By Ava Delargy
As mass incarceration continues to plague our country, research has shown that those incarcerated have likely experienced a lifetime of slipping through educational cracks due to structural inequities in the education system that plague marginalized populations. This would highlight a systemic issue, not one that faults the individual. As we look to data on the literacy rates of incarcerated populations, specifically referencing the 2014 PIAAC Survey of Incarcerated Adults, it’s quickly highlighted that the education level of those incarcerated when admitted to correctional facilities is already below the national average due to the inequities they’ve endured while within the education system (Rampey et al). While the carceral system does offer education programs in some of its jails and prisons, access to postsecondary education while incarcerated is difficult to come by after the number of college programs within correctional facilities exponentially decreased after the elimination of Pell Grant funding (The Marshall Project). Additionally, formerly incarcerated populations struggle to find accessible higher education programs after their time served as they often do not have the resources and support necessary to do so. In order to create a holistic solution rather than simply implementing programs for formerly incarcerated populations, the K-12 education system needs to be recognized as the root of racial disparities in literacy rates among those incarcerated and formerly incarcerated.
When it comes to the study of literacy rates among incarcerated populations, more specifically the demographic disparities that exist, research tends to be sparse unfortunately. Of the research conducted, studies tend to focus on the literacy of incarcerated adult male populations often researching their rates of basic literacy, health literacy, and financial literacy (Shippen et al.) (Hadden et al.) (Glidden and Brown). An additional more well-known example of this is a study done by the National Center for Education Statistics, which published data from the 2014 PIAAC Survey of Incarcerated Adults. Though this study did include females, the ratio of male to female respondents was significantly skewed towards incarcerated males. Several of this study’s findings would support an increasing pattern of racial disparity within incarcerated population literacy rates. Taken from their 2014 survey result highlights, incarcerated White adults had higher literacy scores by a point disparity of 15 and 16, compared to incarcerated Black and Hispanic adults (Rampey et al). Additionally, White incarcerated adults had higher literacy scores than non-incarcerated Black and Hispanic adults with a 30-point difference between incarcerated White adults and non-incarcerated Hispanic adults (Rampey et al). Though this report provided significant data and analysis, the depth of their analysis on demographic disparities in literacy rates was just comparative statistics that do not do much to highlight the root of the problem, racist K-12 education practices.
Though there are few studies on literacy rates among incarcerated populations, there is much more research published relating to curriculum favoring the white middle class.
As shown by researcher Ricky Lee Allen, marginalized populations are often put into an education system that provides curriculum that is not inclusive of “historically disenfranchised students”, as the curriculum is geared primarily toward white middle-class students (Allen 21). While this could be attributed to multiple factors, Allen finds that “the territoriality of whiteness”, is often the catalyst for skewed curriculum, as white racial identity is often accompanied by a denial of white privilege. Additionally, marginalized populations, especially Black populations, are disproportionately placed in special education programs because of biased teacher attitudes and social constructions of race and disability perpetuated by white privilege (Blanchett 26). Both of these causal mechanisms contribute to racial disparities in literacy rates which are further perpetuated inside correctional facilities.
The root inequities in K-12 education need to be addressed to prevent or lessen literary disparities before they start. If demographic disparities in literacy could be mitigated in K-12 education, future increases in disparities could be reduced and an increase in education quality would likely diminish incarcerations and recidivism further. But again, this problem does not lie within the individuals of marginalized populations, it lies within the systemic inequities in the curriculum that educates marginalized populations. While increased research on this issue would certainly be a good start to addressing the racial disparities in literacy, school curriculum needs to be significantly altered to not only mitigate the tailoring of curriculum to the white middle class, but to also correct structural inequities within schools that allow for marginalized populations to fall between the cracks. Additionally, intervention can begin later within this process with increasing the quality of education programs implemented within correctional facilities in order to support those who have already been through the initial education system before incarceration.
The racial disparities found in literacy rates of those incarcerated need to be addressed and the first step in doing so happens not only in new K-12 curriculum standards that will address the racial inequities and inherent bias, but in K-12 educator training as well. If educators and school administration are taught in postsecondary education how to eliminate the hidden curriculum or are mandated to take classes on issues they might be facilitating in the future, such as the school-to-prison pipeline, racial disparities in literacy might finally be significantly reduced.
Sources
Allen, Ricky Lee. “The Hidden Curriculum of Whiteness: White Teachers, White Territory, and White Community.” Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, April, 1999, Apr. 1999, pp. 1–45.
Blanchett, Wanda J. “Disproportionate Representation of African American Students in Special Education: Acknowledging the Role of White Privilege and Racism.” Educational Researcher, vol. 35, no. 6, 2006, pp. 24–28., doi:10.3102/0013189x035006024.
Drakeford, William. “The Impact of an Intensive Program to Increase the Literacy Skills of Youth Confined to Juvenile Corrections.” Journal of Correctional Education, Dec. 2002. Vol. 53, No. 4. pp. 139-144.
Glidden, Marc D., and Timothy C. Brown. “Separated by Bars or Dollar Signs? A Comparative Examination of the Financial Literacy of Those Incarcerated and the General Population.” American Journal of Criminal Justice, vol. 42, no. 3, 2016, pp. 533–553., doi:10.1007/s12103-016-9377-z.
Hadden, Kristie B., et al. “Health Literacy Among a Formerly Incarcerated Population Using Data from the Transitions Clinic Network.” Journal of Urban Health, vol. 95, no. 4, 2018, pp. 547–555., doi:10.1007/s11524-018-0276-0.
Lewis, Nicole. “Can College Programs in Prison Survive COVID-19?” The Marshall Project, The Marshall Project, 4 May 2020, www.themarshallproject.org/2020/05/04/can-college-programs-in-prison-survive-covid-19.
Shippen, Margaret E., et al. “An Examination of the Basic Reading Skills of Incarcerated Males.” Adult Learning, vol. 21, no. 3-4, 2010, pp. 4–12., doi:10.1177/104515951002100301.
Rampey, B.D., Keiper, S., Mohadjer, L., Krenzke, T., Li, J., Thornton, N., and Hogan, J. (2016). Highlights from the U.S. PIAAC Survey of Incarcerated Adults: Their Skills, Work Experience, Education, and Training: Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies: 2014 (NCES 2016-040). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.
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