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Changing Hawaii
IF you graduated in 1948 from Waimea High School on Kauai and wondered whatever happened to classmate Nancy Miyashiro, then you haven't seen recent editions of the Wall Street Journal or Los Angeles Times. Tap expertise of famous
educator from KauaiFor the past 26 years, the California public school principal has been making waves on her Inglewood campus.
Most recently, she won a national award, has been written up in large-circulation newspapers and hosted visiting dignitaries like GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush.
What'd she do? Nancy Miyashiro Ichinaga, 70, merely transformed one of the worst elementaries in California into one of best.
Ichinaga graduated in 1952 with a teaching degree from the University of Hawaii and taught one semester at Kaiulani Elementary before moving to San Diego to live with her sister.
In September 1974, on becoming principal of Bennett Elementary near the L.A. airport, Ichinaga found the school without a single set of basic reading books. It had no identifiable curriculum and housed a student body that was 95 percent illiterate.
That fall, third-grade reading test scores showed Bennett ranked in the lowest percentile in the state. It was the lowest-achieving school in the district.
Ichinaga used that dubious distinction as a starting point for a turnaround.
She instituted back-to-basics reading and math programs, was heavy-handed in dealing with class troublemakers, and fought the trends of social promotion and bilingual education.
Most important, she treated her teachers with respect. Ichinaga made sure they had all the materials and tools needed to focus on instruction, and clearly delineated her high expectations.
"(I told them) everyone had to teach well. If only every other teacher taught well, their good work was likely to be cancelled out by a poor teacher the next year," she said. "And poor teachers would always pull down the average school score."
Bennett's emphasis on a return to basics worked. The school's third-grade test scores in reading rose every year after that. Today, Bennett-Kew Elementary students rank above the 70th percentile in reading and language, and above 85 percent in math.
TO recognize her achievements, Ichinaga was awarded a Heritage Foundation "No Excuses" Award in 1998, and was appointed to the state Board of Education by Gov. Gray Davis.
She'll also spend more time being an unpaid consultant to the L.A. school district after June 30, when she officially retires after 40 years of service.
Here's an idea: Wouldn't Nancy like to come back to Hawaii -- maybe even retire here -- and help improve the public school system of her home state? "I'd love to," says the Kauai-born and -raised Ichinaga, "but nobody has asked me."
How about it, Superintendent Paul LeMahieu? Can't we pay for an exploratory trip so an esteemed educator -- who is willing to share her wisdom, war stories and vision -- can visit you for a nice, long talk?
Or better yet, Dr. LeMahieu: You visit her.
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
dchang@starbulletin.com, or by fax at 523-7863.