With more than 10% of all high school age students taking classes at a continuation school at some point in their high school career, this normally forgotten alternative learning environment is one that serves many of our most historically marginalized student groups: Black, Latinx, those with learning differences, and English Learners (Ruiz de…

Continuation high schools and the students they serve are often invisible and ignored to most Californians. However, state school authorities estimate that over 115,000 California high school students will pass through one of the state's 519 continuation high schools each year, to either graduate with a diploma, or to drop out of school altogether…

This study centers the experiences of 9 Latinas enrolled in a continuation high school. This study attempts to understand how this continuation school engages with Latinas and attempts to improve their conditions and opportunities in this marginalized sector that is overrepresented with racially minoritized youth. Despite all the challenges they…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the perspectives on engagement of students who had passed Model School Math (Integrated Math 1 or Algebra 1) and graduated within the years 2015 to 2019 from a Model Continuation High School in California. This study sought to discover the strategies, policies, and procedures which best…

Alternative education is one of the contexts that receives little attention in research and practice. This narrative inquiry study explores the narrative of a school counselor at a continuation high school to better understand his experiences, challenges, contradictions, and opportunities of serving in an unfamiliar educational sector. This paper…

Discourses about educators in continuation high school suggest that many of them are forced or pushed out to work in this educational sector by their school districts as a form of punishment. Yet, whether this still holds truth requires an examination of the experiences of educators in continuation high schools. This phenomenological study…

The purpose of this study is to examine the effective leadership qualities and practices of principals from successful alternative school settings that are recognized as California Model Continuation High Schools (MCHS), based on Transformational Leadership Theory. The research questions that guided this study are the following: (1) Through the…

The objective of this study was to generate principal and teacher descriptions of what constitutes a teacher's "special fitness to perform" in a public urban continuation high school with a concentration of at-risk students. The sample included 6 continuation principals and 15 continuation teachers from a large urban school district in…

The time right after treatment for substance abuse is a particularly vulnerable time for adolescents; a time made more difficult by the expectation that they will return to their high school. Traditional high schools are often a high-risk environment for students who are working on maintaining their sobriety. Recovery schools offer an alternative…

California's approximately 500 continuation high schools are estimated to serve more than 115,000 California high school students each year--a number that approaches almost 10 percent of all high school students and as many as one of every seven high school seniors. Continuation schools are, however, more racially and ethnically concentrated than…

The present study provides an implementation fidelity, process, and immediate outcomes evaluation of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND), a drug prevention program targeting continuation high school youth (n = 1426) at risk for drug abuse. A total of 24 schools participated in three randomized conditions: TND Only, TND and motivational…

The purpose of study was to examine the attributes of teachers of urban continuation high schools in Los Angeles Unified School District. The research questions were: 1. What are the attributes of veteran teachers and new teachers as prepared to teach at-risk students in alternative high schools? and 2. How do alternative high school teachers…

This study used qualitative research methods to investigate the experiences of students who returned to senior high school for a fourth year in order to graduate. By drawing on student voices, this collaborative research partnership with students revealed that a fourth year of high school led to stigmatization and alienation of students and often…

There is a void of current research on continuation schools and the students who attend these unique and historic educational institutions (Kelly, 1993). In an era of increased pressure surrounding student performance, of tight financial constraints, and of a changing landscape of student demographics, this study attempts to explore and understand…

This issue brief is part of a larger study of California continuation high schools begun in 2007. While the first phase of the study examined various alternative education options throughout the state, this second phase focused on 23 higher performing continuation high schools in California selected based on multiple student outcome measures. This…