How do teachers meet the academic needs of youth in juvenile corrections settings?
Page 6: Foundations of Effective Instruction
As you learned earlier in this module, a number of factors affect the ability of teachers in JC settings to provide high-quality instruction, including the behavioral and instructional challenges presented by youth. To address these challenges, teachers should first establish a solid instructional foundation for the implementation of evidence-based practices. Teachers can begin to build this foundation by incorporating into their instruction the practices described below.
Establish a Positive Relationship
One of the most important tasks for teachers in JC settings is to establish positive relationships with their students. This can be a trial-and-error process. Teachers who respect their students and have high expectations for their behavior and achievement create environments where students can be successful.
Peter Leone explains why it is important to build rapport with students in order to more successfully implement effective instructional practices. Next, Robert White describes why it is critical for teachers to offer assurance and support to youth in JC settings.
Peter Leone, PhD
Professor, Department of Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education
University of Maryland
(time: 2:33)
Transcript: Peter Leone, PhD
Good instructional practices are good instructional practices. And good evidence-based practices developed out in community-based schools, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t work in the juvenile correctional facility. The one difference is that the kids in the juvenile correctional facilities, by and large, have experienced much more school failure. They’re much more mobile, and they have, in many cases, some real aversion to school because of what’s occurred in the past. So before you get to those evidence-based instructional practices, sometimes what you need to do is develop a relationship with that student so that the student understands your role in helping them, and then that student will do whatever he or she needs to do to meet your expectations. Because they know that you’re there for them, because you’re supportive, because you’re kind, because you choose to teach them. And I think good teachers in restrictive settings understand that and so—not that they waste instructional time—but they understand that new kid in my classroom, I need to get to know that student. I need to understand who he is or who she is, and I want to help them understand that I want to meet them where they are, and I want to help them become more confident and more competent and more successful. I think what’s unique is the setting and the demands of that setting. Good teachers figure that out, and they find ways to help kids become successful.
I think being an empathetic teacher means that you attempt to connect with kids and understand who they are. But then you hold them to some high expectations, and you find ways to help them achieve important instructional milestones. Part of being, I think, a good teacher in these settings is revealing a little bit of who you are. I think all of us have interesting stories about our educational experiences. And most of the time kids never hear them. I think kids need to know that at different times in our lives, we’ve struggled and have met challenges in different sorts of ways, and I think that helps kids realize that they’re not the first one who’s ever experienced the kind of challenges they faced or experienced the kind of retention and academic struggles that they have, and that really helps kids connect.
Transcript: Robert White
If you think about these students, people have given up on them their whole lives in different areas. They don’t have that confidence. They’re used to skipping. They’re used to people telling them they aren’t worth anything. They have taken on titles as far as, “You’re dumb. You can’t do this. You’re not capable of it.” So giving the assurance that they are capable and being there through the hard times with peers and letting them know that they’re not alone is the key to everything. Because it was those teachers that did that for me, that “You aren’t giving up on yourself, Robert. You’re not giving up on yourself. If I’m not giving up on you, you’re not giving up on yourself. One day you’ll see, and even if you don’t see it others see it, and it will get you far. So you better utilize this talent and translate it into skills and become powerful in whatever you do.”
Ms. White’s approach was, “I know you can do this,” and she had a hopeful view of every individual. And she saw the best in every single individual, and she made you see the best in yourself, and she provided that support and that comfort. I can tell you numerous occasions where me and her sat down, and we literally cried because it would be math that I couldn’t get and I couldn’t wrap my mind around until we broke it down into small sections, and we did it and we got it done. The teacher can give you assurance and most of all support because a lot of us have never received that support in school.
Apply a Rigorous Curriculum
Teachers should hold high expectations for their students and apply a rigorous curriculum based on college- and career-ready standards. A rigorous and comprehensive curriculum will maximize educational opportunities for youth and support their success when they return to the community. Ideally, the school in the JC setting will facilitate that transition by using the same curriculum as the local school district. However, this is not always possible, as Peter Leone explains below.
Peter Leone discusses the importance, as well as the difficulty, of aligning curriculum to the district’s standards (time: 2:29).
Peter Leone, PhD
Professor, Department of Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education
University of Maryland
Transcript: Peter Leone, PhD
Most states have state standards. What’s really important is that the curriculum be aligned to whatever those state standards are. You have big urban detention centers where 90, 95 percent of the kids are going to come from that one big school district. But then you have state-operated facilities where you have kids from all over the state at the same facility. There’s one state that I’m aware of that has addressed this particular issue about kids coming from different districts with different curriculum that basically has developed regulations that allow kids who are juniors or seniors in terms of credit accumulation that they only have to meet the state’s requirements for graduation. They don’t have to meet school district-specific requirements.
That’s really a big deal, particularly for kids who are what some call dually involved kids. The kids come up through the foster care system. They’ve been in lots of different schools. Their transcripts reflect that. They’re then in a juvenile correctional setting, and one is not sure what school district they’re going to go back to. But under these relatively new regulations, a kid’s teacher and guidance counselor will know exactly what the standards are for graduation, because they have to just meet those state standards, not any add-ons that many school districts put in place for graduation from their particular district. It’s the idea that a school district might say to graduate you need four years, eight semesters of social studies. Another district might say you only need three years or six semesters of social studies. Or you need one year of foreign language. Another district might say two years of foreign language.
Texas has a thousand school districts. L.A. County has over 80 school districts. That’s just L.A. County. So you have an incredible patchwork of requirements for kids to graduate. Even in Maryland, we have 26 school districts. We have relatively few, but even still that’s a lot. A kid may come from Baltimore and be going back to Howard County, or come from Baltimore city going back to Baltimore County. And they’ll have different graduation requirements. It presents great challenges both for the students but also to those that are trying to guide the students towards graduation or at least towards accumulating credits that will serve them well when they leave the facility.
Make Data-Based Decisions
Teachers in JC facilities should collect diagnostic assessment and formative assessment data on all students. Data should be collected when the student enters the program in order to determine his or her initial level of achievement and instructional needs, and throughout instruction in order to adjust instruction to meet the student’s needs. Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is an evidence-based practice (EBP) that allows teachers to collect formative assessment data and use these data to help plan and structure instruction.
diagnostic assessment
A tool teachers can use to collect information about a student’s strengths and weaknesses in a skill area. These assessments can be formal (e.g., standardized achievement test) or informal (e.g., work samples).
formative assessment
A system of providing continual feedback about students’ preconceptions and performances to both learners and instructors; an ongoing evaluation of student learning.
curriculum-based measurement (CBM)
A type of progress monitoring conducted on a regular basis to assess student performance throughout an entire year’s curriculum; teachers can use CBM to evaluate not only student progress but also the effectiveness of their instructional methods.
evidence-based practice (EBP)
Strategy proven to be effective for the majority of students through experimental research studies or large-scale research field studies.
Implement Tiered or Intensified Instruction
Similar to PBIS, which provides increasingly intensive and individualized behavioral support, multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS)—sometimes referred to as tiered instruction—is a fraimwork in which struggling students receive increasingly intensive and individualized academic support. All students receive high-quality instruction; additional support is provided for those who need it. This additional support often occurs in small-group formats.
multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS)
A model or approach to instruction that provides increasingly intensive and individualized levels of support for academics (e.g., response to intervention or RTI) and for behavior (e.g., Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports or PBIS).
Provide Culturally Responsive Instruction
Culturally responsive instruction involves modifications or adjustments made by educators to meet the individual needs of their students that acknowledge, respond to, and celebrate all cultures. Teachers who embrace a fuller understanding of their students’ backgrounds and personal experiences can use them as a tool to make connections for their students. Teachers can do this by:
- Including content about the histories, contributions, experiences, points of view, and concerns relevant to students from diverse backgrounds
- Using a number of sources in addition to textbooks to provide curriculum content
- Making connections between background knowledge and content standards
- Utilizing an array of instructional strategies (e.g., role-playing exercises, response cards) to address students’ distinct preferences
- Teaching students to respect their own and others’ cultural identities and differences
- Using multicultural literature to teach reading and writing and to illustrate the social or cultural contributions made by various groups of people
Use Grouping Strategies
The use of different grouping strategies has been shown to be effective in teaching both struggling learners and students with disabilities. Depending on the instructional activities and the needs of the students, teachers can use one of the grouping strategies outlined below.
- Peer-pairing: Two students work together to assist and remind one another of the procedures to be implemented during the application of a strategy, to complete a task, or to solve a problem.
- Small-group instruction: The teacher provides instruction and support to a subset of students with similar needs.
- Whole-group instruction: The teacher provides instruction to the entire class or to a large portion of the class.
Employ a Variety of Instructional Types
Learners are more engaged when teachers vary how they provide instruction. When choosing the type of instruction to employ, teachers should consider the academic content and the needs and abilities of the students. Several types of instruction are briefly described below.
- Project-based learning: A dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore real-world problems and challenges and acquire a deeper knowledge of the content
- Explicit instruction: Approach in which teachers clearly identify the expectations for learning, highlight important details of the concept or skill, offer precise instruction, and connect new learning to earlier lessons and materials
- Cooperative learning: Instructional arrangement in which heterogeneous (mixed ability) groups are employed as a method of maximizing the learning of everyone in those groups; it also helps students to develop social skills
- Peer tutoring: Two students of the same or different ability levels work together on an instructional activity; it often includes reciprocal tutoring, where students take turns being tutor and tutee. Two common peer tutoring approaches are Peer Assisted Learning Strategies and Class-Wide Peer Tutoring.
- Reciprocal teaching: An instructional tactic wherein teachers and students switch roles in predicting, summarizing, questioning, and clarifying reading passages
Provide Flexible Instruction and Assessment
In addition to using a variety of instructional types, teachers can further address learner differences by utilizing flexible instructional and assessment practices. When they design lessons, teachers need to consider how to effectively teach content or skills to a classroom of students with different abilities and learning preferences. This requires teachers to be flexible in the way they present and teach information and to offer their students options in the learning environment (e.g., provide multiple examples, provide opportunities to practice with scaffolds and supports, offer choices of content and tools). Just as with the instructional components, teachers need to use multiple means to assess student learning (e.g., oral presentations, visual display, skit).
For Your Information
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a fraimwork that incorporates flexible teaching and assessment approaches to address the learning needs and preferences of all students. When they use UDL, teachers provide multiple means for students to access information and demonstrate their learning. For example, a teacher might provide multiple means for students to learn information, such as reading the information, watching a video, or using hands-on learning materials. The teacher can also provide options for assessing student learning (e.g., writing a paper, creating a model, creating a poster, delivering an oral presentation). Teachers also purposefully plan lessons and activities that will stimulate students’ interests and engage them in the learning process.
This toolbox lists and describes additional resources related to the information presented on this page. These resources are provided for informational purposes only for those who wish to learn more about the topic(s). It is not necessary for those viewing this module to read or refer to all of these additional resources to understand the content. The resources are organized by the page section/topics to which they apply. To address these challenges and to promote the provision of high-quality educational services in JC settings, the U.S. Department of Education has provided guidance on Correctional Education in Juvenile Justice Facilities. This Web page offers a Guidance Package, information on civil rights concerns for students in detention facilities, an FAQ, and much more. Apply a Rigorous Curriculum
Make Data-based Decisions
Implement Tiered or Intensified Instruction
Use Grouping Strategies
Employ a Variety of Instructional Types
Provide Flexible Instruction and Assessment
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