From academics to activism: helping students reach their potential; the HSEE challenges educators to improve academic delivery and become activists to help our students

Leadership, May-June, 2002 by Steve Olsen

Working in a continuation high school can be one of the most positive and rewarding jobs in the world. Often, the perception is that it must be a drag working with "those types of kids." In reality, those of us who work in the setting realize that the potential upside is much greater than the downside. One might even equate the students to a small, upstart NASDAQ stock as compared to a Dow Blue Chip stock. The potential for gain is great, yet there is always the possibility that one can lose everything.

Passing the HSEE

Our students come to continuation education for a wide variety of reasons, but always with a goal of obtaining a high school diploma. Passing the California High School Exit Exam will be a huge accomplishment for many of these students. We will need to prepare them by revamping our curriculum to address the specific standards that are assessed on the test.

It will be necessary to align the curriculum with the HSEE, thereby ensuring "opportunity to learn" for all students. This alignment of the written, tested and taught curriculum is one step to identify current strengths, gaps and next steps to achieve a high passing rate for the HSEE. This may not be easy, but the majority of our students are here because they want a diploma. If we take away that incentive, we will see our dropout rate soar.

There are many strategies to incorporate the HSEE standards into the curriculum, and we have found that many of the new educational software packages directly address the standards. This is a golden opportunity to review and introduce new materials and teaching strategies.

We know, of course, that some of our students will not pass the exam. We need to develop an alternative certificate for those students who will not pass the exam but are diligent, dedicated and hard-working learners who have developed good personal, social and work-related skills. Perhaps this certificate of completion could be standardized by school districts to give recognition to these students, but will employers or the armed services honor these certificates? This question needs to be addressed and answered so we can be honest with our students.

Most of us believe that the original Academic Performance Index is inappropriate for continuation high schools for a variety of reasons. In many cases, the number of students taking the test is very low, and many of the students are with us for only a short period of time, which makes any suggestion of assessment of progress at the school very difficult. Plus, there is no incentive for students to do well on the test. In small schools, there are also no API incentive rewards for staff, either.

The Alternative Schools Accountability Model (ASAM) is a move in the right direction. The ASAM gives alternative schools the option to select multiple indicators to assess their ability to serve high-risk students. These indicators measure changes in learning readiness, engagement and educational goal attainment; as well as the academic achievement and cognitive growth measured by the STAR test. Also, we are able to choose indicators that are most appropriate to our own school's goals and student population. Each school's performance is compared only with its own performance.

Community involvement and social skills

Most continuation students need to improve social skills. The most successful method we have found is to involve the community with the continuation high school. It's important to have the continuation high school included in community events such as "Student of the Month" programs offered by service clubs and Chamber of Commerce job shadowing days, and to become involved in city commissions and outreach programs to elementary schools. Our students need to improve social skills, and there is no better way than just doing it.

The school administrator also needs to be a strong advocate in the community. Many barriers students face are non-academic and need serious attention. A few examples to pursue in the community would include lobbying to have the public transportation system adapt times that coincide with the school schedule, partnering with the city recreation department to open recreation facilities (skate parks, weight rooms) for continuation students only, and bringing in experts to teach life-long recreation skills (we have included fly fishing, golf, yoga, skateboarding, horseshoes).

We have a city youth commission that advises the city council, school board and police department on issues that are youth-related. Some agenda items include: curfew, student traffic-related issues, alternative transportation to schools and recreation programs.

Sharing strategies across the county

In Ventura County, we have monthly continuation and alternative education principals' meetings to discuss the latest trends in alternative education and to share ideas. These meetings, sponsored by the Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Office, are a wonderful forum to discuss alternative education issues.

We have shared strategies to improve attendance, reviewed new software programs, listened to guest speakers on the HSEE and given input to members who serve on California Department of Education advisory boards. One year we held each meeting at a different school site, which gave us the opportunity to share and take back to our own site ideas about facility improvements, technology, career centers, curriculum and security.