Prison education will change very soon

One of the largest social experiments in prison education will start next year. Here’s what that means. [View this email online]( [NPR Education]( June 26, 2022 This week, we look at how two men in prison got an opportunity to go to college. We're also follow the news happening with school lunch and Title IX. Plus, we asked teachers how they are feeling. --------------------------------------------------------------- Elissa Nadworny/NPR Happy Sunday, Elissa here to share a story Lauren Migaki and I have been reporting out for almost two years now. It’s technically a story about two college students, but these two men started their college journey while serving time in prison — which is both an unusual and rare place to start. There are very few bachelor's degree programs offered in prisons because, for the last quarter-century, there has been a ban on people in prison using federal money to pay for college classes. It's a vestige of the "tough on crime" era that was set in stone in the 1994 crime bill. But that's about to change. Congress recently lifted that ban: Starting in the 2023-2024 school year, people in prison will have access to Pell grants. The money, up to nearly $7,000 a year per student, doesn't need to be repaid. The change will mean a chance at higher education for more than half a million people who will be academically eligible, according to the Vera Institute of Justice. As anticipation grows for this expansion, a number of higher education providers are starting to design programs with correctional facilities. Nonprofits and foundations are teeing up money to help, beginning what may be one of the largest social experiments in prison education. In the absence of federal funding, programs funded privately, like one at Pitzer College, have sprung up. Classes have been taught at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco for several years, but Daniel Duron and Kenny Butler (see above), the two men I’ve gotten to know over the last two years, are among the first incarcerated students to pursue a bachelor's degree through the program, which was launched in December of 2020. Private donations cover the costs, about $10,000 per student, per year. Students are selected through a rigorous application process that includes letters of recommendation, grades and interviews. Elissa Nadworny/NPR Pitzer follows the Inside-Out program, where students enrolled at the college travel by bus to learn alongside students who are in prison. (Many classes were taught virtually during the height of the pandemic.) Outside of the classroom, Butler understood that his academic success was inspiring other people in prison. "A lot of guys see me walking around in the halls, and they know me from my past life," he says. "And now they see me with these books all the time. And you know, they have a lot of questions!" Duron was one of those guys who looked up to Butler — he asked for advice and followed Butler's lead on studying and writing papers. "The Pitzer classes gave me a lot more perspective on how to see the world and feel about it," he says. And they helped him think about the future — what he wanted and how to try and be a "decent" human being. "I feel more engaged with society instead of being demonized." In one of the first English classes he took, Duron wrote an analytical paper about Plato's Allegory of the Cave. It was the first time he'd seen his own story so clearly. "I was able to put together the analogy of the cave within my own life, being enlightened by my education," he recalls. "I was the one that had made it out of the cave and into the sunlight." Both of their stories are inspiring. We made over 20 minutes of radio this week looking back at their lives and where they came from. But how are they doing in school as students? [Click here to read a listen to the full story](. — [Elissa Nadworny]( Correspondent, NPR Ed Now, let’s get into some news… The Senate sends a school meal waivers bill back to the House with time running out. After passing a nearly $3 billion plan that would extend pandemic school meal waivers through the summer and next school year, the House will have to vote on the bill a second time after the Senate sent it back with changes. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., blocked the bill in the Senate, urging lawmakers to bring back the "reduced price" category of the National School Lunch Program. Before the pandemic, meals were either free, reduced price or full price to students. During the pandemic, the waivers allowed for all meals to be free. The House bill included only free and full-price options. [Read more here](. — Ximena Bustillo, Washington Desk Reporter --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- A new NCAA report shows the stark gap in funding for women's sports. The number of women competing at the highest level of college athletics continues to rise along with an increasing funding gap between men's and women's sports programs, according to an NCAA report examining the 50th anniversary of Title IX. The report, released Thursday and entitled "The State of Women in College Sports," found 47.1% of participation opportunities were for women across Division I in 2020 compared to 26.4% in 1982. Yet, amid that growth, men's programs received more than double that of women's programs in allocated resources in 2020 – and that gap was even more pronounced when looking at home of the most profitable revenue-generating sports: the Football Bowl Subdivision, the top tier within Division I that features the Alabamas, Ohio States and Southern Californias of the sports world. [Read more here](. — The Associated Press Uvalde officials are using a legal loophole to block the release of shooting records. Uvalde city officials are using a legal loophole and several other broad exemptions in Texas to prevent the release of police records related to last month's mass shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead, according to a letter obtained by NPR in response to public information requests filed by member station Texas Public Radio. Since the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School, law enforcement officials have provided little and conflicting information, amid mounting public pressure for transparency. The Texas Department of Public Safety, which is leading the state investigation, previously said that some accounts of the events were preliminary and may change as more witnesses are interviewed. [Read more here](. — Emma Bowman, NPR Newsdesk Biden's Title IX reforms would roll back Trump-era rules, expand victim protections. The Department of Education said Thursday that it plans to reinstate Title IX regulations tossed out by the Trump administration. Proposed changes would combat sexual discrimination in schools by boosting victim protections and modifying language to include sexual orientation and gender identity for LGBTQI+ students. Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, more commonly known as Title IX, which protects students from sexual discrimination in educational programs and activities. [Read more here](. — Dustin Jones, NPR Newsdesk And before you go, a look at how teachers are doing... If you’re wondering, you might enjoy this wellness check we did with teachers this year. After two years of pandemic disruptions, this school year was supposed to be better. But for many teachers, it was harder than ever. We spoke to three teachers about the past school year and their concerns about the future. [Listen to Consider This here](. See you next week. --------------------------------------------------------------- Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. [Listen Live]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Twitter]( What do you think of today's email? 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