Education, Change, and Transformation

This article explores the transformative capacity of education by using realistic evaluation rnethodology in the context of a follow-up study of 654 Canadian former federal prisoners who had been part of a liberal arts university prison education program. After release, 75% of the prisoners remainedfree of reincarceration for at least 3 years. The study examines in detail three groups within the 654: a group of 119 whose academic perfonnance improved, a group of 99 whose academic performance was consistently high and who were active in program affairs, and a group of 118 who were high school dropouts from broken homes. Using a recidivism prediction device (Statistical Information on Recidivism—SIR), subgroups are identified based on biographic and/or academic variables and actual postrelease success or failure compared with the prediction.