Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to determine to what extent comprehensive high school administrators and counselors from Southern California perceive the model continuation high schools in their districts are meeting the California Department of Education's (CDE's) model continuation high school quality indicators and determine to what extent they perceive the importance of each of the CDE's model school quality criteria, and (b) to determine what comprehensive high school administrators and counselors from Southern California recommend to increase positive perceptions of the CDE model continuation high school quality indicators. Method. This multiple-case study used descriptive research to identify variables. Two research instruments were used: (a) a questionnaire with 25 Likert-scale questions and a 5-part open-ended question referencing the CDE model continuation high school quality indicators and (b) focus group interviews regarding perceptions of the CDE model continuation high school quality indicators being met in school districts and their importance. The sample was 6 comprehensive high schools in Southern California districts with recognized model continuation high schools. Twenty-eight administrators and 32 counselors agreed to participate. The researcher used a cross-case synthesis to analysis the results of the focus group interviews and descriptive research to analyze data from the questionnaire. Findings. The focus group interviews revealed that comprehensive high school administrators and counselors perceived the CDE quality indicators were being met at the model continuation high schools in their districts. The questionnaire revealed that the comprehensive high school administrators and counselors perceived all the quality indicators as important qualities needed in continuation high schools. Lastly, the comprehensive high school administrators and counselors gave similar recommendations to increase positive perceptions at continuation high schools. Conclusions. The study identified 63 key findings. Based on these findings, the comprehensive high school administrators perceived that the quality indicators were being met in their districts and that all the quality indicators are important for model continuation high schools. Recommendations. Recommendations for future studies include changing the methodology to a quantitative or qualitative phenomenological study; conducting studies involving a larger, generalizable sample across all or different California regions; and conducting similar studies on perceptions of continuation high school staff members.