PEARL Research
PEARL conducts research that advances educational justice for people and communities impacted by incarceration, informing the metrics and high-impact practices that define prison education.
Our Current Projects
Prison Education Research Initiative (PERI): Building Evidence Through Partnership (2025-2029+)
PERI is the first-of-its kind multi-state study on incarcerated students in the U.S. with approximately 25 institutions of higher education (IHEs) and several state partners. Guided by a set of comprehensive research questions, the research project will be executed with rigorous descriptive, inferential, and qualitative research designs to document and describe the landscape and outcomes of PEP and center the experiences and perceptions of PEP participants and stakeholders.
Postsecondary Education in Prison National Dataset Project (2016+)
The Dataset project began in 2016 and contributed to the first few years of the National Directory of Higher Education in Prison Programs, hosted by the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison. Now separate but complimentary projects, the National Dataset empirically tracks the total number of colleges and universities enrolling incarcerated students on an annual basis.
Journal of Higher Education in Prison (2019+)
Founded in 2019, the Journal of Higher Education in Prison is the sole peer-reviewed, open-access journal devoted entirely to topics and issues shaping prison education. The aim of the journal is to be a resource that fosters dialogue about theory, practice, and approaches to teaching and learning in prison.
Our Previous Projects
Toward Equity in Experience: Data Collection and Reporting of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated College Students (2024-2025)
Data Collection and Reporting of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated College Students was a mixed methods study that explored how institutions and programs tracked and reported data on incarcerated students as well as the factors that facilitated/impeded data collection and reporting. Our team collected data from 11 institutions of higher education that were enrolling incarcerated students via a data template, online questionnaire, and joint interviews with directors of Institutional Research and Prison Education Programs.
Higher Education in Prison Landscape Project (2019-2025)
In collaboration with the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison and the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, the landscape project was the first national initiative to empirically capture the numbers of colleges and universities enrolling incarcerated students.
Annual Survey on Higher Education in Prison Programs(2019-2023)
In collaboration with the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison and the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, the annual survey was designed and implemented as part of the higher education in prison landscape project.
Pell is Not Enough: Exploring the Experiences of Participants in Second Chance Pell (2019-2022)
Exploring the Experiences of Second Chance Pell was a mixed methods research study that examined the implementation and facilitation of the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program. With support from Lumina Foundation, the research provided empirical evidence gathered from over 100 incarcerated participants, 20 practitioners of prison higher education, and 12 higher education administrators in the offices of financial aid, admissions or enrollment management, and registrar or related unit.
Criminal History Questions in College Admissions (2020-2025)(2020-2025)
Employing data from a national survey, this research explored how university administrators in the areas of Admissions, Dean of Students & Student Affairs think about and use criminal history information in undergraduate admissions.