Transitioning Students into a Facility:
Comprehensive Assessment at Entry

By Angeline Spain and Regina Waugh

This is the second module of NDTAC's Self-Study Toolkit. Subsequent modules on other topics will be featured in the coming months.

This article is divided into three parts:

Part I.   Introduction

Part II.  Data Collection

Part III. Resources

Part I discusses why comprehensive assessment upon entry is important and suggests components that should be included in a comprehensive assessment. Part II is designed to help measure how your facility is doing in terms of providing comprehensive assessment at entry and offers suggestions on how to improve. Part III provides additional resources that focus primarily on learning disabilities, mental and emotional health, and substance abuse information.

I. Introduction: Why Is Comprehensive Assessment Upon Entry Important?

A comprehensive assessment of students upon entry to a new facility is vital in determining student needs and correctly developing student-specific programming. It is not enough to measure academic strengths and needs. To best understand a student’s situation, we must also take into account all of the confounding factors that interact with his or her ability to perform academically, including, mental, emotional, behavioral, and learning disorders. In this module we focus on those confounding factors. Stay tuned to future modules for more comprehensive information on academic assessment.

It is estimated that between 30 and 50 percent of incarcerated juveniles have a learning disability, at least four times the proportion of the public school population [1]. One study by the National Coalition for the Mentally Ill in the Criminal Justice System found that as many as 90 percent of youth in the justice system may have one or more mental health disorders [2]. Another study of youth in custody in Cook County, Illinois, found that nearly two-thirds of males and three-fourths of females met the diagnostic criteria for a mental disorder [3]. It is also estimated that incarcerated youth suffer from behavioral disorders, such as conduct disorder, in a much higher proportion than youth in the general population [4].

Many of the students that come into the juvenile justice system with these disorders have never been diagnosed, and consequently have never received treatment. In 2003, the General Accounting Office (GAO) reported that 12,700 families turned over custody to child welfare or juvenile justice systems to obtain mental health services for their children [5]. The 2000 Surgeon General’s Report on Children’s Mental Health acknowledges that responsibility for children's mental healthcare is dispersed across multiple systems, and names the juvenile justice system as one of the agencies key to early identification of needs [6]. Assessing students at entry and using the results of that assessment to develop a student’s individual treatment/learning/transition plan will ensure that they are receiving the programming they need to be successful during their incarceration and beyond.

In addition, a comprehensive assessment upon entry forms the baseline for measuring student achievement over the course of students’ stay in a facility. In short, you cannot know how far students have come without understanding where they’ve been. It is also essential that students are interviewed upon entry so that facility personnel can get an idea of their experiences beyond the assessment results, and students have a chance to discuss their goals both during their stay at the facility and beyond. Prompt assessment of incoming students (within 7 days of arrival at the facility) plus a review of the students’ records (see the module on Records Transfer and Maintenance) will allow facility personnel to quickly and effectively place students in the appropriate programs. In addition, a thorough student assessment upon entry can form the front end of a student’s transition plan, providing a record of test scores, documentation of any learning, mental, or emotional disabilities, as well as details of the student’s short- and long-term goals.

A comprehensive assessment should include the following components:

• Reading Achievement
• Math Achievement
• Learning Disabilities
• Mental Health
• Emotional Health
• Substance Abuse
• Vocational/Life Skills
• Student Interview

The materials included in the data collection and resources sections of this module focus primarily on learning disabilities, mental and emotional health, and substance abuse. This list is not comprehensive; rather, it highlights some of the important areas that should be included in a comprehensive student assessment.

Proceed to Part II. Data Collection

[1] Rutherford, R. B., Bullis, M., Anderson, C. W., & Griller-Clark, H. M. (2002). Youth with disabilities in the corrections system: Prevalence rates and identification issues. Washington, DC: Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice, American Institutes for Research.

[2] Quinn, M. M., Rutherford, R. B., & Leone, P. E. (2001). Students with disabilities in correctional facilities. Arlington, VA: ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EDO-EC-01-16)

[3] Otto, R. (1992). Responding to the mental health needs of youth in the juvenile justice system. Seattle, WA: National Coalition for the Mentally Ill in the Criminal Justice System.

[4] Teplin, L. A., Abram, K. M., McClelland, G. M., Dulcan, M. K, & Mericle, A. A. (2002). Psychiatric disorders in youth in juvenile detention. Archives of General Psychiatry, 59(12), 1133–1143.

[5] Larson, K. A., & Turner, K. D. (2002). Best practices for serving court involved youth with learning, attention and behavioral disabilities. Monograph series on education, disability, and juvenile justice. Washington, DC: American Institutes for Research.

[6] General Accounting Office, Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice: Federal Agencies Could Play a Stronger Role in Helping States Reduce the Number of Children Placed Solely to Obtain Mental Health Services (Apr. 21, 2003).

Published April 2005

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