Blog Content
March 14, 2024
The New England Board of Higher Education will lead a regional initiative to strengthen, expand and coordinate higher education in the region’s prisons, using the report of the 2023 New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison as its blueprint and more than $6 million in grant funding from Ascendium Education Group.
The commission’s report recommended solutions to the significant barriers to incarcerated individuals accessing higher education, and changes to the structures that impede degree completion or the ability to transfer to another college or university upon release.
The new phase of work, partnering with The Educational Justice Institute at MIT (TEJI), will create a dynamic collaborative of individuals and programs currently offering postsecondary education in prison and it will develop regional credit transfer compacts to ensure that students have options to complete their degrees post-release. The initiative will also create a data and research collaborative to better assess program quality, the outcomes of prison education programs, and students’ postsecondary and employment success post-release.
Each of these initiatives is rooted in the recommendations of the New England Commission on the Future of Higher Education in Prison which completed its work in 2023. The diverse commission of more than 80 stakeholders from corrections, higher education, re-entry, workforce development, and government from the six New England states crafted recommendations for increasing availability of higher education programs in prison. People with lived experience comprised approximately 20% of the commission membership alongside five state corrections commissioners; this was the largest commission of its kind and the only one focused on an entire region.
The commission was formed by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) and The Educational Justice Institute at MIT with the goal of ensuring that every incarcerated person in New England has access to high-quality, workforce-aligned, equitable postsecondary opportunities with a wide range of educational pathways. Ascendium funded the commission.
The grant will support the development of the New England Prison Education Collaborative, which will leverage the recent restoration, in July 2023, of federal Pell Grant higher education funding to eligible incarcerated people after a nearly 30-year ban and responds to the growing body of evidence of the personal and societal benefits of higher education in prison.
“Building on the collaboration of the 2023 commission, this funding makes it now possible to create a formal, sustained partnership of all the critical stakeholders in higher education in prison in New England,” said Michael K. Thomas, president and chief executive officer, New England Board of Higher Education. “That partnership is essential for the creation and expansion of high-quality, workforce-aligned educational pathways that will smooth re-entry for students in each state of New England, so they can readily join the tech-driven economy or transfer their credits and complete their degrees.”
“In the pursuit of educational equity and second chances, The Educational Justice Institute at MIT proudly collaborates with the New England Board of Higher Education to amplify the transformative impact of higher education within the walls of New England prisons” said Carole Cafferty, co-director, The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. “Fueled by the visionary blueprint of the 2023 commission report and a remarkable grant from Ascendium, this initiative is a testament to our commitment to breaking down barriers, fostering collaboration, and building bridges to brighter futures for incarcerated individuals through education.”
About The Educational Justice Institute
The Educational Justice Institute at MIT is a program within the Massachusetts Institute of Technology dedicated to providing transformative learning experiences for system-involved students and MIT students.
About the New England Board of Higher Education
The New England Board of Higher Education advances equitable postsecondary outcomes through convening, research and programs for students, institution leaders and policymakers.
About Ascendium Education Group
Ascendium Education Group is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to helping people reach the education and career goals that matter to them. Ascendium invests in initiatives designed to increase the number of students from low-income backgrounds who complete postsecondary degrees, certificates, and workforce training programs, with an emphasis on first-generation students, incarcerated adults, rural community members, students of color and veterans.