System Approaches to Higher Education in Prison (HEP)
Advancing system‑level learning and coordination to strengthen postsecondary access and reentry
Public higher education systems are uniquely positioned to expand postsecondary opportunity for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated learners. With statewide reach, governing authority, and the ability to align institutions and partners, systems can play a critical role in improving outcomes for justice‑impacted students.
NASH is advancing a growing body of work focused on Higher Education in Prison (HEP) and campus reentry to help systems better understand and activate this role. Our work centers on a core question: What roles can public higher education systems play to better support, align, and sustain HEP and reentry efforts across their institutions? We focus on learning from current practice across the field, identifying patterns in how systems engage, and creating opportunities for peer exchange among system leaders and practitioners.
Higher Education Systems in Prison Education and Campus Reentry: A National Landscape Analysis
This national landscape analysis examines how public higher education systems across the country are currently engaging in prison education and campus reentry. Drawing on interviews with system leaders, administrators, and justice‑impacted students across 18 states, the report explores:
- How systems are organizing and coordinating HEP and reentry efforts
- Common attributes and emerging models of system engagement
- Persistent challenges related to governance, funding, data, and cross‑campus alignment
- Opportunities for system‑level learning and improvement
Coming Soon
To explore our report findings, NASH is hosting a webinar presented by the analysis' authors, Christina Dawkins and Britany Gatewood, on May 20th at 3:30pm ET / 12:30pm ET.
NASH Community of Practice on Higher Education in Prison
The NASH Community of Practice (CoP) on Higher Education in Prison is a collaborative initiative designed to connect, support, and amplify the work of public higher education systems engaged in HEP. Through bimonthly convenings, the CoP brings together a network of HEP-focused leaders and practitioners from across public higher-education systems to:
- Surface shared challenges and emerging questions in HEP and reentry
- Exchange promising practices across diverse system contexts
- Learn from peers navigating similar policy, operational, and coordination issues
The CoP serves as a space for collective sense‑making and field‑building, recognizing that systems are at different stages of engagement and capacity. Participation is intentionally scoped to include system‑level roles to support candid, practice‑focused dialogue.
Higher Education in Prison Improvement Community
In parallel with research and convening, NASH is applying improvement science methodologies to strengthen Higher Education in Prison (HEP) and reentry pathways and expand postsecondary opportunity for justice‑impacted learners. This approach reflects NASH’s broader commitment to helping systems move beyond isolated efforts and learn collectively about how to improve outcomes at scale.
The NASH Improvement Community (NIC) model is a structured approach that brings together systems and campuses to work on a shared challenge by testing interventions, analyzing results, refining approaches, and sharing lessons across the network. By learning together, systems can better understand what works, for whom, and under what conditions, and accelerate the spread of effective practices across institutions.
The Higher Education in Prison (HEP) Improvement Community launched in late 2025, bringing together campuses from the State University of New York, the University System of Maryland, and the Tennessee Board of Regents in its first year. Participating systems and campuses are working collaboratively to test small, practical changes that strengthen program delivery and support more effective transitions from incarceration to campus.
This work is part of NASH’s broader commitment to advancing system‑level change through the Center for Postsecondary Improvement (CPI). Built to bring improvement science into the higher education sector, the Center supports higher education systems and their campuses in solving their most urgent challenges through collaboration, rapid testing and spreading of practices that deliver results, and shared learning.