The Level of Influence that Six Dimensions have on Teacher Decision-Making in the Correctional Education Classroom
Jonathan E. Messemer

Abstract
The literature pertaining to correctional education in the United States is overwhelmingly focused upon the learning outcomes of the inmate participants. The purpose of this study was to measure the level of influence that six dimensions have on the teacher-decision making process within the correctional education classroom throughout the United States. The findings from a study of 427 correctional education teachers in the United States suggest that the three dimensions of security/safety, classroom characteristics, and other correctional educators had a strong influence upon the instructional decisions that teachers made in the correctional education classroom. This study found that the two dimensions of inmates and prison administrators had a moderate influence upon teacher decision-making. The findings also suggest that the correctional education teachers were seldom influenced by the correctional officers with respect to the instructional decisions that they make in the classroom. Finally, the findings suggest that the correctional education teachers believed that they had a strong level of power to make the necessary instructional decisions in their own classroom.

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