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Anecdote time: The high school I went to served two neighboring communities, one uber wealthy, the other lower class. As such, the uber-wealthy income taxpaye

Anecdote time: The high school I went to served two neighboring communities, one uber wealthy, the other lower class. As such, the uber-wealthy income taxpayers allowed our district to pay teachers in excess of $150k. I think our gym teacher made $200k. Several of my high school teachers were former university professors. And besides being qualified, these teachers were in general top-notch educators of high school students. I didn't notice any difference in achievement between the portion of students from the lower-class area and the portion of students from the wealthy area.

greedo 8y ago
$200K for a gym teacher? Can you share the county/state? I'm amazed at that.
- sushid 8y ago
  I'd guess Jersey or SoCal.
- travmatt 8y ago
  The suburbs above NY (Connecticut) have lots of hedge fund employees and very elite prepatory schools, that’d be my first guess.
nostrademons 8y ago
I was looking more for studies than anecdotes, like the one mirajshah posted. My anecdote is that I went to a charter school that served 23 different communities across basically half the state of Massachusetts. Median family income from these communities ranged from $54K (Leominster) to $202K (Lincoln). And there were very noticeable differences in both behavior and academic achievement between students from the Fitchburg/Leominster/Ayer region (poorer and more blue-collar) vs. wealthy Boston exurbs like Lincoln, Carlisle, or Bolton. Almost everyone at the school was white, so this wasn't much of a conflating factor (aside from some Asians & blacks adopted into wealthy white families, and half-Chinese like me who also were in relatively well-off and well-educated families). Granted, it's a charter school, and my class was the first year they were legal in Massachusetts. This tends to exacerbate differences because you don't go to an experimental charter school unless you're unhappy with your existing school, and top reasons for being unhappy include falling behind classmates or being so far ahead that you're bored. But interestingly, a large number of those who struggled from poor districts went back to their home district, perhaps because they struggled even more when going to a school with a wide mix of backgrounds. This despite my school having a radically individualistic instruction method (every student had a personalized learning plan) and an enviable 1:12 teacher:student ratio.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Another anecdote time: I went to a school that was majority (97%+) Black and wasn’t zoned to any “wealthy” neighborhoods. But out of the top students, the majority were teachers kids, one was the child of a lawyer (now s judge). Only three or four were children of blue collar workers. There has been a severe brain drain from the city. Most of the minorities (I am one FWIW), that were honors students left after graduating and never came back. While the school isn’t crime ridden by any means now, it definitely doesn’t have any standout high achievers. “White Flight” happened shortly after integration in the 70s. High income “Black Flight” happened after all of the children of white collar parents left.
- sjg007 8y ago
  Did your charter school have entrance requirements?
  - nostrademons 8y ago
    No, it was all by lottery, with preference given to students from the school's home town and to siblings. That was mandated by the state's charter school laws.

greedo 8y ago

$200K for a gym teacher? Can you share the county/state? I'm amazed at that.

sushid 8y ago
I'd guess Jersey or SoCal.
travmatt 8y ago
The suburbs above NY (Connecticut) have lots of hedge fund employees and very elite prepatory schools, that’d be my first guess.

nostrademons 8y ago

I was looking more for studies than anecdotes, like the one mirajshah posted. My anecdote is that I went to a charter school that served 23 different communities across basically half the state of Massachusetts. Median family income from these communities ranged from $54K (Leominster) to $202K (Lincoln). And there were very noticeable differences in both behavior and academic achievement between students from the Fitchburg/Leominster/Ayer region (poorer and more blue-collar) vs. wealthy Boston exurbs like Lincoln, Carlisle, or Bolton. Almost everyone at the school was white, so this wasn't much of a conflating factor (aside from some Asians & blacks adopted into wealthy white families, and half-Chinese like me who also were in relatively well-off and well-educated families). Granted, it's a charter school, and my class was the first year they were legal in Massachusetts. This tends to exacerbate differences because you don't go to an experimental charter school unless you're unhappy with your existing school, and top reasons for being unhappy include falling behind classmates or being so far ahead that you're bored. But interestingly, a large number of those who struggled from poor districts went back to their home district, perhaps because they struggled even more when going to a school with a wide mix of backgrounds. This despite my school having a radically individualistic instruction method (every student had a personalized learning plan) and an enviable 1:12 teacher:student ratio.

scarface74 8y ago
Another anecdote time: I went to a school that was majority (97%+) Black and wasn’t zoned to any “wealthy” neighborhoods. But out of the top students, the majority were teachers kids, one was the child of a lawyer (now s judge). Only three or four were children of blue collar workers. There has been a severe brain drain from the city. Most of the minorities (I am one FWIW), that were honors students left after graduating and never came back. While the school isn’t crime ridden by any means now, it definitely doesn’t have any standout high achievers. “White Flight” happened shortly after integration in the 70s. High income “Black Flight” happened after all of the children of white collar parents left.
sjg007 8y ago
Did your charter school have entrance requirements?
- nostrademons 8y ago
  No, it was all by lottery, with preference given to students from the school's home town and to siblings. That was mandated by the state's charter school laws.