Training Educators for the Correctional Classroom

Inmate Programs preps new CCA education supervisors for our nontraditional students

In April, eight of CCA's newest principals and education supervisors took part in an unprecedented training session to learn how to take their traditional classroom experience and parlay it into success in their new work environment: jails, prisons and detention centers.

During three days of training in Nashville at the Facility Support Center, courtesy of the Inmate Programs department, participants learned not only the typical regulations and requirements, but also were exposed to national industry trends and the opportunity to network and build relationships with each other – colleagues they could turn to for advice when they returned to their facilities.

Michelle Cotter, CCA manager, Educational Services, along with CCA Educational Services director Tom Shaw and manager Dr. Peggy Levins, developed and facilitated the training session.

"It is really a comprehensive package that provides a foundation of training, support, networking and peer relationship building," says Dennis Bradby, CCA vice president, Inmate Programs.

Participating principals and education supervisors also benefit from a year of follow-up webinars and video conferences that continue the learning and relationship-building.

"The training made me feel really a part of the corrections industry," says Charles B. Kirkland, principal at Correctional Treatment Facility in Washington, D.C. "Out of my number of years of work, never was such training given on such a grand scale."

Many of his new colleagues felt the same way.

"This training was very important and valuable to me. I was with my peers, so we could learn and assist one another and understand we're not on an island," says principal Christy Elders of Dawson State Jail in Dallas, Texas. "I also learned what CCA really stands for by learning CCA's goals and expectations."

The training session wasn't just learning about CCA and networking. CCA President and CEO Damon Hininger stopped by to visit with the new education supervisors, and Dr. Steve Steurer, executive director of the national Correctional Education Association, spoke about current trends in correctional education.

Still, many trainees cite the networking with co-workers in similar positions as a key takeaway from the training.

"The main thing I took away from this session was a sense of unity within the group and company," says Lincoln Bentley, instructor supervisor at Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright, Ky. "It was good to put a face with the names."

CCA Source Fall 2011