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Alternative Education in California

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Title: Alternative Education in California


1
Alternative Education in California
  • A Descriptive Study of Continuation High Schools
  • Jorge Ruiz de Velasco
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • Milbrey McLaughlin
  • Stanford University

2
Continuation High Schools in CA Overview
  • Audience
  • Policymakers
  • Local Leaders (Schools, Districts, Service
    Providing Agencies)
  • Study Questions
  • What is a Continuation High School?
  • Who are the students in Continuation Schools?
  • What do policymakers and educators need to know?

3
Continuation High Schools in CA Overview
  • Study Design Data Sources
  • Administrative Data
  • Statewide Survey Data
  • Nested Site Visits -Structured Interviews
  • Focal Dimensions
  • State, Counties, Districts, Schools (Some
    Classrooms)

4
Student Demographics
  • Site Visits Statewide 11th Grade
  • Hispanic 61.4 55 42.3
  • African Am. 14.1 11 8
  • White 17.5 26 34.3
  • Asian 7 3 12.2
  • English Learners 25.6 21.3 14
  • Boys (CBEDS 10th-12th) 58 50

5
Students Academic, Social Behavioral
Characteristics
  • Key word VARIATION
  • Academically vulnerable students AND students who
    are quite independent and academically resilient
  • Youth with behavioral challenges, AND students
    who are emotionally detached or mis-fit in comp.
    Schools
  • System kids AND mainstream, disconnected
    youth
  • Population Variation Programming Challenges

6
Schools Also Vary on Along key Resource
Dimensions (both among CHS and in comparison to
Comprehensive Schools)
  • Staffing
  • Leadership
  • Curriculum and instruction
  • Supports
  • Size and physical space
  • Partnerships

7
Academic Performance More Variation on a Theme
  • Difficult to ascertainlack of longitudinal,
    comparable or comprehensive outcome data
  • CHS students score lower on virtually all
    measures of academic performance STAR, CASHEE,
    API
  • Evidence that CHS do at least as well (on
    average) as Comprehensive schools on CAHSEE pass
    rates.
  • Some CHS do better than others (and in comparison
    to Comp Schools) on a range of persistence
    measures

8
What Accounts for Wide Variability? Some
considerations
  • Lack of clarity about state local goals for
    alternative programs
  • Incoherent state accountability system

9
State Finance System Constrains Local Action
  • School finance structure highly centralized,
    undifferentiated by school type
  • Staffing and Services undifferentiated no
    additional resources to reflect special
    challenges and service needs.
  • Continuation schools treated like a small
    traditional school not as an alternative school
    with specific and different staffing, resource
    and service needs.

10
What Accounts for Wide Variability? Some more
considerations
  • Uneven local response to pressure for high
    quality alternative education
  • Few of incentives for creating effective
    post-secondary pathways
  • Lack of incentives for effective inter-agency
    collaboration
  • Lack of relevant data capacity for data use to
    drive change

11
Different district County contexts for
continuation high schools
  • Benign neglect 10 acceptable loss kids v
    active political support for continuation high
    schools and their students
  • Varying conceptions of continuation students a
    problem to be managed, or young people in need of
    different resources and opportunities
  • Intentional youth development stance effort to
    coordinate services/resources across
    youth-serving institutions v. Balkanized youth
    policy context

12
Differences in local system contexts that matter
for continuation high schools
  • Relationships with youth-serving agencies
    proactive, supportive OR siloed
  • Level of resources and services available to
    continuation programs equitable OR "bottom of
    the food chain
  • Coherence and articulation of resources and
    opportunities available to CHS safety valve for
    district or safety net for students?

13
Factors associated with strong continuation high
schools
  • Leadership committed to alternative education at
    school and district levels
  • Political support in the community school board
    members, county board of supervisors
  • Active partnerships with youth-serving CBOs,
    county agencies, higher education and the private
    sector

14
Qualities Practices of schools with good
student outcomes
  • Size 250 or more studentslarge enough to have
    academic depth, sufficient human resources
  • Committed leadership and faculty high
    expectations
  • Intentional focus on post-secondary pathways
  • Use data to monitor student experiences
  • Provide range of academic and non academic
    supports

15
Factors affecting county district contexts for
continuation high schools
  • Local economy
  • Personal networks relationships
  • Leadership political support for CHS
  • History of collaboration partnerships
  • Express commitment to a youth development stance
    and continuum of care

16
Whats Next?
  • High Quality What does it look like? How to
    get it?
  • Best Practices
  • Placement, Counseling, Intake
  • What academic and non-academic supports do
    students need to succeed?
  • What resources are needed/available to faculty
    and leaders at continuation high schools
  • Partnerships public private community, county
    state
  • Demand/Supply How does demand for alternative
    education square with supply?

17
Whats Next (Cont)?
  • Special Populations, Vulnerable Students. What
    do we know about helping CHS be a true
    alternative
  • Post-Secondary Pathways What happens to young
    people as the move into and through continuation
    schools? Viable pathways to post-secondary
    success?
  • Suggestions? What are important issues for us to
    be sure to pursue? What are we missing? How can
    this research be most useful to you?

18
Questions? More information? contact
  • Milbrey McLaughlin Milbrey_at_stanford.edu
  • Jorge Ruiz de Velasco JRDV_at_berkeley.edu
  • Copies of reports may be downloaded from the John
    Gardner Center website
  • http//gardnercenter.stanford.edu
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