Giving Compass' Take:

• Deborah Yaffe reports that recovery high schools offer a valuable tack for teens fighting substance abuse but the programs have not reached the scale needed to address the gaps in the U.S.

• How can funders help to scale up successful recovery programs? What are the current needs and resources in your community? 

• Learn about a recovery high school in Seattle. 

Recovery high schools, which aim to provide drug-free safe havens for students to continue their education after rehab, are not new. The first was founded 40 years ago in Maryland. And although adolescent drug use has fallen in recent years, the federal government estimates that 1 million 12- to 17-year-olds still struggle with substance abuse, with just 180,000 receiving treatment.

Despite research suggesting that recovery high schools help students stay clean and earn diplomas, the often costly programs remain small-scale and rare: The 38 recovery high schools in 15 states enroll just a couple of thousand students. For those who need them, proponents say, recovery high schools offer a lifeline.

Traditional high schools “are not really set up to serve young people who are in recovery,” says Michael Durchslag, the director of Leih’s alma mater, P.E.A.S.E. Academy in Minneapolis. “Students should not have to choose between their recovery and their education.”

Operating as public alternative schools, charters or public-private partnerships—and typically drawing enrollment from broad geographical regions—recovery schools have a simple rationale: Because hometown high schools can bring dangerous temptations, recovery high schools offer students a fresh start among peers who understand their struggles.

If a student stays at the same school, old friends may want to use, and nonusers may not welcome recovering addicts whom they know only as part of an edgier crowd. “If kids can’t find new peer groups, it’s going to be really hard for them to change their behaviors,” says Andy Finch, an associate professor of human and organizational development at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, who is writing a book about the history of recovery schools.

Recovery high schools also help students escape the isolation of addiction.

Read the full article about recovery high schools by Deborah Yaffe at District Administration.