by Lance T. Izumi, Fellow in California Studies
Pacific Research Institute
May 2, 2000

Announcer lead: Time for Perspectives. Lance Izumi says that educators should analyze the success of good public schools.

Although public education has many failings, there are some notable success stories. In a recent book published by the Heritage Foundation, education analyst Sam Casey Carter profiles 21 high-performing schools in high poverty areas. One of these schools is the Bennett-Kew elementary school located in Inglewood, California.

At Bennett-Kew, nearly 80 percent of the students are from low-income families and many are limited English proficient. Yet, Bennett-Kew students score signficantly above the national average on standardized tests. Why?

Much of Bennett-Kew's success stems from the common sense approach of its longtime principal, Nancy Ichinaga. When Ms. Ichinaga came to Bennett-Kew in the mid-1970s, student performance was among the worst in Los Angeles County. In four years, however, she raised student performance to the national average and performance has been climbing ever since.

Her secret is simple: implement a rigorous academic curriculum and ignore the education fads of the day. For example, Bennet-Kew teachers have always used phonics reading methods rather than the now discredited look-and-read whole-language technique. In math, Bennett-Kew has always stressed basic computational skills rather than so-called "new, new math" methods that emphasize how students feel about math. Also, limited-English-proficient students have always been taught exclusively in English rather than in bilingual-education classes that stress the students' native language. Finally, Bennett-Kew refuses to promote students to the next grade if they do not meet specific achievement goals.

Ms. Ichinaga says that all students, regardless of ethnicity or primary language, can be successful in a common, comprehensive, academically oriented curriculum. Test scores year in and year out prove her right. Recently, Gov. Gray Davis appointed Ms. Ichinaga to the State Board of Education. That's good news for California students and great recognition for Ms. Ichinaga's achievements.

With a perspective, I'm Lance Izumi.