The vast majority of students who graduated high school while detained in California's juvenile facilities in a five-year span between 2018 and 2023 did not pass a 12th grade reading assessment. In fact, over a fifth of them were reading at lower elementary-school grade levels.



Now California's finally doing something about it. A new literacy intervention program is now being rolled out in San Diego, Alameda, San Mateo and Riverside counties, to help teenagers in juvenile detention grasp the basics of reading.



Guests:




Rosie Leyva, Literacy specialist, Alameda County Court Schools



Betty Márquez Rosales, Reporter, EdSource




from EdSource:




New multi-county initiative to tackle literacy gaps among detained high school students



In California's youth justice system, many high schoolers graduate with grade-school reading skills



An island of reading for youth in the California juvenile justice system




Related episodes:




How a library inside juvenile hall aims to break the prison pipeline



Could juvenile detention centers look like college campuses?



How schools can help formerly incarcerated students succeed




Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.



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