Lance T. Izumi with K. Gwynne Coburn and Matt Cox, Pacific Research Institute
September 2002
Following the lead of the Heritage Foundation's No Excuses project, which identified high-performing schools that defy the demographic odds, Lance Izumi of the Pacific Research Institute has analyzed successful high-poverty schools in the Golden State. Izumi interviewed the principals of eight California elementary schools - all with at least eighty percent of their students on the government-subsidized free lunch program - that fared well on the state's academic performance index, which is based on their scores on the Stanford 9 and the California Standards Test in English Language Arts. The report profiles each school, identifying those factors that its principal thought were integral to the school's success. Contrary to the child-centered approach taught in most ed schools, these principals report that teacher-directed instruction played a key role in the success of their schools. The principals all supported Open Court, a phonics-based program for the instruction of reading, and many principals pointed to the availability of a full or part time reading specialist or coach as important support for the teachers. The principals also universally supported the setting of goals in order to meet state academic standards, the use of frequent testing to measure student progress in this regard, and the need for regular standards-based professional development, particularly if it emphasizes collaboration among the teachers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the principals were ambivalent about the requirement that teachers be certified, stating that their teachers with emergency certification often performed as well or better than those who had gone through the conventional certification process. The report is available at http://www.pacificresearch.org/pub/sab/educat/they_have_overcome.pdf.
