NCJ Number
122729
Journal
American Jails Volume: 3 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1990) Pages: 23,25-26
Date Published
1990
Length
3 pages
Annotation
During the week of September 4-8, 1989, Prince George's County jail staff conducted a voluntary reading comprehension test of inmates to assist in the development of an appropriate inmate educational program.
Abstract
The Adult Basic Education (TABE) test was used due to its national standardization status and popular use within Prince George's County public schools. Due to time constraints, only the reading comprehension section was given. As the first major mass testing effort, it was viewed as experimental as well as practical. TABE findings will permit recommendations for improving future testing instruments, actual test administration, educational curriculum planning, classroom management, and educational referral after release. Of an inmate population of 1,381, 559 inmates volunteered for testing. Analysis of the data indicates the need for a more indepth analysis due to significant skewing of the data. Subsequent tests should benefit from this data base. Already plans have been made to address the low literacy levels of the jail's population through increased peer tutoring within individual units while using the classroom for training a "literacy corps" and as a lab approach.