This paper presents a design of continuous-time sliding mode control for the higher order systems via reduced order model. It is shown that a continuous-time sliding mode control designed for the reduced order model gives similar performance for the higher order system. The method is illustrated by numerical examples. The paper also introduces a technique for design of a sliding surface such that the system satisfies a cost-optimality condition when on the sliding surface. © 2007 Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences.