have little experience and high anxiety about working with incarcerated youth
• Ages 16-18 can cover a broad development spectrum
• Competing with the streets/gangs
Slide 12 • April 18, 2023
Primary Blueprint Recommendations: Program Structure• Comprehensive, holistic and strength-based assessment
• Begin engagement and services pre-release
• Embed programming in a youth-focused, multi-target support environment
• Resistance is the norm: build in assertive and flexible recruitment and retention strategies and expect disruption and disengagement
• Leverage supportive power of the classroom group itself
• Peer led and directed process for engagement and retention
• Stipends
• Individualized attention (eg., CEPS “primary person approach”)
• Pragmatic, fun, flexible atmosphere
• Bridge to next steps
Slide 13 • April 18, 2023
Primary Blueprint Recommendations: Curriculum• Anticipatory strategies: students know what they will learn before
they learn it
• Classroom strategies accommodate multiple learning levels and paces
• Student centered: encourage multiple learning strategies to achieve learning goals
• Culturally relevant and student-driven curriculum content
• Authentic/pragmatic texts
• Reconcile literacy with living: Don’t sidestep issues of criminal justice system involvement, race and priviledge etc. as it pertains to literacy
• Arts and media integration - recognize and build on students literacy with other forms of “text”: print, visual, oral, musical, electronic
Slide 14 • April 18, 2023
Vera’s Literacy Pilot: Goals
• Develop a new literacy teaching curriculum responsive to the “blueprint”
• Embed the literacy learning experience in the re-entry wraparound services provided by ARI
• Implement the program in an accessible community context
• Partner with an organization (QBL) with a strong teaching infrastructure and shared mission to address adult and young adult literacy
• Evaluate implementation process and refine model and curriculum
Slide 15 • April 18, 2023
Key Components of Vera Literacy Model
• Integrating literacy programming with multi-target re-entry intervention: SA, MH, Family, life skills, housing, work readiness
• Ongoing relationship with a case manager
• Integration of vocational, career and higher education goals with literacy programming and with the curriculum itself
• Blending of “authentic texts” with traditional literature
• Arts and media integration - recognize and build on students literacy with other forms: print, visual, oral, musical, electronic
• Structured rolling admission
• Stipends
• Job development services and linkages with further training and education post literacy program
Slide 16 • April 18, 2023
Evaluation, Outcomes, Next steps
• Tracking youth progress• Intermittent formal testing
• Testing and refining the curriculum• Prioritizing youth feedback on what’s working
• Planned series of curriculum revisions
• Development of a teacher training manual for the curriculum
• Process and implementation evaluation• Goal for a more comprehensive evaluation post pilot
• Begin teaching pre-release?
• Bring program to scale and target other youth populations
Slide 17 • April 18, 2023
Breakout Group Exercise