Policymakers across the political spectrum agree: all young people should have access to a high-quality public education. Within the past two decades, particular emphasis has been placed on ensuring that students receive instruction that prepares them for college and careers, and that schools are held accountable for realizing these goals.
There is perhaps no subset of young people whose need for a quality education is more acute—and whose situation makes them especially challenging to serve—than incarcerated youth. Of the more than 60,000 youth who are incarcerated on any given day in the United States, nearly 36,000 are committed to state custody, two-thirds of whom are youth of color. The majority of these youth are over-age and under-credited, several grade levels behind their peers, more likely to have a disability than their peers, and have been suspended multiple times and/or expelled from their local schools.
LOCKED OUT: Improving Educational and Vocational Outcomes for Incarcerated Youth
