Announcements

  • Call for Special Issue Proposals!

    Together We Do More: How Community Partners and Restrictive Education Settings Can Partner to Improve Facility Climate and Culture for Staff and Youth 

     

    Across the country, juvenile corrections have shifted to encompass a more evidence-based lens when viewing the policies, practices, and frameworks/models being adopted, adapted, and implemented to address and improve facility culture and climate (e.g., trauma-informed lens, facility-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports). However, juvenile corrections is a complex organizational structure often characterized as being “consistently inconsistent” in its processes, missions, visions, and policies within and across states, agencies, and facilities, which can impact facility culture and climate (Jolivette, 2016; Jolivette et al., 2018). When climate is not maximally positive in these facilities, there could be increased behavioral incidents, decreased youth engagement in treatment, programming, education, and poor youth outcomes across domains. For facility staff, there could be decreased fidelity of implementation of programming and overall engagement, an increase in the use of a coercive and punishment mindset, movement towards a non-habilitative focus, increased job dissatisfaction and stress, and staff shortages. Such variations mean that organizational climate and its relation to the broader concepts of climate and culture needs to be considered.

     

    Climate and culture are both important aspects of the overall context or environment in which an intervention is carried out; therefore, this special issue proposal has a clear connection to the JCES mission because it will provide a mechanism through which faculty, facility staff, facility youth, and their community partners may disseminate scholarly works that advance knowledge of juvenile corrections climate and culture.

     

    A goal of this special issue is to highlight research and best practices that can improve the lives and educational conditions provided to systems-involved youth in restrictive settings. Readers will learn more about how staff in residential treatment centers and juvenile justice facilities view facility climate and learn more about the community partners needed to help support and maintain improved facility climate. This special issue will integrate teaching in juvenile justice institutions, research in partnership with the academy, and community engagement designed for the youth and the facility staff who support them. The JCES audience can expect to learn from individuals working directly with systems-involved youth from various perspectives and disciplines (e.g., education, security, mental health) as well as individuals who have applied and sustained experiences (e.g., working within residential treatment facilities and juvenile justice facilities), and from scholars conducting externally funded work grant work (e.g., Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the U.S. Department of Education). Additional research and best practices will focus on improving facility climate through universal behavioral strategies, function-based logic thinking, professional learning communities, and community conversations.

     

     

    All forms of writing, analysis, creative approaches, and methodologies will be acceptable for this special issue. Since community partners have a vital role in both the climate and culture of each facility, special attention will be provided to community partner voice and impact on facility climate and youth behavior with involvement of community partners on some of the manuscripts. We expect this special issue to contribute to and inform positive youth outcomes in these facilities and during reentry to the community while offering proven preventative and proactive approaches of benefit to staff, youth, and administration. Some of the contributing authors and articles will highlight effective practices across multi-tiered systems of support, thereby enhancing awareness and promotion of preventative and inclusive practices for all including youth in juvenile justice facilities. Colleagues outside of juvenile corrections can expect to learn more about familiar community engagement strategies in a specialized context, including place-based community engagement, engaging diverse audiences, and service-learning and civic engagement with university and community partners. Additionally, community-based participatory research approaches, which center students' voices, community partners' perspectives, and staff/faculty's fieldwork experiences, will ensure this special issue has broad audience appeal.

     

    Finally, this special issue will help inform local, state, and federal policy as well as staff professional development by highlighting the intersectionality of facility climate with youth behavior, preventative universal strategies, and staff roles in supporting and promoting a healthy, safe, and productive facility climate for all – youth and staff.

     

    JCES Call for Abstracts Guidelines and Submission

    • 500 words maximum
    • References should be included
    • Due June 30, 2024
    • Submit to: nbprewitt@ua.edu

    Point of Contact

    Nicole B. Prewitt, Ed.D.

    Director of Programs and Partnerships for Community Engagement

    Center for Community-Based Partnerships

    The University of Alabama

    Phone 205-348-9819

    nbprewitt@ua.edu

     

    General Timeline

    • May 2024: JCES Call for Abstracts is released
    • May 2024—June 2024: Authors submit abstracts to the guest editors for review
    • June 30, 2024: Deadline for Abstract Submission
    • July 2024: Guest Editors invite selected abstract authors to complete full manuscripts (Decisions sent to authors)
    • August 2024—December 2024: Full Manuscript Submission Period
    • January 2025—May 2025: Peer Review Period
      • Guest Editors and Guest Associate Editors send out manuscripts to reviewers
      • Peer reviewers return manuscripts to editors
      • Editors provide authors with suggested edits from reviewers
      • Authors provide final edits based on reviewer feedback (time for revisions and further peer and editorial review)
    • May 2025: Editors send approval letters to authors
    • June 2025 –August 2025: JCES Copyediting and production
    • September 2025: Final, Print-Ready Manuscripts for Publication 

     

    Selection Criteria for Articles.

    • Relevance
      • Articles should address the improvement of lives and educational conditions for systems-involved youth in restrictive settings
    • Contributions
      • Preference will be given to articles that demonstrate evidence-based practices and contribute new insights to the field of restrictive school settings and/or community engagement
    • Methodological Rigor
      • While all methodologies are welcome, articles should demonstrate methodological rigor and clarity in presenting findings and conclusions
    • Accessibility
      • Articles should be written in an accessible manner such that they can be understood and appreciated by a wide range of readers of JCES
    • Formatting & Style Guidelines
      • Articles will meet APA 7th in references and in-text citations.
    Published on 19 Apr 2024