United States Department of Education Update

Journal of Correctional Education, Sep 2006 by Linton, John

Washington Update - August 2006

Secretary Margaret Spellings assigned an expanded role for correctional education to The Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) effective October 1st, 2006. The correctional education direct grant programs currently in the Department's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools will move to OVAE, under the leadership of new Assistant Secretary Troy Justesen. John Linton will be continuing to work with these programs and is moving to OVAE. (Watch for a new phone number and mailing address. The email address will not change.) Carlette Huntley, who has worked with correctional education at ED for some years, will be staying with the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools and receiving new assignments.

Both John Linton and Carlette Huntley had the privilege of participating in the International Correctional Education Association conference in Anaheim this July. John and Carlette were busy trying to keep up with their grantees in the Life Skills for State and Local Prisoners Program who were sharing products and outcomes from multi-year projects that began in July of 2003. As these projects move to completion, they are generating a wealth of knowledge and resources worthy of dissemination. Just published to the web in time for sharing in Anaheim is a comprehensive documentation of the life skills curriculum developed and implemented by the Des Moines Area Community Colleges in Iowa State prisons. Resources are detailed and extensive, and represent a well thought out curriculum covering 21 units, tested and refined over the course of a three-year grant period. Some resources incorporated are copyrighted materials, but most are in the public domain and are freely available to be downloaded and utilized by other programs. (Visit: http://www.dmacc.edu/outreach/lifeskills/index.html )

Also with regard to the Life Skills for State and Local Prisoners Program, the 2006 competition yielded 11 newly funded projects, three in State prison systems, with eight projects to be operated by units of local government. These projects range in size from $324,000 to $474,000. Abstracts and contact information are posted on the Department web site at: http://www.ed.gov/programs/lifeskills/2006awards.html. Some one hundred application were submitted for competitive scoring, so the awardees are justly proud of being selected for funding.

Also in Anaheim, John Linton was privileged to attend the semi-annual meeting of the Council of State Directors of Correctional Education. This group meets just prior to both the international conference and the mid-year Correctional Education Leadership Forum. As is typically the case, that meeting provided for a very full day of sharing challenges and accomplishments In State and federal correctional education programs in both adult corrections and in juvenile justice agencies. This meeting affords a unique opportunity for a representative of the Department of Education to listen and leam, to share something of what is happening within the Department, and to receive well Informed advice about needs of the field. Of particular note in this year's discussions were the number of new post secondary initiatives being discussed (a number heavily technology dependent), challenges of staffing in correctional education programs, and multiple initiatives to assure that incarcerated persons can access industry recognized credentials through their institutionally based programs of instruction.

ED sponsored a workshop on 'Making Data Work for You,' bringing attention to bear on new resources on this topic posted to a Department sponsored technical assistance center at http://www.cetac.org/ (click the 'correctional education' button in the left column of the homepage) and to a new discussion forum recently established at the previously announced website: http://www.cedatanetwork.org The CE Data Network web site also provides access to the results of the Department's work with the field of correctional education to codify and standardize correctional education data elements.

After Congress passed and the President signed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA), ED undertook an extended rule making, public hearing and public comment process that has come to fruition with the publication of final regulations on August 14, 2006. Both the law and the regulations can be accessed on the ED web site, ed.gov. (Search for "IDEA.')

We note with interest that the Second Chance Act (H.R. 1704) cleared the House Judiciary Committee on July 26, 2006, a critical step toward passage. Also of note, the roll of co-sponsors of the companion legislation in the Senate (S 1934) has continued to grow, numbering 27 at this writing. We will be watching with interest to see if the Workforce and Transition Training for Incarcerated Youth Offenders Program is amended by this legislation, as the Senate has proposed. 2006 - 2007 awards in this program were made to 57 State correctional education agencies totaling $22,770,000 on July 1, 2006. These awards are the last scheduled under the current State plans. ED will be working with the States to revisit their population needs and to develop new program plans for the three years beginning July 1, 2007 - whether or not the provisions of this program have been revised by congressional action.