The plight of inner-city schools situated in low income areas is due to many factors. For starters, there's little incentive for good teachers to work in those schools. Money, safety, stress, respect, lack of receptive students all dissuade qualified teachers as well. There's also a completely different mindset at these schools. Often times simply being able to meet minimum state requirements(which are already low) is viewed as a success. Meanwhile, problems like drugs, gangs, and other crime run rampant. It's a wonder that anyone can learn in some of these schools.