Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
David Shellman
Committee Member
Martha Ward
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
adjudicated students, adjudicated youth, adult detention center, agencies, alternative public high school, Baltimore City Detention Center, bureaucracy, class action suit, collaborative efforts, commitment, communication, correctional education, correctional institutions, correctional staff, Department of Justice, detained individuals, disabled students, education program, educational staff, educators, effective schools standards, evening school program, free appropriate public education, interagency collaboration, leadership, learning community, legal issues, public school, security staff, social issues, special education, students
Abstract
This applied dissertation describes an alternative public high school for adjudicated youth. This report discusses the legal and social issues that justify the need for the implementation of an education program for 18- to 21-year-olds detained in the Baltimore City Detention Center. Analysis of internal and external data sources indicated the need for this case study.
The focus of this study was creating a learning community where educational staff and security staff work together to provide an appropriate education for adjudicated students. The relationship between educators and correctional staff can be an uneasy one when the security and education staffs are independent of each other and responsible to different agencies with different mandates. This study describes the challenges of a public school inside of an adult detention center in the development of an evening school program that would meet effective schools standards. There are strategic and deliberate actions that can be taken to facilitate success in building a learning community through interagency collaborative efforts. The data from the study indicate that commitment, communication, and strong, knowledgeable leadership were needed to be successful in the development of the evening school program for 18- to 21-year-old disabled students at the Baltimore City Detention Center.
This study helped reduce the possibility of a class action suit by the Department of Justice on the behalf of detained individuals whose rights had been denied based on their not having access to a free appropriate public education. It also began the creation of a true learning community within the political bureaucracy of three distinct agencies working toward the common goal of educating students.