Transitional Educational Placements
Although some juvenile parolees may eventually perform well in mainstream classrooms, it is often difficult for these youth to succeed in traditional campuses immediately following release from incarceration. "Cold turkey" reentry into public schools is often a formula for failure. Juveniles attempting such reentry typically say that they feel lost or overwhelmed on large traditional campuses. Also, the level of structure and attention that adjudicated youth receive in correctional and residential settings is limited on traditional campuses. This change in structure and attention often contributes to disruptive behavior by these youth when they return to school.
Alternative schools or transitional education centers are known as transitional educational placements. These placements are interim steps for youth who have been released from incarceration. Such placements offer appropriate environments that gradually reduce the level of supervision and support from that which these youth were accustomed to receiving in the correctional setting. In a transitional educational placement, recently released juvenile parolees can undergo careful assessment and take part in learning experiences that prepare them to return to mainstream classrooms. An alternative school or transitional education center also reduces the risk of a youth's getting lost in "the system" without needed support services.
An alternative school facility should provide the least restrictive environment appropriate for a juvenile exiting a correctional institution or other residential placement. The smaller pupil-teacher ratio, individualization, and therapeutic family approach available in transitional educational placements can provide these juveniles with a fresh start and can ease their transition into a school environment.
New Jersey's Gateway Academy, described above as an example of the cluster group approach to transitional services, is also an example of a transitional educational placement. Another example is Arizona's Pathfinder Project.
The Pathfinder Project
Created by Alan Wright, former education superintendent of the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections, the Pathfinder Project provided transitional educational placement for troubled youth in Arizona. After 7 years of intensive reform efforts, Arizona established a research-based and accredited alternative school that emphasized performance-based accountability through its curriculum. The Pathfinder Project targeted disruptive, delinquent adolescents, enrolled them in "Success School," and used a curriculum that provided a continuum of educational experiences. The Pathfinder Project was recently discontinued in Arizona, but the Pathfinder model continues to offer an alternative to traditional methods of dealing with disruptive students.
In the Pathfinder model, the purpose of Success School is to recognize and serve system-involved youth who have little or no hope for the future and who do not believe they can achieve personal success within the traditional educational system. Success School teaches troubled youth a leadership style focused on personal development and lifelong learning for community-based stewardship. Students learn responsibility and thus are empowered to achieve success. Behavioral changes observed in Arizona's Success School participants provide evidence that, when fully implemented, the program can help students gain literacy skills at accelerated rates and can increase their commitment to learning.
A key component of the Pathfinder model is the transition to a mainstream school environment. In Arizona, students who were properly prepared through the Pathfinder model were likely to be successful in making such a transition. Following transition, many Success School students chose to engage in work-study, which maximized their independence and community service.
The Success School approach can be implemented in any public school system, either as a "school within a school" or as a contracted partnership operated separately from a mainstream school. Arizona operated both approaches of Success School. Each of the approaches creates a continuum between the "regular" public school classroom and the specialized Success School classroom.
For more information about the Pathfinder Project, contact Leonard Lindstrom, Program Administrator, Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections, 1624 West Adams, Phoenix, AZ 85007; phone 602-255-5259; fax 602-255-5265.
|
Transitional Support and Placement: The Kentucky Experience Kentucky Youth Assistance Alliance. More than 3 years ago, an alliance was formed among several Kentucky youth-serving organizations interested in easing the transition of adjudicated youth from juvenile justice settings, including secure treatment facilities, to educational settings. Included in the partnership were Christian County, Henderson County, and Jefferson County public schools; three State agencies (the Office of Juvenile Justice, the Cabinet for Human Resources, and the Kentucky Department of Education); the University of Kentucky; and the Kentucky Coalition for State Agency Children. The first priority of the partnership was to collect data on school-age adjudicated youth in Kentucky. The partnership found that the school systems were losing nearly 95 percent of such youth because the youth failed to make successful transitions into a mainstream school or transitional educational center (also known as an alternative school). The partnership also found that existing efforts to help adjudicated youth in these counties were flawed by problems in identifying the target population and by inconsistent school reentry processes, gaps in services, and lack of community support. Two years ago, the partnership became involved in the YOEM initiative. The project's application for YOEM assistance proposed a model that would address the gaps in services to Kentucky's adjudicated youth. The model set forth the following objectives:
The original alliance is no longer in existence, but the approach it established is successfully addressing many of the issues and problems associated with successful reentry for juvenile offenders. The bridge coordinator and educational passport concepts are part of "transitional school" initiatives undertaken in the three counties that participated in the alliance. Franklin Transitional High School. In August 1999, the Franklin Transitional High School, Louisville, KY, opened its doors for the 1999-2000 school year. The school was established specifically to address the needs of students returning from adjudicated residential placement. Its design was the result of a collaborative effort involving the Jefferson County Public Schools' Safe and Drug-Free Schools Unit, the State's Department of Juvenile Justice, and Seven Counties Services (the State mental health authority for the region). Franklin Transitional High School currently has approximately 40 students enrolled. The ratio of staff to students is very high (the school currently employs 20 staff members). Students come directly from incarceration to the school. A bridge coordinator team, rather than a single coordinator, screens returning students. The length of time students stay at the school is based on their individual needs. The goal is to prepare students for other educational placements, but students can actually graduate from the transition school if that is what it takes to complete their secondary education. Documentation in the form of an educational passport helps determine each student's educational and treatment needs and accompanies the student to his or her subsequent educational placements. Representatives from the Institute of Families, a private agency, provide counseling services to students and their families. For more information about transition activities in Jefferson County, contact Pam Carter, Assessment Coordinator, Jefferson County Public Schools, Safe and Drug-Free Schools, 911 South Brook Street, Location #895, Louisville, KY 40203; phone 502-485-3260; e-mail pcarter1@jefferson.k12.ky.us; or Dr. Rick Tatum, Principal, Franklin Transitional High School, 1800 Arlington Avenue, Louisville, KY 40206; phone 502-485-6678; fax 502-485-6680. |
 |
|
| From the Courthouse to the Schoolhouse: Making Successful Transitions | |