Although correctional education has existed in various forms for over two centuries, not enough is known about the effectiveness and impact of these programs in either prison or jail settings. These questions will continue to be raised until valid and reliable data are available to address these issues. While national surveys provide much needed information on the participation of inmates in correctional education as well as the administration and funding of these programs, they do not provide local programs with the types of information they need to improve program operations and measure program impacts. National data collection efforts do not substitute for data collection at the program level. Given competition for limited resources at all levels of funding coupled with public sentiment that swings between the punishment of offenders and their rehabilitation, correctional education data at the program level have become more important than ever.
Data describing correctional education outcomes are more important than ever.
In the past, correctional education personnel could justify program expenditures with selected stories of inmates who turned their lives around after participating in correctional education programs. Today, program funders are more likely to question and request data on the overall effectiveness of correctional education programs. Decisions concerning the continued or increased funding of correctional education programs will be made on the basis of aggregated data that reflect the performance and behavior of inmates on a wide array of criteria. Consequently, correctional education programs must be proactive in anticipating the informational needs of program funders. If correctional education programs are not proactive, they risk appearing nonresponsive.