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Educators give hope to students behind bars
Posted: 10/27/2009 11:53:00 AM
WEAC members at Ethan Allen School, a state juvenile correctional facility for young men, and other institutions across the state guide the education of young adults to the next phase of their lives.
In a school about 20 miles west of Milwaukee, teachers fret about school funding, test scores and learning disabilities. There are bars on the windows, there’s an electric razor-wire fence around the perimeter, and there are roaming security patrols. But there are also small class sizes, constant collaboration about student aptitude and a winning WIAA soccer team.
One thing the teachers at Ethan Allen School, a state juvenile correctional facility for young men, don’t have to worry about is truancy. Like similar institutions across the state, teachers and WEAC members at Ethan Allen guide the education of young adults to the next phase of lives, whether it be college, a career or a general educational development/high school equivalency diploma.
At Ethan Allen, mostly, classes have between six and 12 students in them at a time. That’s an issue of safety – for the kids.
“The kids feel safe, it’s a safe environment for them to learn in,” Kyle Davidson, superintendent of the Ethan Allen School, said. “A lot of these kids come from a situation where there was a lot of gang activity. It’s a lot safer here than where a lot of these kids came out of.”
“There’s no truancy at this facility,” Davidson said. “That’s where some of these kids were failing. They didn’t have the watchdogs to ensure their attendance or their success.”
Ethan Allen employs a holistic, inclusive approach to educating its students. Within the 31 teachers employed at Ethan Allen there are 17 Department of Public Instruction-certified special education teachers, all but four of whom are dually licensed in special education and an academic subject. In addition to a school guidance counselor and school psychologist, there are social workers, a team of clinical psychologists, and an American Psychological Association-approved doctoral-level program in which psychology interns complete their post-secondary degrees.
Ethan Allen also has nine “foster grandparents,” some of whom are retired teachers, who socialize, tutor, and mentor students.
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Mary Joas, a teacher at Ethan Allen,
focuses on adult basic reading and math. |
“Kids know who to ask for help among staff. They learn to verbalize that,” Mary Joas, a teacher at Ethan Allen, said.
A student ordered to Ethan Allen by a judge, whose county incurs the cost to send him there, can have academic aptitude anywhere along a broad spectrum. The average age of students is 16 to 17, but their academic skills could be that of a fourth-grader. Some can’t read, and that’s where Joas comes in.
Joas has been at Ethan Allen since 1994, coming over from teaching adult education at another state correctional facility. She focuses on adult basic reading and math, with a mindset that the teens sent to Ethan Allen are there because a judge believes they can benefit from the facility.
“None of us take the time to look up and find what every single kid is in here for,” Joas said. “This is a fresh start.”
Some students get set on a path for transition from middle to high school. Some will be on track to get their high school equivalency diploma. Last year, 49 Ethan Allen students graduated with high school equivalency diplomas. Three received high school diplomas.
Many of the students learn job skills they can take to an employer or for more technical education. Career and technical education teacher Lenore Rinder, who’s been at Ethan Allen for 10 years, leads students through computer skills, and she oversees some students on for-profit jobs using laser engraving.
“They learn all these computer skills, but it’s nice to expose them with deadlines and paying customers,” Rinder said after teaching a class on PowerPoint.
Many of the youth at Ethan Allen participate in a work experience employment program. Youth in advanced career and technical education classes such as the print shop, advanced woods or computerized engraving, or in institution job sites such as the main kitchen, grounds crew and school custodian, earn up to $1.50 per hour for non-high school grads and up to $2.50 per hour for high school and HSED graduates.
Students gain actual job experience; youth fill out a job application and undergo an interview process. If they are undependable or do unsatisfactory work, they can be fired. A portion of the money that the youth earns is used to pay restitution, or child support payments owed.
Ongoing evaluation is standard. In addition to goals set upon their arrival, there is an Office of Juvenile Administrative Review board that reviews the students’ progress every 90 days and can decide whether to move a student to a less-restrictive setting.
Davidson said the approach of the facility and its teachers works. In the adult correctional community, recidivism rates (a measure of if a person re-offends) is about 40 percent. At Ethan Allen, it’s less than 20 percent.
“We concentrate our resources on these kids and I think it’s worth every dime spent,” Davidson said.
Joas will venture out into the greater Milwaukee community and see a former student as a bank teller or working in a car maintenance shop. “We have wonderful success stories like that,” she said.