Barriers to School Reentry: Perceptions of School Reentry Among Detained and Committed Youth

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/15412040221147017
• Author: Kaylee Noorman,Julie Brancale
• Date: 01 July 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

2023, Vol. 21(3) 175–194

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/15412040221147017

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Barriers to School Reentry:

Perceptions of School Reentry

Among Detained and

Committed Youth

Kaylee Noorman

1

and Julie Brancale

1

Abstract

Juvenile justice-involved youth, despite their history of poor academic performance, have high

educational aspirations for their post-release life. However, few expect to meet their educational

aspirations. Barriers in the transition from the juvenile justice setting to the community contribute

to the disconnect between youths’educational aspirations and expectations. However, to date,

few studies have included the perspectives of incarcerated youth in assessing barriers to edu-

cational attainment. This study addresses the gap in the literature using data from the Survey of

Youth in Residential Placement to examine self-reported barriers to meeting the educational

aspiration of attending at least some college. Results indicate a lack of interest in school among

juvenile justice-involved youth to be the most prevalent and signif‌icant barrier to higher edu-

cational expectations, despite self-reported high aspirations. We discuss policy implications to

improve the reentry process and increase school attachment.

Keywords

juvenile justice, school reentry, barriers to educational attainment, educational aspirations,

educational expectations

There are approximately 37,000 youth conf‌ined in juvenile justice residential detention and

commitment programs in the United States on a given day (Hockenberry & Sladky, 2020). This

population of youth often lack prosocial support systems, come from low-income communities,

struggle with mental illnesses or substance use, and have histories of low academic achievement

and engagement with school, which make their transition from facilities and reintegration to the

community—back to school in particular—diff‌icult (Garf‌inkel & Nelson, 2004;Hsia et al., 2004;

Steele et al., 2016). Further compounding these issues is that the educational services provided in

juvenile justice residential schools, both academic and vocational, tend to be of lesser quality than

1

College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

Corresponding Author:

Kaylee Noorman, College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University, 112 S. Copeland St, Tallahassee,

FL 32306, USA.

Email: kmf‌itzpatrick@fsu.edu

the services provided by community schools and school systems (Council of State Governments

Justice Center, 2015;Macomber et al., 2010;Miller, 2019;Pesta & Blomberg, 2016;Rothman,

2002;Tannis, 2017). The individual challenges faced by youth and the institutional def‌iciencies

often found in juvenile justice schools increase youths’risk of academic failure and recidivism.

For example, research has shown that youth struggle to reenroll and stay in school post-release and

are at an increased risk of school failure and dropping out (Juvenile Justice Educational

Enhancement Program, 2006,MacArthur Foundation, 2005;Wald & Losen, 2003). In 2015,

the Council of State Governments Justice Center concluded that the most critical need in education

in the United States likely exists among the incarcerated youth population.

Although there are numerous barriers—both at the institutional- and individual-levels—ed-

ucational achievement during residential commitment or detention can be a critical element in

delinquency prevention and pathways to desistence. Specif‌ically, youths’post-release outcomes

can be improved if they receive a high-quality education while in residential detention and

commitment programs (Blomberg et al., 2011). In addition, youth who experience academic gains

while in a residential school are less likely to recidivate, are more likely to return to school, have an

improved likelihood of employment, and exhibit positive behavioral outcomes (Blomberg et al.,

2012).

The transition to and from juvenile justice settings is a complex and challenging process. Thus,

making it important for not only high-quality education in the facilities but also quality and

coordinated reentry planning and programming to ensure youth are informed and prepared for

their release. While some of the factors that contribute to negative post-release educational success

have been attributed to the poor educational services and reentry programming provided to

students while they are in detention or commitment programs, less is known about the individual-

level factors that may contribute to poor post-release educational outcomes. Specif‌ically, research

on the effects of juvenile residential detention and commitment rarely includes the perspective of

the incarcerated juveniles, which could provide needed information on factors that contribute to

their effective community and school reintegration (Kupchik & Snyder, 2009;Schubert et al,

2014). Using data from the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement, this study examines the

self-reported barriers to meeting educational aspirations of attending at least some college among

a sample of youth who were incarcerated in facilities across the United States. In the sections that

follow, we describe the prior literature, and the study’s data, methods, and f‌indings. We conclude

with a discussion about the implications for policy and practice.

Prior Literature

Recent research on the barriers youth encounter when returning to school following release from a

juvenile justice facility has been largely missing. Specif‌ically, few studies have been published in

the last 10 years that examine the school reentry process. In a recent systematic review of school

reentry practices, Kubek et al. (2020) found 27 articles meeting initial selection criteria, yet only

nine met the criteria for a full review. Of the nine articles included in the review,only three of them

were published in the last 10 years. Notably, the articles reviewed by Kubek et al. (2020) were

primarily based on descriptive case studies and self-reported perspectives of key stakeholders. The

voices of students and families, those most directly impacted by detention or commitment and the

school reentry process, were largely missing in the available studies. Further, because of the

methodological limitations of these studies—namely, descriptive case studies involving small,

nonrepresentative sample sizes—the recommendations and barriers may not generalize beyond

the study samples to other populations, settings, or contexts.

Since the publication of Kubek et al. (2020) systematic review, only a handful of studies

have attempted to address some of the limitations put forth. Namely, Sinclair et al. (2021)

176 Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 21(3)