Continuation high schools don't send their graduates to four-year colleges. Just doesn't happen.
Except that it does - big time - in Monrovia, and maybe only in Monrovia.
Flint Fertig, principal of Monrovia's Canyon Oaks High School (a continuation school, though Fertig prefers calling it "alternative" because of the negative associations of "continuation"), said he was at a Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) meeting and heard someone say that he had heard from someone that there was a continuation student somewhere who had been accepted at a four-year school, but then again... he wasn't sure.
So, apparently the percentage of contiunation high school students who go to four-year colleges is essentially zero, except for Monrovia's program, which this year has had an astonishing 32 percent of its 2009-10 grads (27 students total) accepted to four-year schools.
Thirty two percent!?
Yup. Fertig said that for forty years Monrovia's continuation program matched the lousy record of other continuation schools in sending zero grads to four-year schools. None in 40 years! Then, for the 2007-08 school year, one student went to Cal State LA and in 2008-09 two students went to four-year schools, and now, in 2009-10, 27 students were accepted at four-year schools.
Incredible for a continuation school! How does it compare - on average - to regular high schools?
Fertig said, "I don't think anywhere near 32 percent of regular high school students go on to four year schools."
His students have been accepted to such schools as UC Irvine, Cal State LA, and Cal Poly Pomona. "They're not," Fertig admitted, "going to Stanford or Harvard ... yet."
And in case you were wondering, the Monrovia continuation program does not have some unusual set of students. The demographics are like those of any other continuation school. Single parent homes, or zero-parent homes, students in trouble at school and with the law (Fertig guesstimates maybe 60 percent are on probation.) And some of them, administrator/teacher John Russell adds, are from "horrific backgrounds."
Okay, so what I really want to know is: How do you bottle this?
So, with that in mind, let me highlight some principles that seemed to emerge as I listended to Fertig and Russell talk about their school.
Accreditation and State Standards
Fertig said his first goal on joining the Monrovia School District in 2007 (from West Covina High) was to get the district's continuation program accredited by WASC, and to do that meant aligning the school's curriculum with state requirements.
So, I ask, You mean continuation schools are generally NOT accredited and their curriculums are generally NOT aligned with state requirements?
Fertig and Russell said they frequently are not.
Sigh.
Russell said that in aligning with the state requirements the teaching staff "stripped out the minutia" and focused on the core elements of each state requirement and so impressed the accreditation team that the school got a three-year initial accreditation instead of the standard one-year initial accreditation.
Accreditation, by the way, means coursework counts for colleges. If you take a math class from an accredited school then the college agrees that you have really taken the math class. Also, students from accredited schools can get financial aid, which is a pretty big deal.
A Good Environment
Fertig and Russell describe a school environment that is loving (I get the feeling that staff almost consider themselves surrogate parents) and strict. And this seems to have instilled a sense of school pride among the students.
Fertig - who looks like he could handle himself if push came, literally, to shove - tells of starting his job by facing off tough guys and checking students as they arrived at school to make sure they were dressed according to the school's code. If not, he called a parent to pick up the student or bring a change of clothes. "We have a dress code and rules, and we're very, very strict. The kids hated me for a while," he said, "but hugged me on the graduation podium."
"The kids are so proud of this school," he said. "It's spotless! And these were taggers! In other schools," he said, reaching around to a computer keyboard in the library, "the keys have been pulled out of the keyboards. But here they sense that the teachers care about them."
I had to agree. The library was beautiful and the grounds were in good repair and untagged. The janitor there has it easy.
Fertig said it is a safe place for students who have had it rough. "We almost never have fights," he said. "We've had two fights in four years."
The students, he said, even took it upon themselves - and without the knowledge of the staff - to have a "Nerd Day," in which the whole school dressed up as nerds. Fertig said that in a regular high school you might have 10 percent participation, but here, he said, virtually the whole school participated.
Superstar Teachers
Key to the school's success are the teachers, and both Fertig and Russell call them "superstars."
They try to be a bit delicate about it, but clearly neither Fertig or Russell (who was about to quit when Fertig arrived) were thrilled about the situation when Fertig first came to the school.
"A good principal," Fertig said, "can change the teachers, who in turn can change the test scores."
He said it takes a unique person to teach at Canyon Oaks, and you "help the others find something else." Some teachers, he said, decided that "this is not the place for me to work."
Since he had built a following at Covina High School, he brought some teachers from there as openings occurred. He said it is rare for a tenured teacher to leave, so when they do, "you have to replace them with superstars."
And by "superstars," they mean teachers who have taught AP and honors students. Russell adds that they should be flexible. And Fertig says, "I look for passion."
Fertig is flexible himself. Russell said Fertig steps in and teaches, taking the most difficult students off the hands of the teaching staff, actually making the students open their books and do work. He's not babysitting.
Persistence also seems to be important. Russell said that "some kids are hard to reach for a long time, but if you keep working with them then something eventurally flips."
But how do you attract superstar teachers - who could presumably be teaching in La Canada or San Marino to advanced students - to a continuation school in Monrovia?
"There is always some hesitance," Fertig said. "They need to know the school is well run, safe, and has the resources. We've created that environment. The best and brightest want to be here."
Data-Driven Innovation
Another key to success is using data to modify teaching techniques.
Russell said the teachers examine the test scores to see what they have done that works and what they have done that didn't work, then adjust their teaching.
And, because the same technique may not work with each student, they can select the best technique for different students.
For example, if a student is disruptive, maybe he will be assigned to do his work alone at a computer. And because Fertig is in charge of all the district's alternative programs, he is well positioned to find a program or technique that fits the student.
Other Factors
Another big factor for success is money. Much of it - in these days of limited educational budgets - comes from grants. And, of course, support from the district office is critical. Fertig said the district has been very supportive of their "crazy" efforts.
So, with all its success, you'd think the educational establishment would be beating a path to Canyon Oaks' door to find out how to emulate its success, and, well, Fertig says maybe the establishment would beat a path to the door if its success was better known. "Education would be turned on its ear if they walked in here," he said.
I walk away sort of wishing I'd gone to Canyon Oaks High School, even though as a kid I didn't get in much trouble ... although there was that incident of the - oh, never mind. Anyway, if you know students who might benefit from it, Fertig says the school can even accept students from other districts.
- Brad Haugaard
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