Chapter 1: Introduction and Problem Statement
We have a veritable crisis in our nation. Quite simply, we have alarming numbers of students who cannot read. Frequently, children who are not proficient readers continue to face this struggle throughout their lives (Fountas & Pinnell, 2008). Research studies have shown that students who are not proficient readers by third grade will most likely not graduate from high school (Hernandez, 2011) nor catch up with their peers before leaving high school (Franics, Shaywitz, Stuebing, & Fletcher 1996). Our prisons are filled with high-school dropouts classified as low literate. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report (2003), 75 percent of America’s state prison inmates, almost 59
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Teachers who believe some children are unteachable — or that some children are the responsibility of specialists, parents or special education programs — deliver less appropriate instruction and select less appropriate instructional materials for their students. No such teachers were found in this study.
This attitude constitutes what is known as teacher efficacy. Teacher self-efficacy is “a simple idea with important implications” (Torre Cruz & Casanova Arias, 2007, p.641). Self‐efficacy is defined as “the belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” (Bandura, 1997, p. 3). Research shows a teacher’s sense of efficacy correlates with student achievement (Ashton & Webb, 1986). Mounting research supports Bandura's (1977) theory that teacher' self-efficacy beliefs correlate with work ethic and investment in teaching, goal-setting for themselves and their students, and their tenacity in overcoming challenges (Ashton & Webb, 1986;
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Professors of teacher preparation courses must rely on research to consistently put evidence-based practices in place for improvement to impact student achievement. This study will add to the knowledge base of institutions of higher education to help build pre-service teachers’ sense of self-efficacy, thus making stronger, more efficacious beginning teachers.
Tuchman and Isaacs (2011) discuss the importance of the student teaching experiences for shaping beginning teachers’ beliefs: Of the greatest interest, however, are those formative pre-service experiences that help mould a teacher’s self-efficacy beliefs. These experiences, occurring while teachers’ efficacy beliefs are still developing and more easily influenced, can have significant impact on the teaching efficacy of teachers.
Lastly, the study has implications for school administrators for supporting novice teachers’ efficacy for teaching literacy (Vesely,
With such high numbers of adolescents falling below basic in reading, illiteracy is a battle that must be fought head on. The largest dilemma with the struggle is the number of variations that cause adolescents to become reluctant, unmotivated or struggling readers. Fortunately, a large number of strategies exist to encourage and strengthen readers of all ages, proving that adolescence is not a time to give up on faltering students. Rather, it is a time to evaluate and intervene in an effort to turn a reluctant reader into an avid one (or near enough). Ultimately, educators must learn to properly assess a student’s strengths and weaknesses (Curtis, 2009) and pair them with the proper intervention techniques. If one method does not work, countless others exist to take its place.
Basic education services are often not met. The literacy rate of inmates in California is at a seventh grade level (204).
Long-Term Trends in Student Reading Performance. Jan. 1, 1998. Web. The Web. The Web.
Jimmy Santiago Baca’s description of being able to write shows how impactful it was on his experience; however, many prisoners do not get this chance because 75% of inmates are illiterate (Tikkanen, 2010). Due to the lack of educational programs in prisons,
According to “Teaching Literacy in Order to Turn the Page on Recidivism” Emily Music stated, recidivism is “the tendency of a convicted criminal to relapse into a habit of criminal activity or behavior”(p. 723). What this means is that recidivism is the rate a criminal goes back to prison for committing a crime. Music also expressed that the key to reducing recidivism rates in the United States is decreasing illiteracy rates among juvenile delinquents(p. 724) Many studies since the 1990s state that the rate of recidivism goes down if there are options made available for inmates.Along with William Drakeford explaining in his study that the “Reading skills of the youth in corrections could improve given the opportunity to learn in a structure environment” ( p.143). A study in found inmates who did take this opportunity had a “59% lower recidivism rate than those who did not” (Walker par. 3).As long as prisons provide these literacy programs and if prisoners participate they have more than 59% less of a chance o...
Education is therapeutic. Inmates “Disclose a remarkable range and depth of human experiences. Lost loves, deaths and sexual and physical abuse incidents” are common (Friedman, 265). When events this tragic happen, keeping emotions and memories repressed for so long leads to mental instability. Since prisoners have limited time to converse with one another, an excellent alternative to speaking out problems is writing them out. Yet, 38% of prisoners read at a level two proficiency rate, and very few of them read at a high proficiency level. If education was mandatory in prisons, every inmate would be trained to read. They would become literate and able to express their bottled up feelings on paper and in art forms. In many ways, “Writing helps people to organize thoughts and give meaning to a traumatic experience,” (Harvard Health). By expressing feelings, one can understand where he took a wrong turn in life, got caught up in the wrong crowd or made poor decisions and learn from these mistakes. Once his wrongdoings are taken into account, he will not relive his past, thus preventing
“Literacy—the ability to access, evaluate, and integrate information from a wide range of textual sources—is a prerequisite not only for individual educational success but for upward mobility both socially and economically,” states Sean Reardon (18). Literacy plays a significant role in civilized society. As Reardon mentioned, literacy is an important part of social and economic progression; therefore, it is unsurprising that thousands of dollars are poured into the education system each year to ensure that students can be considered literate. Reardon continues on to claim, “by third grade virtually all students can “read” in the procedural sense—they can sound out words and recognize simple words in context” (20). However,
The causes of reading difficulties often arise because of learning disabilities such as dyslexia, poor preparation before entering school, no value for literacy, low school attendance, insufficient reading instruction, and/or even the way students were taught to read in the early grades. The struggles that students “encounter in school can be seen as socially constructed-by the ways in which schools are organized and scheduled, by assumptions that are made about home life and school abilities, by a curriculum that is often devoid of connections to students’ lives, and by text that may be too difficult for students to read” (Hinchman, and Sheridan-Thomas166). Whatever the reason for the existence of the reading problem initially, by “the time a [student] is in the intermediate grades, there is good evidence that he will show continued reading g...
"It costs the government half a million bucks to keep me in jail and $450 to teach me to read and write" (ex-con cited in Porporino and Robinson 1992, p. 92). The literacy demands of the workplace and society in general are growing in complexity, and recurring linked cycles of poverty and low literacy levels put some people at increasing disadvantage. The prison population includes disproportionate numbers of the poor; those released from prisons are often unable to find employment, partly due to a lack of job and/or literacy skills, and are often reincarcerated (Paul 1991). Add to that the high cost of imprisonment and the huge increase in the prison population and it seems clear that mastery of literacy skills may be a preventive and proactive way to address the problem. However, correctional educators contend with multiple problems in delivering literacy programs to inmates. This Digest sets the context of prison literacy programs, outlines some of the constraints, and describes what factors work.
The program works with more than 100 schools in seven states. The program is geared toward students from low-income families. The statistics for children’s literacy in the United States are astonishing. “In 2011, just thirty-four percent of the nation’s fourth graders in public school could read proficiently” (National Center for Education Statistics, 2011). The program itself has had exponential success.
It is to no surprise that America has a large amount of its people incarcerated for a variety of reasons. One must ask themselves how we can help these individuals get back on track. The answer is America’s most powerful weapon known to man; an education. This is an annotated bibliography for research on the effects of education in the prison system and if these effects are worth taxpayer’s money.
Why should we care about education in prison? In today’s world people become more egocentric, so that no one’s longer care or even attempt to think about others problems and how to fix them. As a society, we have to begin to focus on the bigger picture, why so many people get behind bars in United States. All human beings should have an opportunity of better life even after committing mistakes before. Education is the key to success. By providing prisoners with opportunity to get education, our society will benefit everyone. Prison education should be provided to inmates for three significant reasons: reduces crime recidivism, gives job perspectives and helps prisoners to rehabilitate and commit themselves to a law-abiding life outside the prison.
According to experts and inmates, education is a key to successful reentry into society that most inmates are lacking. Over the past twenty years, the need for education within jails and prisons has risen to an all-time high...
Finally, Gkolia, Dimitrios, & Koustelios (2014) indicated in their study that background characteristics such as teachers’ gender, teaching experience, educational level, and age affect their self-efficacy.
The concept of self-efficacy is grounded in Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory. Bandura (1994) defines perceived self-efficacy as “people’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce efforts” (p. 71). In essence, one having strong self-efficacy experience increase in motivation, accomplishment, and personal well-being ( Bandura, 1994). Those with a low sense of self-efficacy, on the other hand, often suffer stress and depression; unbelieving of their capabilities and often succumbed to failure (Bandura, 1994).