ACADEMY RETROIT
UNLOCKING POTENTIAL
2013’s annual ranking shows that only one-quarter of the schools in Detroit are providing an adequate education for students (CBS, 2013). Detroit city has seen many schools close in the last decade. Many schools closed in 2007 due to the low enrolment numbers. In 2009 it was announced that almost half of the schools in Detroit would be closed. In 2010, merging of high schools was announced (Hill, 2013). In 2009, U.S. Secretary of Education called Detroit ‘ground zero’ for public education, worse than New Orleans, a town destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. That was the year Detroit’s public schools recorded the worst scores in the history of the National Assessment of Educational progress test (Dawsey, 2014).
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT OF DETROIT CITIZENS
MAP OF DETROIT SCHOOLS CLOSING (2010 - 2012)
The majority of people incarcerated in the United States come from disadvantaged communities and situations where their educational opportunities are limited. Anecdotal evidence suggests that for many prisoners and formerly incarcerated people, the opportunity to obtain an education – particularly a college education – would not have been realized had they not been incarcerated (Neusteter and Crayton, 2010). The link between a poor education and incarceration is borne out in data. Dropouts are 3.5 times more likely to be arrested than high school graduates. Nationally, 68 percent of all males in prison do not have a high school diploma (Hanson and Stipek, 2014).
Inmates have among the lowest academic skills and literacy rates of any segment of society. Upon completing their sentence, most inmates re-enter society no more skilled than when they entered the correctional facility (U.S. Department of Education, 2011).
CORRECTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION (CEA)
The Correctional Education Association (CEA) was founded in 1930 to provide educational services in correctional settings. This non-profit professional association is the largest affiliate of the American Correctional Association. CEA is the professional organization for educators who work in adult correctional and juvenile justice facilities internationally. Although based in the United States of America, where most of its members work, it has made great advances in encouraging members from outside the US to become active members from outside the US to become active members of the organization (CEA National, 2008).
More than 90% of the federal and state prisons offer some form of education program to inmates. Half of State prison inmates reported they had participated in an educational program since their most recent admission to prison. About 25% of State inmates had taken basic education or high school level courses (Harlow, 2003).
After incarceration, former inmates face staggering challenges. Life after prison has its own difficulties which can put inmates back in prison after a very short period of time (Bennett, 2013). Over 700,000 men and women leave state and federal prisons each year. Recent estimates indicate that there are 30 million convicted felons living in the United States today (Ross, 2012). A major issue faced by ex-inmates is lack of employment for ex-convicts. Prison education has a demonstrable life-changing capacity. It is believed that offenders who take prison education are three times less likely to re-offend and than those who do not (UCU, 2011).
