In response to Ryan's question about how you get a job teaching in prison, the answer will vary by state, and even within a state, will vary by prison system.

In Texas, for example, The Windham School District provides academic, as well as career and technology education, to eligible offenders incarcerated within the state's criminal justice system. The Windham School District requires state board of education certification, and their website (http://windhamschooldistrict.org/) has an employment section listing job openings  

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a different matter, but you can find information about teaching positions by exploring their website (http://www.bop.gov/).


------------------------------------- 
Harriet Vardiman Smith 
Clearinghouse Project Director 
Texas Center for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning 
Texas A&M University 
 
________________________________________
From: povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Ryan Hall
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 2:52 PM
To: The Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy Discussion List
Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 529] Re: Barriers, etc

Dominique, Ida, Jill (and whoever else may know), 
I was asked to find out how one goes about getting a job teaching in prisons. Are there particular qualifications one must have? If so, do these qualifications differ by state? And, are there different qualifications needed for teaching in youth detention centers versus prisons? Also, this person wanted to know if there are graduate programs that focus on corrections education and, if so, where they are located.
Thanks, 
Ryan



On 2/15/07 11:20 PM, "baguette16 at aim.com" <baguette16 at aim.com> wrote:
Hi again, 
 
I am currently a graduate student focusing on adult and correctional education.  Before returning to school recently, I taught in ABE/GED courses to incarcerated males at a county correctional facility in Boston for several years.  
 
My academic interest is in identifying characteristics/practices of exceptional correctional educators.  I am also interested in evaluating the feasiblity/effectiveness of implementing a critical, collaborative pedagogy within correction facilites.  I will be conducting field research next fall on some version of the above topic areas.  
 
I am wondering if anyone has recommendations for reputable research studies along similar lines.   
I have come across some work through the Journal of Correctional Education and other sources, but any further suggestions/advice is much appreciated. 
 
Thank you in advance, 
 
Jill 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: dchlup at tamu.edu
Sent: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 6:25 PM
Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 514] Re: Barriers, etc

Hi Andrea,

I'm not currently teaching inmates this semester, but I am working with
colleagues on developing a new teaching/research project, so I'll
explain the plan for that project to give you a sense of how I typically
structure my class and I can compare it a bit to work I have done in the
past.  This new project is for a federal women's prison here in TX.  It
is still in the designing and developing stages.  The prison is located
very close to where I live, which is a first for me. I have been
involved with a jail program (NY) and state prisons (MA) both involved
at least 40-90 minutes of commute time. This project has the support of
the warden and Susan Chabot, the Education Administrator of the Federal
Bureau of Prisons (Bill [Muth], I think this might have been your old
job.)  I've never worked with a project with such a high level of prison
administration support.  My colleague developed this project 3 years
ago, and it got shelved by the old warden at the prison.  The new warden
showed interest in the project, they contacted us, and now there is much
support for us to get grant funding and make it happen.

The class is designed to be a part of the parenting education program at
the prison.  Using a book club structure, women will be using children's
literature to develop literacy skills and engage in a series of
activities to positively impact the students' parenting skills and
nurture family literacy efforts between women inmates and their
children.  Women will be both reading and writing children's literature.
We hope to have women reading children's literature that is age
appropriate for their children and aligned to their own reading levels.
Hopefully (we still need Institutional Review Board approval on all of
this) the women will have the opportunity to videotape themselves
reading for their children and will be able to use visiting time to meet
and read with their children.  There is an onsite Children's Visiting
Center.  Two sections of the class will be offered and team taught by
two instructors.  We are anticipating 15-30 students in each class.  We
are also drawing from our community and connections here to have guest
artists, including theater professionals, bookbinding artists, and a
well-known children's book author visit the classes.  Four of us have
been actively involved in the planning and we are all bringing unique
strengths to the design and development process since this is both a
teaching and a research project.  We will be assessing parental beliefs
and practices, attitudes toward reading and writing, and literacy levels
pre-and post the classes. 

In the past, my work has both in classrooms and one-on-one.  In the case
of one-on-one it was more tutoring and mentoring to transition students
from their GED classroom into the prison college program.  And my
classes were literature and writing based, reading and creative writing
classes that could be used for credit in the adult education program,
but could also be taken just for the sake of taking.  

Anyway, I hope that gives you a sense of what I've been up to and what I
hope to do.

Best,
Dominique




-----Original Message-----
From: povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov <javascript:parent.ComposeTo("povertyracewomen-bounces%40nifl.gov", "");> 
[mailto:povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov <javascript:parent.ComposeTo("povertyracewomen-bounces%40nifl.gov", "");> ] On Behalf Of Andrea Wilder
Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2007 2:59 PM
To: Women and Literacy Discussion List The Poverty Race
Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 512] Barriers, etc

Dominique, I would be interested in knowing about the content of your 
classes, what exactly you do with your students and how you structure a 
class.  How many students do you work with at a time?

Thanks.

Andrea

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