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 1
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 2 • March 22, 2016
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 3 • March 22, 2016
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 4 • March 22, 2016
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 5 • March 22, 2016
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 6 • March 22, 2016
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 7 • March 22, 2016
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 8 • March 22, 2016
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 9 • March 22, 2016
Integrating Re-entry Needs of the SystemInvolved 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 10 • March 22, 2016
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 11 • March 22, 2016
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 12 • March 22, 2016
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 13 • March 22, 2016
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 14 • March 22, 2016
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 15 • March 22, 2016
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 16 • March 22, 2016
Breakout Group Exercise
Slide 17 • March 22, 2016