Case Study: Kansas Department of Corrections achieves equitable, secure statewide access to higher education with Anthology (Blackboard)

Transforming Lives with Equitable and Consistent Access to Education

The Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC), which operates eight adult facilities and serves nearly 10,000 residents, needed an equitable, secure way to expand higher education for incarcerated students who had been limited to offline tablet coursework. KDOC sought a FedRAMP-authorized, statewide learning management system to standardize instruction, enable laptops, and allow the agency to track progress and ensure consistent, quality education—selecting Anthology and its Blackboard LMS to meet those needs.

Anthology implemented Blackboard on AWS GovCloud with FedRAMP/StateRAMP moderate authorization, conducting planning and training, customizing the platform with a CSS overlay and secure communication controls, and segmenting each college partner with its own node. The rollout (started February 2022) now has four partners live with all expected by early 2025, and has supported rapid expansion: statewide higher education enrollment jumped to 932 students in 2023 (up from an average of 125 per year between 2016–2022) and programs grew from 22 to 39, while enabling remote internships, improved tracking of attendance and grades, and maintaining correctional-grade security via Anthology.

Kansas Department of Corrections

Macy Pickman

Education Director