Correctional Education: Getting the Data We Need

Overview & Synopsis

A significant issue in correctional education is the lack of policy-relevant data comparable across states. This article describes an effort to address this issue: the Correctional Education Data Guidebook and website and the two research projects that led to their development. Analyzing results from two national surveys conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, we found significant limitations in the data, particularly with respect to their relevance to policy making. We then conducted a feasibility study with correctional education administrators in eight states to see if common definitions and programming instructions could be formulated for use with existing state data, so that data could be aggregated across states to achieve a fuller picture of correctional education nationally. Based on this research, we collaborated with 12 states and several federal agencies to create the Correctional Education Data Guidebook and website (www.cedatanetwork.org) to enable state correctional education administrators to gather and analyze comparable data across states.