The Influence of Christian Programs on the Academic Achievement of Low-Literate Male Inmates.

The purpose of this study was to measure whether Christian programs had a positive influence on the academic achievement of low-literate male inmates. The sample consisted of 124 male inmates in a closed security prison in the southeastern United States who were participating in an Adult Basic Education (ABE) program. The researcher grouped the sample into two categories: (1) Christian inmates [n=55] and (2) non-Christian inmates [n=69]. The findings of this study found that the inmates in both sub-groups had achieved statistically significant learning gains in the reading, math, and language skill areas. In addition, this study found that the Christian inmates had statistically significant greater learning gains in the reading and language skill areas than the non-Christian inmates. The Christian inmates had greater learning gains in math than the non-Christian inmates, but the differences in learning gain scores was found to be not statistically significant. This study found that the Christian inmates had statistically significant lower rates of disciplinary absenteeism in the ABE program than the non-Christian inmates. The rate of disciplinary absenteeism was a statistically significant predictor in determining the amount of learning gains the inmates would make in the reading and language skill areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]