A Collaborative Model for Delivering Educational Services

• In Event: Education Inside the Juvenile Justice System: Leveraging Data, Research, and Evidence to Drive Improvement in a System Under Tension

Abstract

Beginning in 2003, the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (DYS) undertook an unprecedented reform of its education programs. This initiative has aimed to create access to high quality education and employment opportunities for youth in the care and custody of DYS. For several years, in conjunction with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, DYS provided an annual summary of activities related to the Education Initiative to the Massachusetts State Legislature; in recent years it has published a public, annual report in collaboration with its partner agencies in education and workforce development: respectively, the Collaborative for Educational Services (CES), a non-profit educational service agency, and Commonwealth Corporation, a quasi-public agency responsible for administering and delivering a wide range of publicly- and privately-funded programs. Together, this partnership provides multifaceted support and strategic direction for innovative teaching and learning in DYS residential programs and effective educational and workforce development services for DYS clients residing in the community. The approach is aligned with DYS Strategic Plans of the last decade, with the explicit goals of sustaining the gains youth make while in the care and custody of DYS and guiding youth into a variety of education and employment pathways as they return to their communities.
DYS and CES’s key initiatives in the last decade have included:
● Engaging teaching and learning, supported by high quality professional development
● Multiple pathways to educational attainment and student outcomes
● Strong classroom-based supports for youth with disabilities and English Learners
● Positive Youth Development (PYD) and Culturally Responsive Practices (CRP) for educators and staff
● College and career readiness
● Arts integration
● Family engagement

Now with more than 15 years of experience running juvenile justice educational programming across Massachusetts, CES prioritizes youth in its work: to “think exit upon entry”; to hire, train, and retain caring educators; to design and purchase curriculum and curricular supports; to structure school days and years to maximize time on learning and regular progress toward youth goals, all guided by contemporary research and best practices.

Since 2000 DYS has consistently invited external researchers to support its efforts to provide high quality educational programming for its youth, both in response to urgent questions (e.g., in 2001, identifying the cause of high teacher turnover) and to provide regular monitoring and quality assurance. Its newest multi-year contract with CES exists alongside a new partnership with Education Development Center (EDC) as an external evaluator providing continuous quality improvement perspectives on crucial post-pandemic initiatives, rather than more checklist-guided program monitoring.

Authors

• Woody Clift, Collaborative for Educational Services

• Kobie Stewart, Massachusetts Department of Youth Services