蜜桃影视

Update, Dec. 2: The Education Department released new and updated guidance and resources surrounding the education of youth in juvenile justice facilities, including a new website focused on educating incarcerated students with disabilities. It followed an announcement by the Justice Department that the government will build a school system within the Federal Bureau of Prisons.聽

The Trump administration could reverse all of these efforts. Education Secretary John King on a press call wouldn鈥檛 speculate on whether the incoming Trump administration would continue to work on聽these issues. King said he hoped officials at all levels of government would focus on students who don鈥檛 graduate from high school, and 鈥渙ne of the ways to tackle that challenge is to make sure that we have a smooth transition back from juvenile justice into the education system.鈥�

Washington, D.C.

As a child growing up in the nation鈥檚 capital, in a tough neighborhood plagued by crime and drugs, Christopher liked school 鈥� mostly 鈥� except for math. His favorite subject was social studies.

鈥淚 guess that鈥檚 where my strength is at, stuff like that,鈥� said the sturdy young man, dressed in dark sweatpants on a cool-for-August day, his work ID swinging on a lanyard around his neck.

Yet by the time he was 21, after several years in and out of various D.C. schools and juvenile detention facilities across the country, all he had to show for it was a single high school credit.

Christopher, whom 蜜桃影视 agreed not to identify because of his past record as a juvenile offender and because his lawyers don鈥檛 want to be accused of trying to influence a pending court case, represents the fate of hundreds of thousands of young people when they come out of the much-discussed school-to-prison pipeline. Most, like Christopher, are black and male, many of them with classified learning disabilities.

The debate about the pipeline, which opens with harsh discipline being to students of color and those with disabilities, has mostly centered on what can be done at the starting point 鈥� in school 鈥� to divert these same students from ending up in jail.

That has led to conscious efforts to reduce suspensions and expulsions, create restorative justice programs that focus more on healing than punishment, and understand the implicit bias that educators, especially white ones, can bring when confronted with a black or brown student in trouble.

What鈥檚 less discussed is how to educate all the students, like Christopher, who have already been pushed through the pipeline and who now, in their late teens and early 20s, emerge after lost years and chronically uneven and sometimes grossly inadequate schooling while they were in custody.

(蜜桃影视: Visions of a School-to-Prison-Back-to-School Pipeline at TFA鈥檚 25th Anniversary)

A 10-year found that being jailed led to a 39 percentage point drop in the likelihood a student would graduate and meant that student would be 41 percent more likely to return to jail as an adult. Young black men who fail to graduate from high school are more likely to be unemployed 鈥� , nearly double the national average for all dropouts. Black dropouts of both genders made on average, less than any other racial group.

鈥淥n the whole, we鈥檙e really failing these kids,鈥� said Kate Burdick, a staff attorney at the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, a public-interest law firm that advocates for the rights of young people in Pennsylvania and across the country. The group played a central role in ending the in which a judge routinely found young people guilty of minor crimes and then sent them to two for-profit prisons, which paid him kickbacks in return.

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James Forman Jr talks criminal justice and the crisis with the school to prison pipeline

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The problem of the school-to-prison 鈥斅燼nd then back-to-school 鈥斅爌ipeline is especially acute in D.C., where Christopher went through the system, because the city often sends its juvenile offenders to different states whose education programs for incarcerated youth aren鈥檛 always accepted by D.C. Public Schools. When they return, the district has few options for these older teens 鈥斅爉any of them overage and under-credited.

That is one reason Christopher could be 21 and have accrued only one of the 24 credits needed for his high school diploma, despite having spent the better part of seven years in multiple facilities that were required by law to educate him.

Christopher describes his childhood as rough. His parents were both drug users. His father died when he was 14, and 鈥渢hat鈥檚 when stuff really got serious,鈥� he said. He was hanging out in the streets, selling drugs and eventually 鈥渃atching charges,鈥� as he put it, ending up in the custody of the city鈥檚 Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.

Christopher鈥檚 educational protections went even further because he has been diagnosed with auditory and language disabilities and an emotional disorder. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a federal law first written in 1975, ensures that students with disabilities receive a free, appropriate public education. The services Christopher needed to learn should have followed him from the classroom to the the group homes and juvenile detention centers, but they did not.

鈥淚 was failing these educational programs because they didn鈥檛 take the time out to sit down with me, like a teacher should, and see where I鈥檓 at as far as my education,鈥� he said.

Christopher bounced between facilities that had traditional classroom instruction and others that pushed for GED completion. Some places would group him with students profoundly more disabled than he was; others would drop him into prep programs for the high school equivalency test, where he was quickly overwhelmed.

鈥淚f you know my IQ level, why are you putting me in a class with kids whose IQ level is real high? I鈥檓 sitting there looking stupid,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat do you want me to do, copy off other students鈥� papers?鈥�

Eventually, he managed to get back into school with the help of attorney Claire Blumenson and her colleagues at the School Justice Project, a small nonprofit that advocates for older students鈥� educational rights via the IDEA 鈥� but he has yet to receive his diploma.

You鈥檙e free 鈥� but not to go back to class

When they finish their sentences and return to school, students often face problems getting their credits transferred. Records are slow to move from one agency to another, and when they do, students housed out of state may find they were offered courses that their home district doesn鈥檛 accept.

鈥業t鈥檚 unfortunately something that plagues students, really, nationwide who are involved in the juvenile justice system鈥�

Others may have gotten off track with a sequential career education degree. Still others might be just a few weeks shy of finishing a course when they have to leave a secure facility, forfeiting the time and effort they鈥檝e already invested. Officials will often tell newly released students that their only option is an alternative school, that they can鈥檛 go back to the neighborhood school they had attended prior to their incarceration.

鈥淚t鈥檚 unfortunately something that plagues students, really, nationwide who are involved in the juvenile justice system,鈥� said Burdick, of the law center.

Christopher tried, unsuccessfully, to re-enroll in several D.C. public schools after he was released from custody.

鈥淚 was getting straight-up denied,鈥� he said.

Schools that would otherwise enroll him said that because of his classified learning needs and lack of credits, he鈥檇 have to go to class with much younger students. He called the idea of being 21 and sitting in a English or math class with 15-year-olds 鈥渟ick.鈥�

Ultimately, he was out of school for a year before he enrolled at a local private school that educates many formerly incarcerated, overage special education students. Blumenson and the School Justice Project fought the city to pay for tuition.

But he wasn鈥檛 able to finish his high school requirements before his eligibility under IDEA to continue his schooling 鈥斅燼lready extended another year beyond the usual age 22 鈥斅爎an out. Negligence on the part of the city kept him from getting appropriate services while he was incarcerated, his attorneys argue, and for a period after he was released when he couldn鈥檛 get back into any school. They鈥檙e seeking additional funding from D.C. so that he can earn his diploma.

Like its adult prison population, the U.S. incarcerates far more young people than other countries. There is somewhere more than 300 jailed juveniles for every 100,000 young people in the U.S., , compared with 46.8 per 100,000 young people in the United Kingdom, and 24.9 per 100,000 in Australia.

Vast numbers of those teens have learning disabilities 鈥� 聽an average of 33 percent, according to one study, though some jurisdictions reported anywhere between 9 and 78 percent of their incarcerated youth population had special needs. (And that doesn鈥檛 count the students who likely do but haven鈥檛 been identified.)

Education of the incarcerated and the return to school of young people released from jail won鈥檛 substantially improve until Americans acknowledge (and address) not only that the criminal justice system incarcerates children with disabilities but that the U.S. jails all young people at such a dramatically higher rate than other countries, said Joe Tulman, a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia.

鈥淲hen you see a system that鈥檚 so overused and so inundated with problems that aren鈥檛 properly addressed by that system, you鈥檙e not going to make that system work correctly until you right-size the system,鈥� he said.

Tension inside juvenile facilities between education and detention is particularly visible for students with special needs, who may have disciplinary problems related to their disabilities.

鈥淭he education side of the house struggles to really get the secure-care side of the house to understand the obligations of both parties to work together to meet the special education needs of kids, and in particular to manage and devise behavior management plans that can work for all kids,鈥� said David Domenici, executive director of the Center for Educational Excellence in Alternative Settings, which consults with juvenile justice systems to improve their education offerings.

The problem isn鈥檛 unknown to the federal officials who have the power to effect some change in the area. Congress took note when writing the Every Student Succeeds Act, the broad K-12 overhaul signed into law at the end of last year.

It requires states to have plans that ensure 鈥渢he timely re-enrollment of each student who has been placed in the juvenile justice system鈥� in a secondary school or alternative school, and that they can participate in 鈥渃redit-bearing coursework鈥� in high schools, career and technical education programs and postsecondary programs.

Executive branch agencies have tried, too.

The Education and Justice departments in December 2014 released a joint aimed at improving education for all incarcerated students. In particular, a reminded states that barring a handful of certain circumstances, 鈥渁ll IDEA protections apply to students with disabilities in correctional facilities.鈥�

鈥業t鈥檚 just amazing how many people either have never seen it [a federal guideline document for educating incarcerated students], or just saw it and threw it in the trash鈥�

Advocates say the guidance document helped raise attention to the issue, but actual visible progress in the corrections system hasn鈥檛 followed.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just amazing how many people either have never seen it, or just saw it and threw it in the trash,鈥� said Domenici. The information is 鈥渘ot getting to the facility level.鈥�

Education Department officials have acknowledged that failing; they鈥檝e sent 鈥渟elf-assessment鈥� documents to state correctional education offices and held a webinar for state education and juvenile justice officials. The department plans to release more information online this fall and is working with the Justice Department to reach out to additional state officials.

And they鈥檙e still trying other measures. The department in August released on appropriate behavior interventions for students with disabilities, which they emphasize applies to many special education students in juvenile justice facilities.

On the enforcement side, the Office of Civil Rights in August with San Bernardino County, California, that will require officials to better identify and serve students with disabilities 鈥斅燽oth in school and in jail.

鈥淚n providing strong and effective systems to identify, evaluate and serve students with disabilities, these schools can stop the cycle of revolving placements, place students with disabilities on a path to educational success, and remove them from the school-to-prison pipeline,鈥� OCR Assistant Secretary Catherine Lhamon said in a press release announcing the settlement.

Nothing but time

The challenges in educating incarcerated students are large but not insurmountable, said Cami Anderson, who, before running the Newark schools, was the head of New York City鈥檚 District 79, which oversees alternative schools, including the East River Academy on Rikers Island and other placements for students involved in the criminal justice system.

She focused on rigorous literacy instruction, short-term units to quickly fill in areas where students were lacking knowledge, and what she called 鈥渟chool literacy,鈥� skills such as reading a transcript and understanding graduation requirements.

鈥淭hey have nothing but time, but then they would leave and they have no idea what they need to do,鈥� Anderson said.

Cami Anderson

Photo: Getty Images

She worked to get sometimes-reluctant security personnel on board by persuading corrections leaders to include time on task and exam pass rates among the metrics used to evaluate prisons.

鈥淚t was a game-changer, because then everybody was obsessed with it,鈥� she said.

Anderson and District 79 leaders also worked to combat common re-entry problems, ranging from credit transfer issues to re-enrollment delays to administrators who tried to immediately suspend students or funnel them into alternative school options.

鈥淵ou had sort of covert ways that students were told they weren鈥檛 welcome back, and then you had just blatantly overt ways they were told they weren鈥檛 welcome back 鈥斅燼ll the time,鈥� she said.

She worked to automatically re-enroll students in the city education department鈥檚 database the day after they left jail. That eliminated delays and made sure students who were tempted to drop out still had to go through the 鈥渓egal or logistical or, frankly, moral safeguards鈥� that exist to prevent students from leaving school.

For the other issues, leaders worked with advocacy groups on a 鈥渒now your rights鈥� campaign and a telephone assistance line for students, she said.

鈥淲e closed the loophole and we created accountability, but we also tried to accompany that with support for schools who legitimately felt they didn鈥檛 know how to support that young person,鈥� Anderson said.

When school really is prison

The public education guarantees in most state constitutions have been interpreted to apply to young people in prison. And federal laws, in particular the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, protect the educational rights of young offenders with special needs.

But only eight states in a provided incarcerated students the same array of options, in terms of vocational training, traditional diplomas, GEDs and postsecondary tracks, that would be available if those young people remained in their community schools.

鈥楩ridays were considered 鈥渕ovie day,鈥� which made it feel like the teachers were just there to babysit and watch us all day鈥�

A by young activists with the Juvenile Law Center detailed a host of subpar education options they encountered while incarcerated, from an insufficient number of textbooks to days of nothing but worksheets to teachers who slept through class.

Jaleel M., a student quoted in the report, said all students in the justice facility where he was housed did the same work, despite age differences. 鈥淲e had to watch videos and complete worksheets in all my classes except English. Fridays were considered 鈥榤ovie day,鈥� which made it feel like the teachers were just there to babysit and watch us all day.鈥�

When there鈥檚 conflict between the adults in charge of education and the corrections arm of a facility 鈥斅燼s there often is 鈥斅爀xperts say security demands will trump educational needs.

Students are sometimes held out of class as punishment for violating prison rules. Other times, staffing constraints or other challenges keep students from getting to class on time; Lynette Tannis, author of who has visited dozens of prison schools, said she has yet to see one where students routinely come to class on time.

Students are placed in groups that meet security needs 鈥� housing young people requiring more supervision apart from those who need less, for instance 鈥� and not in groups that would best facilitate schooling.

It鈥檚 also hard to attract and retain faculty to teach in such a difficult environment. Those who do often aren鈥檛 given extra training. Tannis said she never once encountered a teacher or principal in a juvenile justice school who received any specialized instruction for teaching in a jail or prison.

They might receive some safety briefings, she said, but most didn鈥檛 have any idea of what to expect, from the presence of guards in the classroom to locked doors to the students鈥� unique academic needs. She鈥檚 teaching the first class on the subject at the Harvard Graduate School of Education this fall.

With very few exceptions, incarcerated students should get all the same services they were receiving in school. In practice, though, that doesn鈥檛 always happen.

For instance, facility managers will change a special education student鈥檚 Individual Education Plan, which has to be updated when a student is incarcerated, based on what鈥檚 available.

鈥淚n many cases, it鈥檚 just very, sort of, cookie-cutter. All kids that come in get their IEPs amended to say the same thing 鈥斅爉iraculously,鈥� Domenici said.

Those identical plans end up having too few supports for some kids and too many for more advanced students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c-nmyhhUjc

Those uniform changes are also likely a violation of the law, said Burdick.

鈥淎 student needs what a student needs, and they need to figure out a way to provide it. There may be challenges with that, but there are ways around things,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey just need to be a little bit more creative.鈥�

In Washington, D.C., 鈥榮omebody needs to be responsible鈥�

Although the same problems of credit transfer and IEP compliance plague young offenders in the District of Columbia, students there, including older but still IDEA-eligible students like Christopher, face some unique hurdles.

D.C., in keeping with the progressive bent of its citizens, is in many ways lenient on young offenders.

Unlike in , which often try 16- and 17-year-olds as adults, young people in D.C. are usually tried in Family Court for all but the most serious offenses. Those who are convicted can have their records 鈥渟et aside鈥� for crimes (except murder) committed before age 22. (Judges can weigh past crimes when issuing sentences for subsequent convictions, but they aren鈥檛 publicly available.)

And thanks to work by Tulman and colleagues at the University of the District of Columbia鈥檚 Juvenile and Special Education Law Clinic over the past 20 years, more and more young people with special needs are being appointed special education attorneys in addition to their criminal defenders. The special education lawyers are paid via a provision in IDEA that allows judges to award attorneys鈥� fees to parents who successfully bring cases against a school district.

鈥淭he judges began to observe that bringing in appropriate educational advocacy often was helpful in getting to problems that people had incorrectly defined as delinquency,鈥� Tulman said.

Despite the lenient trial and sentencing rules and increasing attention from special education attorneys, problems remain.

First, although the city has several options for housing young people, depending on the severity of their offenses and any underlying psychiatric or drug treatment needs, youth offenders can be sent to facilities out of state, sometimes as far away as Utah or Arizona.

More than a third of the young people under the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services鈥� supervision, 35 percent, were housed in secure facilities outside D.C. in fiscal 2015, for an average stay of more than six months, . An additional 8 percent of youth were sent to out-of-state non-secure facilities, like group homes, for an average stay of closer to seven months, the same year. The Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services says about 10 percent of young people were sent outside D.C. this fiscal year.

Christopher, for instance, thinks he spent time in every group home in the city, along with several secure facilities in D.C. and neighboring states.

And although D.C. law requires education officials to evaluate and approve any private school placements for students with special education needs, it specifically .

鈥淏ecause there鈥檚 no certificate of approval [required when the court places students], it basically means they鈥檙e their own ship floating around,鈥� Blumenson said.

The courses offered at non-approved programs may or may not be the same as those required in D.C. 鈥� several of Blumenson鈥檚 clients housed at facilities in Maryland, for example, took a math course required by Maryland that doesn鈥檛 fit D.C. standards, she said. Or facilities may offer only electives, but no required classes, leaving students behind in core classes when they return to school.

Placement decisions are driven by a young offender鈥檚 鈥渞ehabilitative needs,鈥� but the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services considers all of the youth鈥檚 needs, including educational. 鈥淐ertainly the agency is mindful of the unique needs of those youth with special education needs as defined in their IEPs,鈥� Brenda Padavil, an agency spokeswoman, said via email.

D.C.鈥檚 Office of the State Superintendent of Education is responsible for the type of oversight that would occur in a state education department, including special education. Fred Lewis, an agency spokesman, said via email that the agency encourages juvenile corrections authorities to place young people in facilities that have been evaluated and received a certificate of approval.

Padavil said there is a relatively small number of approved facilities, and the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services is 鈥渕ost concerned that it has a wide range of facilities to ensure that its youths鈥� comprehensive needs are met,鈥� including residential or psychiatric treatments, so agency officials haven鈥檛 considered limiting placements only to approved locations.

There鈥檚 a mishmash of agencies responsible for educating young people while they鈥檙e incarcerated 鈥斅爐he Office of the State Superintendent of Education, the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, and D.C. Public Schools. Officials in a tried to delineate which agency is responsible for young people depending on where they鈥檙e placed and to detail how to ease transition back into school.

The agreement has been updated since its inception in November 2012, when Blumenson, then working for the public defender鈥檚 office, filed a complaint to force the agencies to spell out which one is responsible for which aspect of an incarcerated student鈥檚 education.

The new standards, though, are still deficient, she said. At their heart, the agreement puts the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, a corrections agency, in charge of ensuring students get an appropriate education 鈥� except it isn鈥檛 responsible for where it places students. That鈥檚 how students like Christopher end up in unapproved schools that often don鈥檛 serve them well, and leave them without a way to appeal if they feel they鈥檙e placed somewhere that isn鈥檛 meeting their needs.

D.C. Public Schools is in theory responsible for ensuring appropriate educations for students placed out of state, but the organization doesn鈥檛 have any power over where the students are sent, and there are often record-keeping and other bureaucratic problems, Blumenson said.

鈥淭hen the clincher is [the memorandum] is not enforced, which is why we keep filing complaints to amend it,鈥� she said.

Enforcement has been inadequate, and because it鈥檚 an inter-agency agreement as opposed to a law, agencies can bend the rules, she said: 鈥淪omebody needs to be responsible.鈥�

(Representatives for the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education disputed the idea that the memorandum is insufficiently clear in delineating responsibility.)

D.C. residents convicted in adult court, meanwhile, are flat-out denied special education rights, even if they鈥檙e still under 18 or should remain eligible for services since they haven鈥檛 graduated high school and are under age 22.

Adult offenders in D.C. have been housed by the federal Bureau of Prisons since the mid-1990s, a cost-saving measure passed by Congress, which has a great deal of sway over Washington鈥檚 local affairs. The Education Department has since at least 2003 said IDEA, usually applied through states, doesn鈥檛 apply to the Bureau of Prisons.

Activists argue that a plain reading of the law shouldn鈥檛 exempt federal offenders 鈥� and besides, they say, young people housed there from D.C. were convicted of the equivalent of state crimes, not federal, so their rights should be maintained as they would be in a state prison system. (School Justice Project has filed a complaint against several federal agencies to try to enforce special education rights for D.C. residents in the Bureau of Prisons.)

鈥淎lthough IDEA does not apply to the Bureau of Prisons, the Bureau addresses the needs of youthful offenders by extending our educational services to all inmates, regardless of age,鈥� spokesman Justin Long said in an email.

Regarding its D.C. offenders, the agency works with city officials to obtain special education plans and relevant school records for students ages 18 to 24 who may have disabilities, Long said.

Regardless of where they were incarcerated, or at what age, problems pile up when young people return to D.C. and try to re-enroll in school.

The primary issue is that DCPS doesn鈥檛 accept partial credits. Students are moved frequently among facilities, so they often don鈥檛 get credit for the work they鈥檝e done while they鈥檙e incarcerated. Young people who are sentenced to less than a school year, or who are moved by the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services before a full year鈥檚 mark, are essentially working for no credit.

That leaves students in their late teens or early 20s with few credits, despite the work they鈥檝e done, potentially over years, in and out of custody.

Non-traditional credit recovery options in D.C. for older students like Christopher are few, owing to insufficient appropriate staff and services for students with more intensive special education needs. Those students are sometimes forced to either sign away their rights to extra services they should be getting, in order to be in class with peers their own age, or wind up back in neighborhood schools with much younger students.

Michelle Lerner, a spokeswoman with D.C. Public Schools, said officials work with previously incarcerated students and their families to find the best option for students and to 鈥渁ccept credits that are transferrable and get them on track for graduation.鈥�

鈥淲e work to ensure that we are supporting our overage, under-credited students, including those with an IEP,鈥� she said via email. 鈥淲e are revamping our alternative schools program to better serve students so no young person falls through the cracks and every one of our students is prepared for postsecondary education.鈥�

Officials with the Office of the State Superintendent of Education said one of the primary goals of the agreement was to provide a smooth transition back to D.C. schools.

The needs of all overage, under-credited and disconnected youth are a priority for the agency, Lewis said, adding that several city agencies worked to establish a Re-engagement Center to serve as a 鈥渟ingle door鈥� for dropouts ages 16 to 24 to pursue completion of their diploma or GED.

鈥榊ou鈥檙e never too old to learn. You鈥檙e never too old to go to college. There鈥檚 always hope鈥�

And, in light of the new requirement under ESSA that states provide timely re-enrollment, the agency is 鈥渃urrently assessing its procedures and considering new ones that together will satisfy this requirement,鈥� Lewis said.

While city schools work on revamping their offerings, Christopher remains out of school, just a few credits shy of earning his degree.

Christopher is undeterred in his pursuit of an education: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e never too old to learn. You鈥檙e never too old to go to college. There鈥檚 always hope.鈥�

Now in his mid-20s, Christopher, who wants to be a civil rights lawyer, figures he should at least be finishing college, if not sitting for the bar after law school graduation, by now.

鈥淧eople know [these problems are happening], but they don鈥檛 care. We need leaders to step up,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 know I鈥檓 [going to be] one of them.鈥�

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