Low income families, in some cases, have lost hope in escaping the lower class. However, according to the Daily Herald’s rankings of low income schools, Elk Grove has some of the highest test scores, but some of the highest amounts of low income families.

This gives the forty percent of students at Elk Grove that are a part of low income families a chance to be the first to go to college or to receive a high paying job in their family.

Paul Kelly, the principal of Elk Grove High School, believes that “everyone deserves a great education and great opportunities”.

He mentioned the population of low income families has nearly tripled, but the number of AP tests has quadrupled in the past ten years. Low income students at Elk Grove have never had a better opportunity to not only get into college, but be admitted to a high ranking college.

“I think they [the teachers] just care about every student,” and this allows us to achieve the high test scores on both the AP and ACT exams, said Kelly. He believes that every student at Elk Grove is held to a high standard no matter what background they come from.

The recognition that Elk Grove has gotten from the Daily Herald shows that just because students come from a low income background, doesn’t mean that they cannot achieve great things in life.

“I would be proud even if other people [the media] didn’t notice these things”, added Kelly. Scoring towards the top of the list of schools can reassure the low income families of Elk Grove that they can achieve just as much as anybody else.