Prison Vocational Education and Policy in the United States : A Critical Perspective on Evidence-Based Reform / / by Andrew J Dick, William Rich, Tony Waters

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910253347703321
• Autore: Dick Andrew J
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: New York : , : Palgrave Macmillan US : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2016
• ISBN: 1-137-56469-5
• Edizione: [1st ed. 2016.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (321 p.)
• Disciplina: 365.7
• Soggetti: Education and state; Education Policy; California
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Preface: A Study of Vocational Education in California Prisons -- List of Tables -- List of Figures -- SECTION I -- 1. Structure and Thesis of the Book -- 2. Applied Research in California's Prisons -- 3. Prison Logic Meets Educational Research Logic: The Undiscussables of Evidence-Based Decision Making -- SECTION II- The Report -- 4. Vignette: Could the Prisoner be My Son? -- 5. Report: Vocational Education in California Prisons: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Twelve Courses.-6. Literature Review.-7. Vignette: Sunglasses.-8. Vignette: Greenhouses -- 9. Report: Methods -- 10. Report: Results and Research Questions -- 11. Vignette: Shifting Bureaucratic Sands and Work Stoppages -- 12. Vignette: I’m All Good -- 13. Report: Discussion -- 14. Vignette: Educators Only Whisper in a Custody World -- 15. Recommendations and Conclusion -- 16. Vignette: Denial of Love and The Birds of Prison -- 17. Life Without Parole and “Could be Worse” -- SECTION III -- 18. Evidence Based Decision Making and the Rise and Fall of Rehabilitation in California’s Prisons 2005-2012 -- References. .
• Sommario/riassunto: This book explores California’s prison system in the context of vocational education reform. For prisons in the early twenty-first century, ideologies of evidence-based management meant that reform efforts to change the purpose of prisons from punishment to ; rehabilitation through vocational education required “evidence” to justify policy prescriptions. Yet who determines what constitutes evidence? In political environments, solutions are typically pre-conceived, which means that the nature of the evidence collected is also preconceived. As a result, key assumptions about outcomes are often wished away to show improvement and be accountable. Through a detailed analysis interspersed with stories from the authors’ experiences “behind the wall” among California’s prison population, the authors challenge the nature of evidence-based research as used in the prison environment. In the process they describe the thorny problems facing reformers.