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).

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).