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CAIT Marks McDonough County Milestone with Educational Program for Inmates

April 25, 2018

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MACOMB, IL – A secure, technology-driven high school equivalency exam preparation program, developed by the Center for the Application of Information Technologies (CAIT) at Western Illinois University, was recently highlighted as a best practice at a United States Senate Round Table in February and is currently being used to benefit McDonough County residents.

The iPathways program is bringing the unique technological and educational opportunity to several county jails in Illinois, which recently resulted in the first inmate in the McDonough County Jail studying for and passing the GED exam.

"We have had a few McDonough County inmates complete the prep work before, but this is the first person to finish and pass the test here," said Brandon John, the i-Pathways project manager.

According to Kathy Olesen-Tracey, the i-Pathways curriculum director, it's the personal successes, such as the one in McDonough County, that make the project so meaningful.

"This is a first step on a pathway for him, an opportunity to have a better impact on the community," said Olesen-Tracey. "The impact of a GED is huge, but it also has a residual impact on the community. Once an individual has a high school equivalency diploma, the opportunity to advance in training and secure sustainable employment becomes an option. For example, Sealock is now eligible to attend Spoon River College in their welding program."

CAIT Director Paul Sweet said the program benefits the community in economically and socially responsible ways, which aligns with Western's core value of social and civic responsibility.

John leads CAIT's outreach efforts and has worked closely with McDonough County Sheriff, Rick VanBrooker, who agreed to support a pilot program for the newly developed i-Pathways Oasis. This effort helped build a national model for technology-driven instruction at county jails.

"This program provides inmates an opportunity to do something positive while they are in jail," said VanBrooker. "Education opens doors, and this program has the potential to turn around some lives."

VanBrooker and John traveled to Springfield to demonstrate the value of the i-Pathways Oasis for county jails throughout the state. VanBrooker praised the technology, saying it creates a potential new path for inmates.

"Rick has been so supportive," said John. "He recognizes the value of the program."

Since the launch in McDonough County, the i-Pathways Oasis has been implemented in county jails across multiple facilities in Illinois and reaching county jails in Nevada and Michigan.

According to Rich Stepenski, director of the Office of Adult Education and Vocational Services for the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), the Illinois prison system has the highest GED pass rate in the country, holding at over 94 percent two years in a row. This significant accomplishment has saved Illinois more than $1 million since its original deployment in 2016.

CAIT's i-Pathways program was first developed in 2000, with the Illinois Community College Board, as a distance learning option for adult education programs. The option serves adult learners who have barriers to attend traditional GED programs.

In 2014, the i-Pathways project was redesigned to meet the changing expectations of the High School Equivalency Program. This change allowed the CAIT team to invest in the infrastructure needed for the program to be securely used in correctional facilities. The i-Pathways Oasis was developed as an alternative for facilities needing a different option for technology-driven instruction. However, the i-Pathways team is excited that the Oasis will soon be used in Alaska to provide instructional access to extremely remote tribal communities without Internet.

The program, which will be soon placing Oasis devices in village centers in Alaska.

"Serving communities and adult learners with quality instruction is the reason our team works so hard to remain cutting edge with delivery models," said Olesen-Tracey.

Since its update in 2014, the public, online version of i-Pathways has served more than 30,000 adult learners across the state. Nationally, there have been over 14,000 adult registered users in i-Pathways. In Illinois corrections, the number of students is closer to 9,000.

The i-Pathways project works with programs from Alaska to Florida, with corrections institutions and county jails modeling the technology methods.

For more information about the i-Pathways program, visit i-pathways.org or cait.org.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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