Co-Principal Investigator: Gopalakrishan, Ajit

Partnership Institutions: Yale University; Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE); Connecticut Judicial Branch Court Supported Youth Services Division (CSSD); Yale University Child Study Center (YCSC)

Purpose: The purpose of the AllEd partnership was three-pronged:

• to root AllEd in the relevant programs in Connecticut by carrying out the needed qualitative research
• to inform AllEd by carrying out the needed quantitative research using existing datasets
• to prepare the foundation for the implementation of AllEd by forming a network of stakeholders and receiving critical feedback on the existing draft of AllEd for its improvement.

Project Activities: The partners formed an alliance (AllEd) of agencies and organizations in Connecticut to examine the educational experiences of court-involved youth and identify areas for improvement in educational services. The partnership captured and processed data to fill multiple gaps in the existing literature on the life trajectories of juvenile detainees in two ways. First,the partnership identified relevant stakeholders and collected qualitative data on the educational experiences of court-involved youth in Connecticut. Second, the partnership merged relevant datasets from CSDE and CSSD to analyze longitudinal patterns of behavior, experiences, and outcomes of youth in the education and justice systems. The partnership also produced a blueprint for a model for collaboration in other states.

Key Outcomes:

• Hein et al. (2017) found that juvenile justice-involved youth (JJY) with autism committed significantly fewer property crimes. JJY with autism were least likely to receive policy violations, out-of-school suspensions, and in-school suspensions. Regardless of special education classification, JJY who had a history of fighting in school were more likely to recidivate. The results suggested that JJY with autism were not more likely to commit crimes compared to JJY without special educational needs.

Structured Abstract

Setting: The initial partnership formed among two state agencies (the Departments of Education and Justice) and one research university (Yale) in the state of Connecticut. This partnership served as the foundation for building an alliance (AllEd) of agencies and organizations providing educational services to court-involved youth in Connecticut.

Sample: The focus of the project was the educational experiences and needs of the approximately 1,500 boys and girls aged 12 to 17 in juvenile detention in Connecticut (CT) per year (77 percent male and 73 percent minority). Data on approximately 10,000 other court-involved youth (youth on probation and community-referred youth) in Connecticut per year and on demographically matched samples in Connecticut were analyzed with a larger merged set of data collected from both agencies over the last ten years. In addition, student and staff focus group participants were recruited from both state and alternative detention centers.

Education Issue: In the state of Connecticut, education for youth in juvenile detention is not mandated, and several recent lawsuits highlighted the challenges of coordinating state agencies to provide educational services to juvenile detainees. Improved access and delivery of appropriate educational services to this population was hypothesized to result in reduced recidivism, increased achievement, increased rates of graduation, and reduced rates of suspensions and dropout. This project coordinated state education and justice agencies in Connecticut and, using a network of related organizations and service providers, developed a model for innovative policies and systemic practices to provide free, adequate, and appropriate education that meets the needs of youth in juvenile detention.

Research Design and Methods: This is a mixed method study in which researchers used both descriptive quantitative analysis and focus groups.

Key Measures: Key measures included student achievement, attendance, suspension, expulsion, dropout, graduation rates, employment rates, and recidivism.

Data Analytic Strategy: A descriptive case study approach was used to collect and analyze a set of qualitative data on the educational services provided to and needed by court-involved youth. Researchers gathered data via focus groups with the youth as well as via interviews with educators working in detention centers and potential employers of these youth. To better leverage quantitative data currently collected by the Connecticut education and juvenile justice systems, a merged dataset was created using linked identifiers. The research team analyzed cases with at least three time points to explore "developmental cascades" and reciprocal relationships between variables over time in a series of nested path models aimed at understanding pathways between educational and criminal variables.

Products and Publications

ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.

Publicly Available Data: Trends in juvenile criminal case processing and education.

Select Publications:

Hein, S., Barbot, B., Square, A., Chapman, J., Geib, C.F., and Grigorenko, E.L. (2017). Violent offending among juveniles: A 7-year longitudinal study of recidivism, desistance, and associations with mental health. Law and Human Behavior, 41(3), 273.