National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Children and Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent, or At-Risk
Features
Improving Conditions for Learning for Youth Who Are Neglected or Delinquent
Learning is not just a cognitive process; research shows that powerful social and emotional factors affect learning. By providing students with support that addresses their social and emotional needs and by building positive social and emotional conditions for learning, staff in facilities and schools can help improve learning outcomes that cannot be addressed through academic remediation alone.
NDTAC Issue Brief: Reading Literacy
Many youth involved in the juvenile justice system struggle academically. Although poor school attendance plays a part in the underachievement of this population, a larger issue may be that these students never fully mastered reading.
Innovative Practice: READ 180
NDTAC highlights, READ 180, a literacy intervention which has been adopted by some recipients of U.S. Department of Education grants to raise the reading achievement levels of middle and high school-aged students in Title I schools.
Library Categories
View another topic in NDTAC's Library:
Strategies, Models, and Innovations
Improving Conditions for Learning for Youth Who Are Neglected or Delinquent
Learning is not just a cognitive process; research shows that powerful social and emotional factors affect learning. By providing students with support that addresses their social and emotional needs and by building positive social and emotional conditions for learning, staff in facilities and schools can help improve learning outcomes that cannot be addressed through academic remediation alone.
NDTAC Issue Brief: Reading Literacy
Many youth involved in the juvenile justice system struggle academically. Although poor school attendance plays a part in the underachievement of this population, a larger issue may be that these students never fully mastered reading.
Innovative Practice: READ 180
NDTAC highlights READ 180, a literacy intervention which has been adopted by some U.S. Department of Education grantees to raise the reading achievement levels of middle and high school-aged students in Title I schools.
NDTAC Issue Brief: The Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Model
How can schools and juvenile justice facilities decrease discipline and antisocial behavior problems and create environments conducive to teaching and learning? A systematic approach to positive behavior support and discipline has long been the standard approach to classroom management used by successful practitioners.
PBIS in Juvenile Justice
As data showing the successes of the PBIS model in both schools and institutions spread, more neglected and delinquent facilities are becoming interested in the possibilities of PBIS for their populations. Two institutions that have implemented PBIS with dramatic results are the Iowa Juvenile Home (IJH) in Toledo, Iowa, and the Illinois Youth Center (IYC) in Harrisburg, Illinois. In this article, NDTAC highlights how PBIS was implemented, how it works, and what the results have been at each of these facilities.
PBIS in Juvenile Justice Newsletter
This issue of the PBIS Newsletter, published by the OSEP-funded National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavior and Intervention Supports, describes the unique characteristics of juvenile detention and correctional settings and how school-wide positive behavior and support is adapted to these settings. The newsletter also provides examples and resources.
Corrections Learning Network (CLN) Expands Education of Confined Audiences
NDTAC provides an overview of CLN. CLN is a distance-learning initiative that targets its programming not only to incarcerated audiences, but to corrections professionals as well. CLN offers corrections-specific course work in the areas of parenting, anger management, transition, and job success.
Distance Learning
NDTAC provides an informational brief on distance learning, including different types of media being used, the pros and cons of distance learning, and innovative examples of how distance learning is being used in classrooms across the country.
The Good Behavior Game
“The Good Behavior Game helps teachers manage their classrooms and it balances discipline and academic instruction,” First Lady Laura Bush said of AIR’s work at George Washington Elementary School in Baltimore. “This model is simple and inexpensive and it can work for children in schools across our country.”
Character Based Literacy Program (CBLP): A Curriculum for Youth in Detention
NDTAC provides an overview CBLP. CBLP focuses on replacing antisocial behaviors, thoughts, and values with prosocial behaviors, thoughts, and values. Developed at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University and used in more than 215 schools in 3 States.
Arizona: Merging Two Worlds
NDTAC provides an overview of the Merging Two Worlds (M2W) curriculum. M2W is a transition and career exploration and planning curriculum designed to help students prepare for reintegration into the community, school, or workforce upon release from a secure care environment.
Florida's Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program (JJEEP)
The mission of JJEEP is to ensure that each student assigned to a juvenile justice program in Florida receives high-quality and comprehensive educational services that increase the student's potential for future success.
Tools for Schools: School Reform Models Supported by the National Institute on the Education of At-Risk Students (April 1998)
This publication by the National Institute on the Education of At-Risk Students provides information for improving the performance of schools with significant at-risk student populations. It contains information about 27 school reform models that have received support for development, expansion, adaptation, or evaluation through the Institute's research program. Descriptions of each model provide an indepth view of what is required for a school to implement the model and identifies contact persons and other sources of additional information.
Events & Presentations
» View the NDTAC Webinars on Learning
Measuring Conditions for Learning
David Osher provided insight into how data can and should be used to evaluate practices that support a positive learning environment. The presentation built upon a previous Webinar, also by Dr. Osher, that provided an introduction to the concept of conditions for learning.
Corrections Learning Network
Anne Charles presents an overview of the distance learning opportunities for incarcerated youth that are available through the Corrections Learning Network. From NDTAC's Fourth Regional Transition Conference in Washington, DC (October, 2004).
Merging Two Worlds: A Transition/Career Planning Curriculum for Youth in the Justice System
Dottie Wodraska introduces the Merging Two Worlds curriculum, developed by the Secure Care Education Committee in Arizona, as a system for correctional educators to transition youth back into the educational mainstream. From NDTAC's Third Regional Transition Conference in Portland, OR (May, 2004).
Creating a Curriculum for Caring: Involving Students Who Are Neglected, Delinquent, or At Risk in Service-Learning Programs
Howard Muscott provides an introduction to service learning (service projects integrated into the academic curriculum with time provided for reflection) and explains how it might be used with youth who are N or D. From NDTAC's Second Regional Transition Conference in New Orleans, LA (February, 2004).
Further Reading
School-Based Wraparound and Its Connection to Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports: A Component of Safe/Effective Schools for All Students
By building partnerships with schools, families, and community agencies, wraparound services and programs help youth achieve established goals and transition back into their home communities. The author provides readers with a basic understanding of the wraparound process by describing its basic elements and highlighting situations in which it is most useful. She also explains commonalities between wraparound and positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) and how they improve student outcomes.
Behavioral Issues and IDEA: PBIS and the Functional Behavioral Assessment in the Disciplinary Context
In this article, the authors discuss the connections between the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and PBIS.
The Implementation and Outcome Evaluation of the Intensive Aftercare Program: Final Report
This report discusses the findings from a study conducted by the National Council on Crime and Delinquency on how the Intensive Aftercare Program was implemented, how well it reduced rates of delinquent and criminal behavior, and how it affected other areas of the adolescents’ lives that have been linked to recidivism.
School Failure, Race, and Disability: Promoting Positive Outcomes, Decreasing Vulnerability for Involvement With the Juvenile Delinquency System
This 2003 National Center on Education, Disability, and Juvenile Justice (EDJJ) publication examines school failure, disability, and ethnic minority status and discusses how these factors place children and youth at risk for involvement with the juvenile or adult criminal justice system. The authors identify both effective and ineffective practices with respect to improving outcomes for these at-risk youth and those who are clients of the justice system. This paper also discusses how policies for addressing misbehavior and juvenile delinquency might be reframed to focus on evidence-based practices that work. These suggestions provide the basis for a set of recommendations for changing public policies and professional practices.
Alternative Education: From a "Last Chance" to a Proactive Model
This article examines alternative education programs as a proactive response to the needs of children for whom traditional school structures are not effective and explains the components of alternative education programs that promote academic excellence and high expectations.
Preventing Youth Delinquency: Identifying School Risk and Protective Factors
Although a strong body of research on what makes a student at risk for delinquent behavior exists, few studies have examined the variables within schools that exacerbate or counteract these risks. The results of EDJJ’s three multimethod studies suggest that school-level characteristics can help minimize the risks for youth delinquency. Using both quantitative and qualitative procedures, these studies examined three school characteristics related to delinquency.<
Class Size and Students At Risk: What Is Known? What Is Next? (April 1998)
This publication reviews research on class size, discusses approaches taken to assess the costs and benefits of reducing class size, and explores implications of smaller classes for classroom management and instructional strategies, particularly for at-risk students.
Youth for Justice
Bulletin, April 2001. Describes the Youth for Justice program, through which OJJDP works with nonprofit organizations to support law-related education projects. 12 pages.
Culinary Education and Training Program for At-Risk Youth
Fact Sheet, April 2001. Discusses the Culinary Education and Training Program for At-Risk Youth, which provides professional training in Miami's food service industry. 2 pages.
Job Training for Juveniles: Project CRAFT
Fact Sheet, August 1999. Describes the Community Restitution and Apprenticeship Focused Training program (Project CRAFT), which is sponsored by the Home Builders Institute, the educational arm of the National Association of Home Builders. 2 pages.
Curriculum, Assessment, and Accountability in Day Treatment and Residential Schools
This study examines how day treatment and residential schools for elementary-age students with emotional and/or behavior disorders implemented policies related to new amendements of IDEA.
Tools
Self-Study Toolkit: Academic Assessment and Curricula
Use the NDTAC Academic Assessment and Curricula Module to determine how successful your facility is at assessing student achievement and providing standardized curricula.
Other Resources
Adolescent Literacy Research Network
To increase the research and collaboration on issues involving adolescent literacy, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services host workshops on adolescent literacy. The network also funds literacy research projects.
The Alternative Education Project at San José State University
This program selects a core of critical teaching competencies from effective practice and develops the related knowledge, activities, and skills required for teacher preparation.
Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR)
Established in 1994 as a collaboration between The Johns Hopkins University and Howard University, CRESPAR conducts research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of replicable strategies designed to transform schooling for students who are placed at risk due to inadequate institutional responses to such factors as poverty, ethnic minority status, and non-English-speaking home background.