It has been well documented that individuals involved in the justice system are more likely to drop out of school, have learning disabilities, and read below their grade level. Research has also shown that improving reading skills and providing quality education is one of the most effective forms of crime prevention.

In 2002, a coalition which included juvenile justice system practitioners was formed to address the local literacy crisis among male youth incarcerated in Probation Department rehabilitation facilities. At the time, local test scores showed adjudicated juvenile males were entering the system reading 3.8 years below grade level. To target this problem, the coalition partnered with literacy experts from Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes and offered intensive literacy instruction to male juvenile offenders at the Juvenile Ranch Facility and Camp Barrett . Between September 2002 and May 2004, 198 youth received program services after being randomly assigned through an experimental research design. After receiving approximately 88 hours of instruction, program participants made significant gains in verbal ability, word recognition, decoding, spelling and comprehension, as well as in following oral directions.

Other outcomes included increases in participants’ grade point average and positive ratings of the program from program participants. For example, more than nine out of ten said they would recommend the program to other students. For a full description of the findings, including recidivism in the one-year follow-up, a final evaluation report for this program is available at www.sandag.org/cj.