5.4 Continuation Schools and Community Day Schools
Continuation schools (also known as “alternative schools”) come in many varied forms. There are more than 500 continuation schools in California, serving approximately 4% of the state’s public high school students. This understates their scope of impact. In a review of alternative education options, Jorge Ruiz de Valasco points out that students tend to “pass through” continuation schools, “either on their way to a diploma, or to dropping out of school altogether.”
“Originally designed as part-day placements for students who needed to work part-time, most Continuation schools are now designed to serve students who are over-aged and under-credited. California state school authorities estimate that over 115,000 California high school students will pass through one of the state’s 520 continuation high schools each year. Since 1965, state law has mandated that most school districts enrolling over 100 12th grade students make available a continuation program or school that provides an alternative route to the high school diploma for youth vulnerable to academic failure. The law provides for the creation of continuation schools that provide more intensive services and accelerated credit accrual strategies so that students whose achievement in comprehensive schools has lagged might have a renewed opportunity to complete the required academic courses of instruction to graduate from high school.”
Community Day Schools are different from continuation schools. Community Day Schools are designed for students with behavioral issues, including students on parole or probation. Each year more than 200,000 school-age children in California are arrested. About half that number end up in a juvenile court, and in turn about two-thirds of those children are declared wards of the state.
Obviously, some adolescents find their way into further trouble. More than 10,000 students in California are in a state or county juvenile incarceration facility, at enormous cost to the public. For those interested in learning more, the California Legislative Analyst Office’s primer on California’s Criminal Justice System is a helpful source.
Organizations such as the Ella Baker Center (a Full Circle grant recipient) provide a valuable public service by intervening to help at-risk kids stay in school and out of trouble.
[Many thanks to Jorge Ruiz de Valasco for help with the "Continuation Schools" section of this post. If I've gotten something wrong, it's my fault.]
