Building Evaluation Readiness in Correctional Education

Across the criminal legal field, there is growing recognition that meaningful reform requires programs to be grounded in research, implemented with fidelity, and evaluated with rigor. Yet, for many community-based organizations, the path from innovation to evaluation remains difficult to navigate. Recognizing this challenge, researchers from RTI International have worked to bring evaluability assessments and capacity building—a well-established combination in public health and education— into the realm of corrections and reentry. This dual approach not only assesses whether an organization is evaluation-ready, but also strengthens the internal systems, processes, and partnerships needed to sustain evidence-based practice over time.

A project funded by the Ascendium Education Group exemplifies how this approach can generate tangible and lasting impact. RTI partnered with the Reentry Campus Program (RCP), a Rhode Island-based nonprofit organization that helps currently and formerly incarcerated individuals access and succeed in postsecondary education. Through individualized academic counseling, peer mentoring, reentry case management, and digital literacy training, RCP aims to close educational equity gaps for justice-involved learners within correctional education initiatives.

While RCP’s mission and vision were clear, the organization – like many small and growing nonprofits – faced structural and operational challenges that limited its ability to evaluate outcomes effectively. The partnership with RTI addressed those barriers head-on, first through an evaluability assessment and then through sustained capacity-building efforts.

Phase 1: Diagnosing Needs and Establishing Evaluation Foundations in Correctional Education

RTI’s evaluability assessment began with a comprehensive review of RCP’s program materials, organizational structure, and service delivery processes. Researchers visited correctional facilities, interviewed staff, board members, and participants, and reviewed partnership relationships to identify factors that influenced program consistency and data quality.

This diagnostic phase revealed common barriers to evaluation readiness in correctional education, including: 

• inconsistent service delivery,
• an underdeveloped theory of change,
• limited data infrastructure,
• informal partnerships that lacked documentation or clear information-sharing procedures,
• and unstandardized staffing protocols and standard operating procedures (SOPs) leading to variation in how core services were implemented.

Importantly, these findings did not reflect a lack of effort or vision. RCP faces the same structural realities as many emerging community-based organizations that operate with limited resources and high demand. The assessment provided a roadmap for where capacity building would have the greatest impact.

In response, RTI and RCP collaborated to develop a theory of change and logic model to align staff around the organization’s goals, inputs, outputs, and intended impacts. These tools became the foundation for future evaluation and internal learning. RTI also delivered data security trainings and worked closely with staff to identify a suitable data management system. Together, the teams selected a platform, established core data elements to be tracked, and created implementation protocols to ensure security, consistency, and usability.

By the end of Phase 1, RCP had not only greater clarity about its theory of impact but also the infrastructure needed to begin measuring it.

Phase 2: Capacity Building and Evaluation Implementation in Correctional Education

The second phase of the project shifted from assessment to ongoing capacity building in correctional education. RTI provided tailored technical assistance to strengthen RCP’s internal systems and partnerships, always balancing rigor with feasibility given the organization’s scale and resources.

Key accomplishments included:

• Expanding logic models across RCP’s three primary service areas (education access, peer mentoring, and digital literacy), allowing for more nuanced tracking of progress and outcomes.
• Delivering customized trainings for peer mentors and case managers that incorporated evidence-based approaches to rapport-building, goal setting, and the strategic use of lived experience to foster trust and engagement in reentry programs.
• Developing detailed SOPs to guide role-specific responsibilities and ensure consistency in correctional education service delivery.
• Formalizing partnerships with correctional agencies and educational institutions through the establishment of formal data sharing agreements (DSAs), promoting transparency and collaboration.
• Enhancing data infrastructure by supporting the implementation and internal monitoring of RCP’s new data management system, creating a data dictionary, and establishing secure and standardized data entry and storage protocols.

These efforts transformed RCP from a promising but under-resourced initiative into an organization equipped to manage data, measure outcomes, and continuously improve service quality.

Why Evaluation Readiness Strengthens Correctional Education Programs

RTI’s work with RCP demonstrates that evaluability assessments, when coupled with capacity building, are more than diagnostic tools – they are catalysts for sustainable growth and accountability in community-based organizations. In the corrections and reentry field, where many programs evolve organically in response to urgent community needs, this approach offers a way to balance innovation with rigor.

Evaluation readiness is often overlooked because it sits at the intersection of research and practice. Yet without it, even well-intentioned evaluations risk producing findings that are difficult to interpret or apply. By investing in readiness – clarifying logic models, strengthening data systems, and formalizing partnerships – organizations can set the stage for meaningful evaluation that informs practice and policy alike.

Moreover, this work underscores the importance of researcher–practitioner partnerships in correctional education. RTI’s role extended beyond technical expertise; it involved co-creating tools, training, and systems that align with the organization’s mission and operational context. This collaborative model ensures that evaluation is not something “done to” organizations, but rather a process that strengthens their ability to learn and adapt from within. For RCP, the results are already visible: stronger systems, more consistent service delivery, and a clearer understanding of how their work supports incarcerated and formerly incarcerated learners in achieving educational success.

Looking Ahead: Building Evaluation Capacity for Reentry Program Success

As correctional education and reentry programs continue to expand across the United States, funders and policymakers are increasingly seeking evidence of effectiveness. Yet for many organizations, the first step toward that goal is not evaluation itself – it’s building the capacity to be evaluated well.

By bringing evaluability assessment and capacity-building methods into the corrections context, RTI is helping bridge that gap. These approaches not only enhance the credibility of future evaluations but also empower organizations to manage their own data, articulate their impact, and refine their models of change over time. For the broader field, this project illustrates how thoughtful, collaborative research partnerships can help transform promising programs into evidence-ready organizations capable of advancing equity and effectiveness in correctional education.