Pre-, post-, and longitudinal evaluation of juvenile justice education.

This article describes two stages of the Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program's pre-, post-, and longitudinal evaluation research. Pilot studies were used to explore how to design statewide research of pre- and postassessment scores and community reintegration outcomes. Preliminary findings suggest that higher performing educational programs produce greater educational gains as measured by academic achievement tests, credits earned, and pupil progression rates. The findings also indicate that these programs have more students returning to school and lower recidivism rates. Building on the pilot studies, refinements were made to the research designs to enable more comprehensive statewide evaluation. Current research includes collection of pre- and postassessment scores from official sources on approximately 16,000 juvenile justice youths. In addition, a research design has been developed to examine program effectiveness by measuring community reintegration variables. Multiple data sources, including official and self-reported data on family, school, employment, and subsequent crime involvement, will be used in the longitudinal study.

Data integration in the evaluation of juvenile justice education.

This article discusses the Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program's evaluation of juvenile justice education through the integration of multiple data sources. Validation of best practices and the corresponding effect of these practices on community reintegration require the development of a comprehensive database of program-level and individual-level indicators from several sources. These sources include the Florida Department of Education, the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Department of Corrections, and the Juvenile Justice Educational Enhancement Program's own educational quality assurance and pre-/posttest data. This article examines the methodological, political, and bureaucratic obstacles encountered in this effort. Evaluation research analyses are also explored with an emphasis on the meaning of outcome measures relative to causal issues of time order, the modeling of events, and analytic strategy. The article provides a framework for future juvenile justice educational evaluation and a critical examination of problems encountered in integrating data sources for the purpose of outcome evaluation.