Incarcerated Adults With Low Skills: Findings From the 2014 Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies Prison Study

• In Event: 51.047 - Adult Education Populations: What Do We Know?

Abstract

Incarcerated men and women in state and federal prisons face multiple educational and economic challenges. Despite widespread availability of correctional education programs in prisons, only a small proportion of prisoners completes them. Employing quantitative data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) Prison Study (2014), this paper investigates the demographic and background characteristics and assessed skill levels of incarcerated adults with less than high school education (LHS) attainment. It considers how characteristics and assessed skill levels differ from the general population of LHS Non-learners and by gender and discusses the role of current and future learning in the lives of incarcerated adults with low skills. Implications for policy makers, re-entry services, and corrections educators are discussed.

Author

• Margaret B. Patterson, Research Allies for Lifelong Learning