Holy Angels, a high achieving, African American, urban, elementary school in Chicago, Illinois offers a model for successful education of ethnic minority children. Despite coming from predominantly welfare supported, single-mother homes, located in crime ridden inner-city Chicago, during the period bounded by this study, 1969 to 1979, Holy Angels' students produced test scores among the highest in the nation. The results of semistructured interviews of administrators, teachers, and former students and archival document analysis suggest that three major elements, namely, a high expectation--high help environment, emphasis on life preparation, and iconic leadership--uniquely interwoven, were distinguishing features of Holy Angels School.