Federal Resources

The Department of Labor's Reintegration of Ex-Offenders (RExO) Program targets court-involved youth, young adults, and adult ex-offenders through a variety of discretionary grant awards. Organizations partner with juvenile and adult justice systems to assist in providing employment and training to this population of individuals who may find it difficult to obtain employment or training without additional assistance. Projects support a comprehensive strategy for serving youth in a local area to which many are returning from juvenile correctional or detention facilities. Both the adult and youthful offender grants serve as demonstration projects for improving communities with high rates of crime and poverty.

This tip sheet (PDF, 3 pages) from NDTAC aims to assist state and local juvenile justice and education agency administrators, including State Part D coordinators and the practitioners. The tip sheet helps to create strong working relationships that facilitate the development of high-quality education programs within juvenile justice settings. 

In response to the Departments of Education and Justice’s Correctional Education Guidance Package, which includes recommendations and federal requirements for education programs in juvenile justice facilities, NDTAC will kick off a series of N&D InFocus programs. These programs will explore high-quality correctional education aligned with the five guiding principles that states and localities are implementing to prepare youth in their care for college and careers. The first event in the series, was held on March 18, 2 -3:30 p.m. EST, featured facilities and programs from around the country, as well as experts in the field and staff from the Departments of Education and Justice, who are leading the charge for quality correctional education. 

In May 2010, the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University released the monograph ”Addressing the Unmet Educational Needs of Children and Youth in the Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Systems” (PDF, 74 pages), which examines a number of topics relevant to the education and experiences of youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. This new practice guide (PDF, 27 pages) developed by NDTAC examines the principle included in the monograph that quality education services are critical for youth involved with the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, and offers a range of practices and strategies that juvenile justice, child welfare, and education professionals can use to improve education programming and outcomes for youth in their care.

NDTAC held its 2015 National Conference, “Looking Ahead: Preparing for the Future of Your State Title I, Part D Program,” in Arlington, Virginia, in May 2015. The conference brought together Title I, Part D coordinators, experts in the field, and ED and NDTAC staff to explore federal and state topics related to effective program administration and the education of youth who are neglected, delinquent, or at risk. The session descriptions, slides, and handouts are now available on the NDTAC website. 

This resource provides an overview of data dashboards and demonstrates how dashboard data can be used to support Title I, Part D administration.

This tip sheet highlights key questions and areas to consider for Title I, Part D administrators regarding the selection of an appropriate pre-posttest for tracking student progress in reading and mathematics. It focuses on students receiving educational services in juvenile justice and child welfare settings. 

NDTAC released this tip sheet providing an overview of relevant federal offices and programs, as well as data sources, that can be used to support state- and local-level decision-making and planning efforts of programs for youth who are neglected or delinquent. It also offers key questions that program administrators and practitioners can use to dig deeper into federal datasets and initiatives.

This Instructional Guide to Reporting provides the latest updates for the SY 2015–16 Title I, Part D data collection.

The Problem-Oriented Guides for Police summarize knowledge about how police can reduce the harm caused by specific crime and disorder problems. They are guides to prevention and to improving the overall response to incidents, not to investigating offenses or handling specific incidents.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), in collaboration with COPS and the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Section, released “Child Sex Trafficking: A Training Series for Frontline Officers.” This free, self-paced online course will educate frontline officers on how to recognize and respond to victims of child sex trafficking. 

This guide, developed by the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, describes the concept of focused deterrence initiatives (FDI), administering and leading an FDI, and applying focused deterrence to specific crime problems. Police and police departments can use this guide to design and implement local FDIs. 

NCSCW offers free online tutorials for a wide variety of professionals related to substance abuse disorders, treatment, and recovery. NCSACW requires users to register online before access these courses:

1. Understanding Child Welfare and the Dependency Court: A Guide for Substance Abuse Treatment Professionals
2. Understanding Substance Use Disorders, Treatment, and Family Recovery: A Guide for Child Welfare Professionals
3. Understanding Substance Use Disorders, Treatment, and Family Recovery: A Guide for Legal Professionals

This website guides local leaders and stakeholders through the process of establishing a School Responder Mode (SRM), a behavioral health response to school infractions that provides an alternative to exclusionary school discipline and justice system referral. Launched by the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice, this site outlines key steps in setting up a successful SRM and provides tools and resources to implement an SRM and gauge its progress. 

This report (PDF, 3 pages), developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, details the results of a national survey of probation officers on their roles, what they know about trauma and youth, and what they want to learn about trauma and trauma-informed practices. 

This policy brief (PDF, 4 pages), developed by The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, describes child sex trafficking, including what it is, who is at risk, the potential consequences, and what can be done to address it. Policymakers and other stakeholders can use this resource to better understand child sex trafficking and its relationship to child trauma, and to develop policy-relevant and child- trauma-focused recommendations to assist with developing responses.