Research Library
Alternative Education Options: A Descriptive Study of California Continuation High Schools
Author: de Valasco, J.R., Austin, G., Dixon, D., McLaughlin, M, Perez, L.
Publisher: John W. Gardner Center, NCUST, and WestEd
Publication Date: 2008
Publisher City: San Francisco
Publisher State: CA
Summary or Abstract: Since 1965, California State Law has mandated that most schools serving over 100 12th grade students make available a continuation program or school that provides an alternative route to a high school diploma for youth vulnerable to academic or behavioral failure. Continuation high schools remain among the most understudied sub-sector of secondary education in California (and nationally.)
Over 115,000 California high school students will pass through one of the state’s 519 continuation high schools each year, either on their way to a diploma, or to dropping out of school altogether. This study concludes that continuation schools may be the last schools ever attended by many California students because they are not getting the academic and support services they need to succeed.
The modern continuation school now serves a diverse student population.... more likely to be racially or ethnically concentrated than those in the state’s comprehensive high schools, with high representation of Hispanic students and English Language Learners. Continuation students are more likely to move from school to school and, as a result, spend less time in any one school. Especially disconcerting is the high rate of substance use at school.
The study takes the continuation high school as the central point of analysis, but situates this analysis within state, county and district systems.