Prison Education and Reentry Commons^™

Systemic Barriers To Educational And Employment Attainment Among Individuals With Substance Use Disorders, Mollie B. Mccann Poblocki

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Substance use disorders (SUDs) and opioid use disorder (OUD) represent one of the most pressing yet poorly understood public health crises in the United States. Despite decades of clinical intervention, recovery outcomes remain deeply unequal, not because individuals lack motivation, but because the structural systems surrounding them are fundamentally broken. This project explored that reality through a comprehensive literature review examining how systemic barriers across educational systems, labor markets, poverty dynamics, and healthcare infrastructure shape vulnerability, treatment access, and recovery outcomes for individuals with SUDs. Major findings revealed a consistent socioeconomic gradient of harm: individuals with lower educational attainment, unstable …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Breaking The Pipeline: Exploring Exclusionary Discipline, Restorative Justice, And The Attitudes And Beliefs Of Educators, Ericka J. Varnedoe

Honors College Theses

This study explores the connection between exclusionary disciplinary practices and the school-to-prison pipeline. It highlights how exclusionary discipline, including suspensions and expulsions, disproportionately affects marginalized groups such as students of color, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ youth, further contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline. In contrast, restorative justice, a non-punitive approach, offers a promising alternative. Initially adopted from the criminal justice system, restorative justice has been integrated into school environments to foster positive school climates, improve experiences, and mitigate challenging behaviors. This research examines educators' attitudes toward both exclusionary and restorative practices, as well as their awareness and implementation of restorative …

Why Teach Critical Race Theory, Joni Schwartz

Publications and Research

I teach at Queensboro Correctional Facility, LaGuardia Community College and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Last year, my co-invesitigator John R, Chaney and I receive a Department of Justice grant to teach college credit-bearing classes to those behind bars. Critical Race Theory is an effective tool.

Your Story, Your Life, Your Learning: Autobiography Reveals Basis For Supporting Personalized, Holistic Pedagogy, Michael Maser

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Each person ongoingly experiences the world uniquely through vital processes shaping their subjectivity, personhood and sense of self. Learning, an innate characteristic or modality of each human life, of living, likewise arises subjectively or idiosyncratically. In this paper, a phenomenological lens is applied to auto/biographical excerpts concerned with various learning experiences to help reveal essential, subjective characteristics of emergent learning. The insights help establish a basis for challenging the primacy of objectivist learning evaluations. The insights also confirm the importance of personalizing learning as a pedagogical gesture nurturing and enfranchising student learning in significant ways beyond conventional educational approaches …

Close To The Pain: Alternative Education And The Unheard Voices Of Young Adults’ Transformative Learning Experiences, Vicki Lynn Lock

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on amplifying the voices of marginalized students in alternative education, with an emphasis on the positive impact of resilience on their outcomes. The study addresses the challenges these students face, particularly those from BIPOC communities, in navigating educational systems that have historically marginalized them. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore the experiences of BIPOC students in a Central Valley alternative education program, highlighting how nurturing relationships, resilience, and the fulfillment of basic needs contribute to their academic success and personal growth. Utilizing a framework that incorporates theories of resilience, educational equity, and transformative leadership, …

Are High Levels Of Educator Bias Associated With The Disproportionate Discipline Of Black Students?, Melissa Ann Ramos

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Data on school discipline inequities have shown disproportionate numbers of Black students suspended and expelled compared to their non-Black counterparts. Despite the implementation of evidence-based solutions such as positive behavior supports and intervention, educator professional development, and restorative practices aimed at closing the racial discipline gap, little to no change has occurred. Critical Race Theory is used as a lens for viewing racial hierarchies as a socially constructed tool to oppress people of color. This oppression can be seen in various aspects of society and in education, especially in school discipline. It is fueled by biases, both implicit and explicit. …

Trust, Power, And Transformation In The Prison Classroom, Fran Fairbairn

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This article does three things. First, it asks a new question about transformative education, namely ‘what is the role of power and trust in the decision of whether to transform one’s meaning scheme in the face of new information or whether to simply reject the new information?’ Secondly, it develops a five-stage model which elaborates on the role of this decision in transformative learning.[1] Finally, it uses grounded-theory and the five-stage model to argue that power and trust play an important role in facilitating transformative learning.

[1] This account should be thought of as complementary to (not exclusionary of) Mezirow’s …

Philosophy In Prisons And The Cultivation Of Intellectual Character, Duncan Pritchard

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

There have recently been a series of prominent projects in the UK that aim to bring philosophy into the heart of prison education. The aim of this paper is to consider a possible rationale for this pedagogical development. A distinction is drawn between a content and a sensibility approach to teaching philosophy, where the latter is primarily concerned not with teaching a particular subject matter but rather with developing a certain kind of critical expertise. It is argued that the sensibility conception of teaching philosophy dovetails with an influential account of the epistemic aim of education in terms of the …

‘…In The Secret Of One’S Life’: Bernard Stiegler And Philosophy In The Intimacy Of His Prison Cell, Anna Kouppanou

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

In his book, Acting Out, philosopher Bernard Stiegler confesses that the question once posed to him by Marianne Alphant − namely, ‘How does one become a philosopher in the intimacy and secret of one’s life?’ threw him ‘into an embarrassing position’, mainly because Stiegler became a philosopher in the intimacy of his prison cell. There is no question that from Socrates to Antonio Gramsci, there have been philosophers who have suffered shorter or longer periods of imprisonment, but this was mainly because of their philosophy – their individuated way of being and thinking. In Bernard Stiegler’s case, it appears …

The Lopez Effect Remixed: The Significance Of Mattering Through A Hip-Hop Lens In Education And Beyond, Kashema Hutchinson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The goal of this dissertation is to examine the theoretical frameworks of mattering (Rosenberg & McCullough, 1981; Schlossberg, 1989; Love, 2018) in traditional and non-traditional spaces through a Hip-hop lens. When mattering is applied to marginalized groups, it centers them to a certain extent. In my dissertation, I examine how Dr. Nadia Lopez, the former principal of junior high school, Mott Hall Bridges Academy (MHBA), employed mattering in her holistic approach to education. Her dedication to her students, faculty and staff went viral on the popular blog Humans of New York in January 2015. Lopez’s commitment is to “open a …

Remedying Hermeneutic Injustice One Poem At A Time: A Review Of The Little Orange Book: Learning About Abuse From The Voice Of The Child, Alec J. Grant Phd

The Qualitative Report

This remarkable book tackles child sexual abuse and exploitation, arguing that blame and accountability belong to its perpetrators. It draws on thematic content analysis and autoethnographic principles and is methodologically novel in utilising the poetry of the first author, written in childhood, as primary data. An important international educational and practical resource, it should be on the shelves of university libraries, informing courses in social work, criminology, health and qualitative inquiry. It is also a much needed knowledge resource for abuse survivors and their advocates, remedying what the moral philosopher Miranda Fricker calls “hermeneutic injustice”: abused people lacking the knowledge …

Increasing The Buy-In And Effectiveness Of A Social And Emotional Learning Class Program In A Single Sex, Urban And Charter High School: Social And Emotional Learning Specialists And Student Perceptions Of Its Implementation., Kizawanda A. Olowe

Dissertations

Social-emotional learning has yet to be implemented in many schools in America. Without adequate social and emotional skills, students struggle to navigate their academic and social environments. Students attending a single-sex, urban charter school participated in focus groups and completed surveys about their perceptions of a social-emotional learning program that was implemented during the 2015–2016 school year. Social-emotional learning facilitators completed surveys and participated in focus groups to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the program. Graphs and themes based on the information gathered from the surveys, open-ended questions, and focus groups were used to analyze the data. Both students …

Race, Education, And Reintegrating Formerly Incarcerated Citizens [Introduction, Chapter 6], Joni Schwartz, John R. Chaney

Publications and Research

Building on the framework of critical race theory (CRT), this book through academic research and analysis engages the voices of formerly incarcerated college students' lived experiences as well as college faculty and administrators' understanding of academia as created spaces for reentry.

'Science Of Trivalency', Kwaku L. Carlisle Woods Rn Md Metd1, Dr. Kwaku L Carlisle Woods Rn Md Metd1

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

Due to mine cross cultural living, (I was born in the U.S. but grew in Southeast Asia), I became very interested in the Anthological, Social and Scientific difference between cultures. This led to a historical meta evaluation of humanity in general. Using the principals of Noetic Science, this evaluation reviled the ignorance and down right absence of any educational opportunities to learn the true functional abilities of mankind.