Federal Guidance Aims To Improve the Quality of Education in Juvenile Justice Facilities

A joint pol­i­cy guid­ance pack­age announced by Attor­ney Gen­er­al Eric Hold­er and Sec­re­tary of Edu­ca­tion Arne Dun­can aims to sub­stan­tial­ly improve the qual­i­ty of edu­ca­tion pro­vid­ed in juve­nile jus­tice facil­i­ties to bet­ter equip youth to return to their com­mu­ni­ties and suc­ceed in life. 

In addi­tion to being removed from their fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties, youth in the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem all too often receive sub-stan­dard edu­ca­tion. In their joint announce­ment, Attor­ney Gen­er­al Hold­er and Sec­re­tary Dun­can say that ​“reduc­ing youth con­tact with the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem is the most cru­cial step to pro­mot­ing pos­i­tive out­comes for youth.” Pro­vid­ing high-qual­i­ty cor­rec­tion­al edu­ca­tion for youth in the sys­tem is ​“one of the most pow­er­ful – and cost-effec­tive – levers we have to ensure that youth are suc­cess­ful once released,” they said. 

The guid­ance pack­age includes a Guid­ing Prin­ci­ples doc­u­ment which high­lights five pil­lars essen­tial for high qual­i­ty schools in secure juve­nile facil­i­ties; three issue-spe­cif­ic ​‘Dear Col­league’ let­ters; and fact sheets aimed at help­ing stake­hold­ers make effec­tive use of the mate­ri­als pro­vid­ed. An expert at the Cen­ter for Edu­ca­tion­al Excel­lence in Alter­na­tive Set­tings (CEEAS), a Foun­da­tion part­ner, called the new guid­ance the most com­pre­hen­sive and thought­ful ever put out by the Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion on cor­rec­tion­al edu­ca­tion for youth and a ter­rif­ic step by the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment. While incar­cer­a­tion con­tin­ues to be no place for kids, these new pol­i­cy guide­lines send a clear sig­nal: stu­dents held in juve­nile jus­tice facil­i­ties deserve a high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion that will pre­pare them for suc­cess upon release.