Original Research by School Decision on Whitney Young Continuation
Whitney Young Continuation is a small, alternative high school serving grades nine through twelve in the Central Avenue district of Los Angeles. Alternative schools in California serve students who face barriers to traditional schooling—whether behavioral, disciplinary, health-related, or circumstantial—and provide flexible pathways to graduation alongside academic coursework. Whitney Young operates as part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
The school's enrollment is very small, concentrated in grades ten through twelve with no ninth-graders currently present. All students who attend qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a population with very limited household income. The student body is majority Black and Hispanic, with a small number of students of other racial and ethnic backgrounds.
In state testing for 2024-25, the school's proficiency rates were low across all measured subjects. In English language arts, student proficiency reached less than half the proficiency threshold. In math, proficiency was significantly lower, in the single digits. Science proficiency was also very low. These are the only test results available; the school is not part of a multi-year trend dataset, so growth over time cannot be tracked from the data provided.
No graduation rate is reported in the data for Whitney Young. State testing data exists only for schools that administered assessments, but whether this school administers California's standard graduation-required tests or uses an alternative assessment pathway is not indicated in the available materials. A parent may want to ask the school directly about how it measures and reports completion and diploma attainment, and what support exists for students pursuing their high school credential.
The school's attendance, discipline, staffing levels, and detailed course offerings are not documented in the data. A parent exploring Whitney Young would benefit from speaking with staff about what classes and pathways the school offers, what kind of daily structure and support students experience, and how the school helps students move toward completion and post-secondary options.
Whitney Young sits in the Central Avenue area of South Los Angeles, a neighborhood that is predominantly Black and Hispanic and has been historically industrial and working-class. The immediate housing market shows median home values in the lower-to-middle range for the Los Angeles metro area, and rents are substantially more affordable than those in wealthier parts of the county. The zip code 90043 is part of the broader South LA economy, where major employers include the school district itself, county government, healthcare institutions, and smaller retail and service businesses.
Los Angeles is in an active growth and rezoning phase driven by a statewide housing shortage, with new mixed-use and residential projects reshaping downtown and outer neighborhoods. Long-term population growth is projected, even as building has slowed amid high interest rates and construction costs. LAUSD, which operates the school, recently approved a major facilities bond to repair and upgrade aging school buildings, a change that will raise property taxes for families over decades to come.
The district also implemented a full-day cellphone ban in February 2025, a change affecting all schools including Whitney Young. Students cannot use phones, smartwatches, or earbuds during school hours, including lunch and breaks. Most high schools use lockable pouches to enforce the policy.
Whitney Young Continuation is, at its core, an alternative pathway designed for students who need a different structure or support model than traditional comprehensive high school. The test scores reflect that the student population enters with significant academic gaps. The school's value lies not in competitive academic metrics but in its role as a second-chance or specialized route to completion. A family considering this school would be choosing it because their student is already disengaged from or unsuccessful in traditional high school, not because it offers advanced coursework or test-preparation intensity. The questions to ask are whether the school's teaching methods, counseling, and daily environment will meet that student's specific needs to earn a diploma and prepare for what comes next.
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