Juvenile Correctional Education has been evolving in the United States for over 360 years. From inclusion in an indentured servant/foster care type of placement legislated in the Massachusetts Colony in 1642, it has become manifest today as an entitlement regardless of juvenile justice disposition. The education for juveniles was wrapped in the cocoon of the dominant justice system throughout the history of the United States. Its emergence was initially indistinguishable because education was incidental to other incarceration management and treatment modalities. As differentiated placement was adopted, education for religious purposes from the ministerial community edged into prison regimens. Juvenile offenders benefited because they were commingled in the common jails and workhouses of the Colonial Era. A clear distinction in providing education to juveniles appeared during the Refuge House and Reform Era of the Nineteenth Century. The judiciary and social reformers touted education as a basis for new types of institutions such as reformatories and industrial schools. This era established education within juvenile justice with a focus on basic and practical skills. It was generally accepted by correctional authorities and social reformers that this level of education was the most appropriate for these youth. A more comprehensive provision of education gradually emerged during the Professional and Political Patronage Era of the Twentieth Century. Through the efforts of special interests in the greater society after World War II, the actions within the professional and political domains enriched the requirements of free and appropriate education for all youth. Juvenile offenders have benefited through inclusion as an identified group within the mandates of education for all youth. The impact of these influences is having a positive effect on the education programs in residential placement institutions across the United States.