Pamela Bluem Named Correctional Education Association of Ohio Teacher of the Year

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) - The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) and the Correctional Education Association of Ohio (CEA) announced Pamela Bluem as the 2024 Teacher of the Year.

Bluem currently teaches ABE-GED at London Correctional Institution (LoCI). She began her career in 2005 at a community-based correctional facility and has worked at four other prisons.

"Whenever I tell someone where I work, they immediately ask,' You work where? Why?'" said Bluem. "Once I start to fill them in, they start to realize the impact I have and realize that these men might be our neighbors one day. It doesn't take them long to buy into what I do."

Bluem teaches at LoCI with a focus on reading, including the Spanish-speaking population and the visually impaired. She has worked to provide an equal playing field for those populations to ensure they have the best opportunities to succeed. One graduate, who is blind, is now registered in the Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project in part due to Bluem's work to make sure he had the same opportunities as everyone else.

The Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project is a group of college courses provided by The Ohio State University for incarcerated adults. These classes bring OSU students together with incarcerated students in a prison setting for collaborative and transformative educational experiences. More about the Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project can be found here.

"In Ohio, education is a key determinant of post-release success, a rehabilitative necessity," said ODRC Director Annette Chambers-Smith. "The Ohio Central School System is the largest adult diploma provider in Ohio. We see successes in our classrooms every day, and our teachers are the key to all of this. They are giving Ohio's incarcerated people hope for a better future. Congratulationsto Pamela and thank you to all of our teachers for what you do."

The CEA is a professional association of educators and administrators working in adult and juvenile correctional settings worldwide. It provides critical training, cutting-edge research, and valuable networking opportunities for members to assist in delivering effective, life-changing education for students.

The Ohio Central School System (OCSS) serves as the school system for ODRC and is an entity of ODRC, providing incarcerated men and women with education opportunities in the form of high school equivalency certifications, college degree programs, apprenticeship programs, career-technical education and more.

In fiscal year 2024, OCSS served thousands of incarcerated students.

• 790 students earned high school equivalency certifications.
• 1,420 students earned career technical education certifications.
• 754 students earned apprenticeship certifications.
• 3,154 students earned college certifications or degrees.
• 2,722 students earned industry-recognized credentials.