by Lance T. Izumi, Fellow in California Studies
Pacific Research Institute
November 16, 1999

Announcer lead: Time for Perspectives. Lance Izumi says that many at-risk students receive better education in Catholic schools.

Do Catholic schools provide better quality education than public schools? Recent evidence suggests that they do.

In a first of its kind study, the Heritage Foundation compared the math achievement of fourth- and eighth-graders in Washington, DC's Catholic and public schools. Looking at African-American students with similar socioeconomic backgrounds, the Heritage study made some amazing discoveries.

For example, the study found that both fourth- and eighth-grade Catholic-school students outperformed their public school peers in math achievement. Also, this performance gap widened between the fourth and eighth grades.

Even more striking, according to the study, was the finding that the impact of Catholic schooling is more significant than family and income factors. For instance, attending a Catholic school had four times more effect on the math scores of fourth-graders as living in a two-parent home, and ten times more effect than attending a more affluent public school.

Such results don't surprise me, especially after my visit last week to St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic elementary school located in a poor Hispanic section of downtown Los Angeles. At St. Thomas, Cardinal Roger Mahoney, the archbishop of Los Angeles, gave a press conference to highlight the 28,000 scholarships given out by the archdiocese's Education Foundation over the past ten years. These scholarships have allowed poor at-risk children the opportunity to receive a high-quality Catholic education.

If the scholarship recipients from St. Thomas elementary are any indication, the program is working very well. Andy Mendoza, a poised and articulate fifth-grader, told the gathering about his love for math and how he wants to become a math teacher when he grows up. Most important, though, said Andy, was his school's ability to use religious faith to teach students right from wrong.

If we want more Andy Mendozas in California, shouldn't we consider school-choice vouchers so other kids like Andy can also attend better and safer schools?

With a perspective, I'm Lance Izumi.