| Summary: |
The Second Chance Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110-199) is a historic piece of legislation designed to
improve outcomes for and provide a comprehensive response to the increasing number of individuals
who are released from prisons, jails, and juvenile residential facilities and returning to
communities upon release. The Second Chance Act’s grant programs are funded and administered
by the Office of Justice Programs within the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2010, for
the first time, funding was set aside for a comprehensive study of correctional education. The
Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded the RAND Corporation
a cooperative agreement to undertake a comprehensive examination of the current state of
correctional education for incarcerated adults and juveniles, where it is headed, which correctional
education programs are effective, and how effective programs can be implemented
across different settings. Our first report, published in 2013—Evaluating the Effectiveness of
Correctional Education: A Meta-Analysis of Programs That Provide Education to Incarcerated
Adults—presented a comprehensive review of the scientific literature and a meta-analysis that
synthesized the findings from multiple studies on the effectiveness of correctional education
programs in helping to reduce recidivism and improve postrelease employment outcomes for
incarcerated adults (Davis et al., 2013).
This final report to the U.S. Attorney General first presents a summary of the findings
from our earlier literature review and meta-analysis on the effectiveness of correctional education
programs for incarcerated adults. It also provides three new sections. The first of these is a
systematic review of correctional education programs for juveniles. The second is the results of
a national survey of state correctional education directors, which provide an up-to-date picture
of what the field of correctional education looks like today in the United States and explores
the use of computer technology, preparations for the new 2014 GED exam, and the impact of
the 2008 recession. We conclude with a set of recommendations, as part of our original charge
for this study, on improvements needed to further the field of correctional education.
These results will be of interest to federal and state policymakers; administrators of state
departments of corrections, public safety, and education; correctional educators and college
educators; career technical training providers; and other organizations that provide educational
services and training to the currently incarcerated or formerly incarcerated. These results
will also be of interest to those in the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education who are committed
to ensuring the availability and quality of correctional education programs for incarcerated
adults and juvenile
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