Continuation Schools

Continuation Schools in the United States

The idea of continuation schooling was brought to the United States, in part, through the efforts of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education as an alternative to a comprehensive high school for students considered at risk of dropping out of school. The continuation school concept was supported through the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, which stipulated that at least one third of the federal funds should go to schools that had programs for working children. This Act was also the stimulus for vocational education in the United States. The Smith-Hughes Act authorized federal funds for the establishment and support of secondary and postsecondary vocational training in the occupational areas of agriculture, home economics, and trade and industry. Enrollment in continuation schools increased in the 1920s until the Great Depression, when work was more important than school, and compulsory school attendance laws were passed forcing more students to attend comprehensive high schools.

Nationwide enrollment in continuation schools declined in the 1930s, and some of the schools evolved into what is now known as vocational or career and technical schools. In some states, continuation schools still exist. Today, Massachusetts provides continuation schools for day and evening students, and since 1919, California has maintained continuation schools for students 16 through 18 years of age who are deemed to be at risk of dropping out of school. In California, continuation schools became universally sanctioned and accepted in the 1960s, and today continuation schools are the state's primary initiative to address drop-out prevention. These schools focus on individual instruction, provide measures to keep students in school so they will graduate, and help students become prepared for careers or college. Continuation schools provide an alternate for students for whom the traditional high school system has failed. For some students not attending comprehensive schools, the issues include need for financial support, school size, lack of caring, continuous failure, and dysfunctional families, among others. Students are provided more options outside of the traditional school system, and most continuous high school programs are degree programs. In the United States, because continuation schools offer services only for students in Grades 10 through 12, the time frame for graduation is 2 years or less.

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