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[quote=Anonymous]I really don't see "middle and upper class families wrangling away access to the best schools."  The truth is:  the "best schools" are the best because middle and upper class families send their kids there.  Said another way:  the strongest factor correlating with overall school performance is the average income level of the kids' parents.

Another a way to achieve excellent school performance (outside of high-income neighborhood schools) is to have a magnet school that selects for the brightest kids, regardless of income level -- but even in those schools, the majority of the kids will have a high income level.

Anyone who doesn't understand the reality of the income/achievement correlation won't come close to creating policies for improving education for lower income and/or underperforming kids.

Ideally, you should create schools that have a mix of high income and not-so-high income, in order to create an experience that raises the performance of the kids that need it -- but the higher the population of lower income kids, the lower the overall achievement level of the school will be.  Finding the right balance is a difficult tightrope to walk.

But if the school system's policy is biased too far in favor of lower income and/or lower performing kids, then the best performing kids jump out of the system.  And you then get mostly unimpressive schools as a result.[/quote]

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