Joy Dunn, a counselor at Monrovia's Canyon Oaks (continuation) and Mountain Park (independent study) schools, told the Monrovia Coordinating Council today about the success the schools have had.
Continuation high schools are typically, as School Board Member Ed Gilliland chimed in, "warehouses," but Canyon Oaks has gone from that to making very successful students.
Successful like this: Last year 75 percent of of its grads - and it graduates approximately as high a percentage of students as Monrovia High - went on to post-secondary education or into the military; 30 percent went directly to four year colleges; Canyon Oaks' classes are now certified by the UC system as "college prep;" the school has the maximum six-year accreditation awarded by the standard accreditor, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (fewer than 3 percent of WASC visits result in that level of accreditation); the school has been named a "Model Continuation High School" for California; and, Dunn said, students even transfer in to the Monrovia school district from other parts of the San Gabriel Valley simply so they can attend.
Dunn said Canyon Oaks and Mountain Park, which share a campus, "feel like a private school," and now, she said, the school is setting up a scholarship fund to help students with college (Rotary Club is chipping in).
Opinion: Who in the world transfers to a school district to attend that district's continuation high school? What continuation high school has even had one percent of its grads go on to college? What percentage of continuation high students even graduate at all? What percentage of continuation schools are accredited at all, not to mention for the maximum six years. Compared to that, Wow! I wrote about the schools here ( http://goo.gl/gW2e2 ) long ago. I was so amazed that I sent a note to newspapers, educational journals, and major education bloggers, but for reasons that still baffle me, I never saw anything as a result.
- Brad Haugaard
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