I teach in a selective government high school but I’ve taught in many sorts of schools before.
Teachers and schools very often have to deal with issues that are caused by, and should be dealt with at, other levels of society. We are there to do our best to accommodate students of all backgrounds and ability levels but if you want all kids to have a chance to reach their potential it’s too late to fix everything at the school level.
It’s science really, and conservative (eek) and liberal (hmmm) and leftist values, just not corporate, individualist shit. Are families economically stable, do they have a supportive community around them, is good early childhood education available, are they fed and clothed, do parents have time to spend with their kids, is education valued as an inherent good, do children feel someone in their life values them and wants them to succeed (scary how low the % of this can be in some areas).
Work towards fixing that stuff (another thread entirely) and the socio-ecomic and racial issues will start to become less of an issue.