Pursuant to Education Code EDC 78080-78084, the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office is pleased to provide the 2025 Hire UP Program Legislative Report. The Hire UP Pilot Program, established in 2022, aims to provide financial support and workforce integration for vulnerable student populations, including formerly incarcerated…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders who display disruptive behaviors in general education settings are increasingly being educated in alternative education settings. Alternative education settings can vary widely, but they typically have smaller classroom sizes and educational staff who are trained to teach students who were not…

This article introduces an innovative model of social work course development, teaching, and implementation. Using the principles of antioppressive education and community-engaged learning, the authors (a former student and faculty member) codeveloped and subsequently taught a course that explored writing, voice, social justice, and the…

Entering jail is an assault on the senses. While volunteers and inmates might share visceral experiences of entering the institution, to enter "into" jail is not the same as being "in" jail. To be "in" is to be monitored--watched and listened to without exception or reprieve. To be in jail is to follow unwritten laws…

Before 2013, incarcerated individuals in North Carolina could enroll in college correspondence courses, but there was no coordinated effort to provide a path toward a postsecondary degree or credential. Furthermore, there was no coordination around reentry. The Vera Institute of Justice's Pathways from Prison to Postsecondary Education Project…

To date, the large body of literature on the provision of education in prison has received the most empirical attention and has produced mixed results; however, there is some evidence that indicates participation in vocational or academic programming is related to modest reductions in recidivism after release. For those receiving correctional…

There has been little examination of how criminological theory may help to inform library practice in correctional settings. This article takes steps to address this deficit by presenting a new and timely approach to prison library research. It suggests that situating prison library research within the disciplines of librarianship, education and…

Equipping students for citizenship has always been a core element of American higher education. Amid financial distress, changing technology, and global interconnectivity, the project of equipping citizens is becoming increasingly disembodied. Embracing the notion that one's physical place matters, one application of an "embodied"…

This report presents findings from a feasibility evaluation of the Bridges to Pathways (Bridges) program. Bridges was a program for young men in Chicago between the ages of 17 and 21 years who were involved with the criminal or juvenile justice system and lacked a high school credential. The program offered intensive mentoring and case management,…

Mental health disorders are prevalent among youths in the juvenile justice system. This literature review focuses on the scope of mental health problems of at-risk and justice-involved youths; the impact of mental health on justice involvement as well as the impact of justice involvement on mental health; disparities in mental health treatment in…

Equine-facilitated prison programs have become more prevalent and operate in correctional facilities in 13 states throughout the United States. However, there is a deficit of empirical knowledge to guide them. This article reviews 19 studies of prison-based animal programs and centers on patterns in the literature. It reveals how previous studies…

This brief examines how California is aligning education and training opportunities for people who are currently or formerly incarcerated. It is the first report in our series "Reconnecting Justice in the States," which will explore coordinated justice, education, and workforce policy and practice at the state level. It is part of…

The literature provides limited, constructive, consensus-based information to correctional officials and administrators on the efficacy of prison-based programs. This study reports an analysis of 8 review government documents, that surveyed the research literature from 1980-2008, on the topic of educational rehabilitation programs available to…

The pace of implementation of PBIS in restrictive settings for juvenile offenders is accelerating. Recommendations for future research include the following: examine effects of PBIS on preventing entry into the school-to-prison pipeline, identify factors that influence PBIS implementation, develop the capacity of restrictive settings to engage in…

The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project is the first major opportunity to use a behavioral economics lens to look at programs that serve poor and vulnerable people in the United States. Sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the U.S.…