Provision of a Free and Appropriate Public Education in an Adult Jail during COVID-19: The Case of Charles H. et al. v. District of Columbia et al.

Abstract

COVID-19 has engendered serious challenges with the provision of special education services for youth and young adults incarcerated in U.S. adult correctional facilities. This article describes the recent lawsuit, Charles H. et al. v. District of Columbia et al., which focused on the lack of a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) at the Inspiring Youth Program (IYP) school in the Washington DC jail during the pandemic. Following a brief review of relevant components of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2006) regulations, we describe the three areas in which there were violations to the provision of IDEA and FAPE, as well as the harm incurred. Specifically, we discuss the lack of: (a) instruction and monitoring of youth academic progress; (b) related services (i.e., behavioral interventions and supports, counseling); and (c) DC public schools Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) supervision and oversight. Finally, we provide a discussion of the need for compensatory education to remediate harm.

A Research-Based Literacy Instruction MTSS for Juvenile Correctional Facilities

“…Providing JCF ELA instruction can be an overwhelming and chaotic endeavor given teachers must plan to meet the needs of a multi-age and multi-grade-level transient youth population who often have disabilities (Gagnon & Ross Benedick, 2021). All too often JCF resort to providing ineffective and inefficient literacy instruction by using worksheet packets (Agus-Kleinman et al, 2019; Brenner et al, 2017; Korman et al, 2019) or placing youth into ELA classes without regard to their literacy abilities.…”

“…Second, previous JCF literacy ability research (Steele et al, 2016) has suggested that youth in JC have a range of literacy abilities and that ED and SLD are the primary disability classifications in JCF (Gagnon et al, 2009; OSEP, 2021). Third, previous JCF research has indicated that youth are continuously entering JCF at different age and grade levels (Gagnon & Ross Benedick, 2021; Houchins et al, 2018; Korman et al, 2019). As such, identifying distinct literacy subgroups comprised of youth with similar literacy traits may allow for greater homogenous direct literacy instruction as part of a JCF MTSS and provide researchers with a more nuanced approach to conducting intervention studies in JCF.…”

“…Common JCF contextual factors influence how teachers plan and provide instruction (Houchins et al, 2018; McCray et al, 2018). Youth are continuously entering and exiting JCF (Gagnon & Ross Benedick, 2021; Korman et al, 2019). As such, JCF teachers must know how to quickly place youth into existing classrooms using intake data that take into consideration the wide-range grade (e.g., sixth to 12th grades), age levels (e.g., 12–21 years of age), and literacy abilities (e.g., nonreaders to proficient readers) of youth.…”