Part Three: Justice Involved Individuals’ Perceptions of a Prison Theological Education Program

Robin LaBarbera • May 10, 2022

Can a training program delivered behind prison walls really make a difference? Preliminary findings from a current research project point to a resounding, “YES.”

I am engaged in a research project to evaluate a program of World Impact called The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI). TUMI’s graduate seminary-level training, delivered behind prison walls (and in urban classrooms outside prison walls), is equipping men and women for leadership roles in ministry around the world.

Based on a pilot study of 15 focus group interviews and 31 quantitative and qualitative survey results, we have been able to draw some initial conclusions about how TUMI fares in terms of Kirkpatrick’s evaluation model (explained below).

In other articles, we have discussed participant Reactions, Learning, Behavior, and Results to some degree. More will follow as we complete the evaluation with current participants and with those who have graduated.

In one article, we looked at criminogenic factors, factors that increase the risk of returning to prison once released. In a second article, we looked at how TUMI is working behind bars to combat those criminogenic factors and build protective factors to achieve positive outcomes.

In this report, I want to share what I’ve learned so far about what participants said in response to one question: “What do you like about TUMI?” by applying the Kirkpatrick Model of program evaluation.

The Kirkpatrick Model of program evaluation.

The Kirkpatrick Model of program evaluation is a globally recognized model for evaluating the results of training and learning programs like onboarding, product and program launches, leadership development, safety, security, and more. The Model is applicable to almost every program you can think of evaluating: “We have not encountered an industry or program where the model will not work,” it says on their website.

According to Kirkpatrick’s Model, we assess the following four areas:

Level 1: Reaction – The degree to which participants find the training favorable, engaging, and relevant.
Level 2: Learning – The degree to which participants acquire the intended knowledge, skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment based on their participation in the training.
Level 3: Behavior – The degree to which participants apply what they learned during training to their everyday work.
Level 4: Results – The degree to which targeted outcomes occur as a result of the training.

Given that the Kirkpatrick Model is suitable for use “anywhere,” and given that I have been charged with evaluating a prison theological education program, I applied the Kirkpatrick Model to my work on this project.

What do you like about TUMI?

I’d like to discuss responses to the question, “What do you like about TUMI?” through the Kirkpatrick Model lens. I’ll share a few representative responses, and then I’ll highlight my initial conclusions.

Representative responses to “What do you like about TUMI?”

“I believe the curriculum has done an excellent job of narrowing down the church, the history, and the personal relationship that a person can have with God.”
“One of the most beautiful things about TUMI was the unconditional love that I felt when I became a TUMI student.”
“You can be from this church or that church or another church, but what I like about the curriculum is that it we come together for the same purpose: the name of Jesus.”
“What was distinct about TUMI wasn’t necessarily the content, but the purpose. Any other correspondence course you can do in prison, you finish and that’s it. The program is over. TUMI not only brought course content, they brought relationships. With other courses, you would be no closer to being prepared to be a ministry leader and impact the community like you do with TUMI.”
“The TUMI certificate has some kind of power or something. My attorney showed my certificate to the DA at my parole hearing. This DA is a smart woman, known to be one of the most hard-nosed around. That DA looked that certificate over, turning it this way and that, holding it up, and you know, she didn’t oppose my hearing. That speaks about the integrity of the program.”
“TUMI allows my life to be different. I know what the Bible says, and because the Holy Spirit lives in me…everything is different, everything is different!”
“Yeah, yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head. It’s meant to change lives and it’s doing that.”
“I was incarcerated 20 years. I got an AA degree, and I’ve taken every substance abuse program, every other “program” available (and there are hundreds, if not thousands) – no one has more certificates than I do. I have a folder of certificates. I can look at all the certificates and everything, but what I’ve learned in TUMI is that it changed me more than anything, and that’s the truth.”
“What do I like about it? The cognitive impact it had on my daily living patters.”
“The curriculum was very helpful and challenging. I also love the volunteers who came and taught it, who came in and prayed with me. They brought out critical thinking skills with how to apply the Word of God.”
“I thought I was walking into TUMI to learn the Bible. I didn’t know it was going to do so much more. It changed and deepened my faith in ways I never knew it would. It was like God rolled a giant mirror in front of myself and I learned about God residing IN me, and I have learned I have leadership qualities and critical thinking I never would have known if not for TUMI.”
“TUMI is bringing hope to inmates.”

Evaluating Reaction, Learning, Behavior, and Results

Through these few comments from the preliminary study, we can start to see how TUMI participants find the training to be “favorable, engaging, and relevant.”

We see how they are acquiring the intended knowledge and attitudes.

We see how participants are equipped to apply what they learned during training to their everyday life and work.

We see how targeted outcomes are being met through the training.

World Impact/TUMI seeks to equip men and women as leaders who are transformed and who can transform their communities, whether that is within prison walls or the communities to which they return following incarceration.

Using Kirkpatrick’s Model to evaluate TUMI’s prison theological training program, although we’ve only touched the surface of what participants have to say, we can see an overwhelmingly positive evaluation result emerging from the data.

TUMI is bringing hope to those who are incarcerated, it is changing lives, and it is transforming communities.

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Incarcerated men in white uniforms stand in a circle with arms around each other's shoulders, heads

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