Yes, Bill..
This morning I added the FOB article about Special Needs of Incarcerated Leaners and I will add this entire thread/conversation when it is complete... the Wiki at http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Corrections_Education 
Gina

-----Original Message-----
From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of William R Muth/FS/VCU
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 12:04 AM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 242] Re: Community re-entry programs



Gina Lobaccaro and all, 

By way of addressing your excellent question about motivating low-literacy level learners, I'd like to return to what I believe is a hugely untapped potential in correctional education: the incarcerated learner's personal needs and interests. Anita Wilson describes "Third-spaces" in prisons in the UK where prisoners express themselves in ways deeply personal and loaded with their own sense of identity - poetry, music, art; ways of expression that they would likely not be engaged in 'back home' or in 'official' prison discourses (including prison classrooms, work assignments, etc.).   

When I recently interviewed literacy learners on their views of prison literacy programs, I was taken back by their need to talk about families and loved ones back home. Most of the prisoners thought about their mothers, fathers, spouses, sisters, sons, daughters, and grandparents almost constantly, when they were not 'pulled back' into the reality of prison by another inmate or staff member. Based on Anita's work I began seeing the reality of prison as the learners' "First- space" and their personal thoughts of home as the hidden "Second-spaces."   

I wondered how this enormous emotional resource (Second-space) could be (respectfully) 'invited' into the classroom by teachers. Gina asked about motivating low-level literacy students. One possible solution - though not necessarily an easy one - is through Language Experience Approach lessons. An example: A student of mine - 18 yrs old, doing time for murder, ADD big time and, weirdly, likeable -- was a profoundly disabled reader, barely knew the names of the letters. But he was convinced he did not need to study such "childish" things as phonics. Because he was highly fascinated with himself (!) I put a tape recorder in front of him and let him talk. His early stories made me queasy - how, once he got out, he was going to set up his own gas station and hire a team of his buddies to work for him...totally out of touch with reality! More than once I doubted my own judgment, but continued to transcribe the stories. They became his reading materials and he loved to read them. We made flash cards out of the words he most wanted to learn to read and spell, reread his stories to improve his fluency, and dread! even created daily phonics lessons based on his words.  In addition to rapid growth in his reading, he began writing letters home, and this sparked a dialogue with his estranged mother.  As time went by, his stories became much less fantastic, and much more real - about facing his mother when she came to visit, etc. 

Language Experience Approach (LEA) can be time consuming, and some prisons don't even allow tape recorders in the classroom. There is, also, a down side to this idea - that staff can get "too close" to their students -- and that can lead to disastrous results, and lead to harsh staff policies about keeping one's distance. (But, for example, if there were trustworthy tutors around, they could do the transcribing. Or discussion groups, instead of LEA, could be used to get learners engaged. Also, many staff have found ways to support students' personal needs and still maintain boundaries.) The point is that there are ways to motivate low-literacy adults -- Language Experience, Third-spaces, discussion groups, etc. -- but whether or not correctional educators are permitted to use them is another story.   

My guess is that if prisoners' "Second spaces" were "invited" into the classroom (they should never be coerced into the classroom!), we'd have a lot more family and intergenerational literacy programs flourishing: support for letter writing, peer support for family crises (see my note about the Allenwood Father's Group, few days back), and powerful and empowering purposes for literacy learning. I know that many prison classrooms do not engender the trust it would take to pull this off, but I also bet that those who care enough to participate in this discussion struggle everyday to sustain just such environments. 

A few related notes: 
John Linton, thank you for bringing to our attention the Senate Judiciary Sub-Committee hearing, and the inside/outside work that Safer is doing. David - Safer Foundation program may be the best example of the kind of programs you were asking about. Diane Williams reported that the Safer "model prison to community initiative...show[ed] a 50 % decline in recidivism and a 50% increase in job placement. Our most recent statistics show that 77% of the participants who are active in Safer's services are currently working." 

About the testimony of the Senate Judiciary Sub-Committee hearing on Reentry: Numerous experts talked about the need for support for families and children of prisoners, and the importance of family ties. But only once did a witness - Roger Werholtz from Kansas - mentioned a reentry program that involved "maintaining family ties." Why is it that this need, though recognized by Urban Institute and others as one of the major contributors to reentry success, is overshadowed by jobs, drug treatment, sex offender, and other (worthy) needs? Are these programs too messy? Too threatening? To personal? Again, at the risk of broke-record syndrome, I argue that family and intergenerational literacy programs could reach some of the least communicative parents in prison, and thus some of the most vulnerable children and families. 

Gina Lobaccaro is too modest to mention this, but she is the wiki-master!! Gina maintains the correctional education component of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki hosted by NIFL and supported by David Rosen, Erik Jacobsen and others (see: http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Corrections_Education ). This is a great resource for our community of practice. Thank you, Gina. My guess is much of our conversation will find its way to this wiki, yes? 

June Crawford: As you know well, one alternative way to screen for reading disabilities in our classrooms is by assessing reading components in addition to reading comprehension.  Here is a link to John Strucker's classic argument for the need for reading components testing:   http://www.ncsall.net/?id=456 

Sorry for such a long post!!!  -Bill 




David Rosen <djrosen at comcast.net> 
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09/23/2006 06:18 AM 


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Subject
[SpecialTopics 240]  Community re-entry programs

	




Colleagues,

Here's a question for our guests, and for anyone in this discussion  
who may work with a prisoner community re-entry program:

In "Locked Up and Locked Out"  a community re-entry program in  
Massachusetts is described as follows:

"Re-entry projects around the country have been similar, or at least  
somewhat similar, to the Offender Re-entry Program (ORP) in Suffolk  
County, Massachu-
setts. The lead educational agency is Boston's Bunker Hill Community  
College. The program is detailed in a case study found in a report of  
the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).37 ORP provides soon-to-be- 
released inmates with an intensive 6-hour-a-day course of study over  
a six-week period. After release, the inmates continue to receive  
support from caseworkers and mentors for a minimum of six months -  
and many choose to continue beyond this six-month period. Drawing on  
different community resources and agencies, the program includes:
* education during the final six weeks of prison provided by Bunker  
Hill Community College
* job assistance at the one-stop career center called Workplace
* case management provided by Community Resources for Justice
* mentoring support from the faith-based Ella J. Baker House"

How prevalent are programs such as the ORP? Do they reduce  
recidivism? What are the key ingredients of success?

David J. Rosen
Special Topics Discussion Moderator
djrosen at comcast.net
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