It is well established that socioeconomic disparities exist in today’s P–12 schools. One high school has an Astroturf football field and an indoor swimming pool; the high school next door runs out of copy paper in March, so teachers make-due through the end of the school year. A first-grade teacher in one classroom holds a master’s degree in literacy; the first-grade teacher across the hall is certified in middle school mathematics. English learners at a third school perform poorly on the eighth-grade achievement test although eighth graders overall achieve a score of 90 percent or higher.
