[MrMon]

If one wanted to be controversial, you could compare schools where everything is identical except for the ethnic makeup. Since I'm switching to teaching after careeers elsewhere, I get to read tons of bogus theories on why students succeed or fail. Most of the theories start out to the left of Karl Marx, so they're pretty worthless, even if trendy. But if I had to pick one factor that determines success over all else, it would be culture. Some kids come from a culture that demands educational success and some don't, those that do do better than those that don't have the emphasis, regardless of income, teacher pay, resources, etc. I'd love to see a study that could back that up.