The reinstatement of Pell Grant funding for people who are incarcerated presents a dramatic opportunity for learners in prison, but it also poses a complex challenge. As more educational programs become available for individuals in prison, it’s essential that departments of corrections (DOCs) and higher education in prison programs are able to measure program effectiveness, quality, and impact over time–including by collecting data on student enrollment, academic outcomes, completion rates and more.

To collect and use these data, DOCs, state education agencies, higher education institutions, and higher education in prison (HEP) programs will need to work in concert to develop a fluency and infrastructure for identifying relevant data, sharing it across agencies and actors, protecting it appropriately, and using it to inform continuous improvement. Enhancing the data infrastructure for higher education in prison is therefore a critical first step toward giving students who are incarcerated more and better quality educational options, setting them on a path toward post-release success.

With funding from Ascendium Education Group, we’re pleased to announce a three-year project to build state and HEP program capacity for data collection, analysis, and reporting, as well as assess opportunities to provide a long-term, financially sustainable, and centralized solution to the problem of data handling in the higher education in prison sector.

How will the project work?

In the first phase of the project, the team will produce a landscape assessment of higher education in prison programs’ current capacity and efforts to collect and analyze data on enrolled students, drawing from desk research and interviews with program leaders, institution and state higher education agency leaders, DOC officials, leaders of federal and state data systems, and external partners. These findings will be used to inform a design jam with partners and stakeholders to explore opportunities for high-impact interventions and possibly, a sustainable service that can provide technology solutions and technical advising to support data transfer, storage, and reporting.

The design jam will inform the project’s second phase, during which we will convene a pilot cohort of state leaders and other stakeholders in the education, corrections, and HEP sectors. Our cohort will provide a vehicle for state leaders to collaborate and plan for enhancements to state data systems and processes. We, and possibly other technical assistance partners, will provide direct support on collecting, analyzing, and reporting higher education in prison data. To conclude the project, we will share findings and outcomes from the pilot through a playbook for institutions and DOCs as well as a prospectus of future opportunities to build and scale a higher education in prison data service.

If you’re interested in learning more about this project, or participating in the pilot cohort, please reach out to Alex Monday (alex.monday@ithaka.org) or Tommaso Bardelli (tommaso.bardelli@ithaka.org)