For decades, policymakers have been working to address the large differences in test scores between students from different income brackets and racial backgrounds – an issue known as the achievement gap. A 2018 report studying national data found that on average, Black and Latino 12th grade students perform at similar reading levels to White 8th grade students. Further, the income-based achievement gap is twice the size of the racial achievement gap and has increased exponentially in recent decades.
Los Angeles County serves over 1.5 million students across 2,203 public schools, and the vast majority of public schools serve low-income students of color. Nearly 60% of public schools in the county serve low-income Latino students, and 32% of public schools serve low-income Black students. In 2018, just 21% of Black students and 29% of Latino students were proficient in math compared to 57% of White students and 78% of Asian students across the county’s diverse student body...