The imperative of high-quality education in juvenile corrections: An introduction to the special section.

The publication of "Guiding Principles for Providing High-Quality Education in Juvenile Justice Secure Care Setting" in 2014 by the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice was a seminal event for those concerned about education opportunities for all young people. The articles in this special section examine the research literature since the publication of the guiding principles. In Article 1, Gagnon, Ross Benedick, and Mason-William (2021) focus on Principle I and research related to, "The provision of a safe, healthy facility-wide climate that... encourages the necessary behavioral and social support services." In the second article of this Special Section, Gagnon, Ruiz, et al. (2022) also address Principle I in their literature review of behavioral interventions for incarcerated youth. Hunter et al. (2022) focus their literature review on curriculum, instruction, and promoting college and career readiness for incarcerated youth. In the final article, Gagnon, Ross Benedick, and Mason-William (2021) detail the overarching search procedures from which all of the literature reviews emanated. They also summarize data on quality indicators for studies across all of the principles and articles in the Special Section and provide implications for research, policy, and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Mental health interventions for youth who are incarcerated: A systematic review of literature.

To promote the safety and well-being of youth who are incarcerated, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education identified the importance of evidence-based mental health interventions. The purpose of this systematic review is to summarize and synthesize intervention research focusing on the mental health of youth who are incarcerated since the publication of Guiding Principles for Providing High-Quality Education in Juvenile Justice Secure Care Settings. ProQuest and Ebsco databases were searched to identify relevant published studies from 2015 to 2020. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. Studies mainly focused on cognitive-behavior interventions and included the following outcome domains: symptoms, functioning, personal growth, and multiple domains. To evaluate study quality, modified versions of Gersten et al.'s (2005) group design and Mulcahy et al.'s (2016) single-case design quality indicators were used. Of concern are the small number of studies, methodological limitations within studies, and lack of a common intervention and outcomes of focus that limit individual study conclusions and evaluation across studies. In particular, studies rarely included necessary information, such as participant mental health characteristics, interventionist training or qualifications, intervention details, and/or measures/reports of treatment integrity. For the Guiding Principles to be realized, one key issue is for government funding to target high-quality mental health interventions in juvenile correctional facilities within identified target areas. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Curriculum, instruction, and promoting college and career readiness for incarcerated youth: A literature review.

Access to high-quality curriculum and instruction is essential for all youth incarcerated in juvenile corrections facilities. In a landmark 2014 collaboration between the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice Guiding Principles for Providing High-Quality Education in Juvenile Justice Secure Care Settings were established. Principle independent variable (IV) identified the importance of access to rigorous and relevant curricula and evidence-based instruction that promotes college- and career-readiness. To explore research progress since publication of the Guiding Principles, a systematic review of research was conducted. The review identified eight peer-reviewed studies relevant to curriculum and instruction published since 2014. Employing a variety of research designs, the studies focused on literacy (n = 5) and instruction (n = 3). Quality indicators, based on modified forms of Mulcahy et al. (2016) single case design, Gersten et al. (2005) group design, and Miles et al. (2019) qualitative standards, were used to evaluate the studies. Results revealed a lack of replicable information pertinent to participants and intervention, as well as a lack of fidelity. Of grave concern is that only four of the participants included across all studies were female. Research that adheres to quality indicators, is described with replicable precision, and is representative of females is needed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Interventions addressing incarcerated youth behavior: A review of literature.

Many youth who are incarcerated have serious behavioral problems that negatively affect their ability to benefit from educational services. In the Guiding Principles for Providing High-Quality Education in Juvenile Justice Secure Care Settings published at the end of 2014, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education address this issue in Principle 1, which asserts the importance of ensuring the safety and well-being of youth who are incarcerated. To address the research progress since publication of the Guiding Principles, ProQuest and Ebsco were systematically searched and a hand search was conducted. Ten intervention studies were identified that addressed youth behavior. The studies primarily employed a single subject research design and focused on increasing youth compliance and/or decreasing disruptive behaviors. Reviewed studies provide support for providing clear behavioral expectations and reminders, praise, and reinforcement, as well as cognitive-behavioral interventions. However, methodological limitations, including the lack of treatment integrity in nine of the studies, limit conclusions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Providing high-quality education in juvenile corrections: Next steps.

In 2014, the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice (U.S. DOE/DOJ) jointly released the Guiding Principles for Providing High-Quality Education in Juvenile Justice Secure Care Settings to provide recommendations within five principles that affect education, including safety (i.e., behavioral and mental health interventions), funding, staffing, curriculum and instruction, and reentry. However, no systematic review has evaluated the research within and across the Guiding Principles since their publication. The purpose of the current article is to (a) describe the literature review process that resulted in 36 studies across all of the principles, (b) briefly summarize information from the separate literature reviews focusing on behavior, mental health, and curriculum and instruction for which no separate literature reviews have been conducted, (c) provide detail concerning studies focusing on staffing and reentry, and (d) identify patterns across studies in all of the reviews, particularly related to study quality. In addition, we provide implications for research, policy, and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Feasibility of School-Based ADHD Interventions: A Mixed-Methods Study of Perceptions of Adolescents and Adults.

OBJECTIVE: Little is known about perceptions surrounding academic interventions for ADHD that determine intervention feasibility. METHOD: As part of a longitudinal mixed-methods research project, representative school district samples of 148 adolescents (54.8%), 161 parents (59.4%), 122 teachers (50.0%), 46 health care providers (53.5%), and 92 school health professionals (65.7%) completed a cross-sectional survey. They also answered open-ended questions addressing undesirable intervention effects, which were analyzed using grounded theory methods. RESULTS: Adolescents expressed significantly lower receptivity toward academic interventions than adult respondents. Stigma emerged as a significant threat to ADHD intervention feasibility, as did perceptions that individualized interventions foster inequality. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that adolescents' viewpoints must be included in intervention development to enhance feasibility and avoid interventions acceptable to adults, but resisted by adolescents.