Education and Job Training

Academic and Special Education

(904) 488-2288
SUNCOM 278-2288

Academic and Special Education is responsible for the Mandatory Literacy Program (MLP), Adult Basic Education (ABE), the General Education Development (GED) program, and Library Services. Duties also include providing special education services to all inmates eligible under federal guidelines, providing Title I services to inmates under the age of 21 for supplemental instruction, Even Start, and locating and training literacy tutors to volunteer their services.

Accomplishments in 1995-96:

• Increased the reading, math and language skills of participating inmates during the fiscal year by an average of three points, which translates to six months gain in grade equivalent scores. Inmates were participants in vocational or academic programs. The inmates were given pretests and posttests during the 95-96 fiscal year in at least one of the three subject areas and at least 2,500 inmates were pretested and posttested in each area. The adjacent chart shows the gains made during the fiscal year by grade level.
• Implemented an Adult Basic Education grant called "Scared Write" that resulted in improved GED essay writing skills for inmates, who also produced a book entitled "The Chosen" which was distributed to at-risk youth programs.
• Initiated an Even Start Grant at four female facilities: Florida CI, Broward CI, Atlantic and Miami Community Correctional Centers. Even Start is a program designed to work with at-risk children under the age of seven and their parents to improve literacy skills and decrease the cycle of illiteracy.
• Increased Title I funding from $504,698 in FY 94-95 to $1,234,137 in FY 95-96, which led to an increase in Title I services from six to 12 institutions; and provided three additional teacher and 18 teacher aide positions, with necessary educational computers and software for each position; and Title I services were made available to 78% of eligible students.
• Increased literacy programs and services to 27 institutions.
• Served 2,280 Special Education inmates in FY 95-96.
• Earned approval from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education for the special education procedures of identification and placement of special education inmates.
• More than quadrupled (from $200,000 to $890,000) the amount of money available to the department for transitional services upon release for special education inmates and inmates with mental health problems. This occurred by entering into a grant agreement with the Department of Labor and Employment Security's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.
• In cooperation with the department's Inmate Transition and Community Work Release divisions, contracted with the Division of Community Colleges to develop a model Transition Skills Curriculum to be used for pre-release training. Pilot programs for this curriculum were initiated at three prisons and one community correctional center to determine the validity and track the success of the program.
• Awarded a total of 2,232 General Education Development (GED) certificates for the fiscal year.

NOTES:

* ENROLLMENTS include inmates enrolled as of 7/01/95 and new enrollments through 6/30/96.

** COMPLETIONS and OTHER EXITS are for the time period 7/01/95 through 6/30/96.

*** An unduplicated count of # of inmates is given since inmates who participated in both academic and vocational courses get counted for participation in each program.