In an effort to provide special education in-service training to correctional teachers, Smart Needs Assessment Program (SNAP), a computer expert system supported-consultant model designed to analyze learning and behavior problems is described. (Author)

Presents descriptive data for youth referred for evaluation as either status offender or delinquent; presents academic achievement and intellectual functioning data of this group; describes distribution of nonhandicapped and mildly handicapped students and educational services provided prior to evaluation. (Author)

Five articles describe effective ideas and techniques suggested by correctional educators. In "Warming Up: Mental Exercises for Successful Learning" (Louise Henick), warm-up exercises to help students get ready to learn are discussed, such as daily journals, word of the day, and quote of the day. "Keeping Students Posted" (Richard Johnson) shows…

Describes the system of general education in juvenile corrective labor colonies in Russia and the 500 vocational training schools in Russian prisons. (SK)

Learning style preferences and brain hemispheric dominance were determined for 82 low achieving female inmates. They were counseled to use their modality strengths and take responsibility for learning. Higher test scores, reduced absenteeism, and greater achievement motivation resulted. (SK)

After training in the Strategies Intervention Model, 27 correctional educators found that word decoding was successful with youth offenders, goal setting less effective. Paraphrasing and test taking were inconclusive. Academic teachers had greater success than vocational teachers, who suggested that job analysis would help determine the most…

Effective correctional education strategies should be used as models for comprehensive prison reform: prisons should become schools. Cognitive-democratic educational theory has been successfully applied in correctional education, demonstrating belief in people's intrinsic worth and ability to change. (SK)

Analysis of records of 168 female offenders in New Hampshire prisons shows (1) recidivism is not significant; (2) many have serious academic and employment skill deficiencies; and (3) short sentences necessitate fast-paced and intensive academic and vocational programs. (SK)

Proposes a problem-solving model of incorporating critical thinking into a basic literacy program. The author, an inmate, provides concrete steps of creating the curriculum by offering a description of two units that she developed. Relates the critical-thinking curriculum to developments in understanding of the reading process. (JOW)

Describes a program, "Writing for Our Lives," designed to address such goals as shifting offenders' self-identity from procriminal to prosocial, teaching creative problem-solving and consequential thinking skills, enhancing social perspective skills, and providing links to prosocial community activities. (JOW)

Discusses the development by the Correctional Education Association of a model evaluation instrument to ensure that any national scale evaluation results are credible to withstand scholarly scrutiny. An appendix summarizes 19 recidivism studies. (JOW)

Suggests the need to understand how indirect social conditions shaped prison reformers' ideals and struggles. Examines the impact of prisoners' agency on the history of a key movement in prison education: the development of the Mutual Welfare Leagues. (JOW)

A school lab program established in a youth correctional facility was conceptualized using a general systems model that includes input, process, output, environment, and feedback. (JOW)