<p>Many of those going to the top 20 Colleges are from the City's Advanced Progress Program. These students test in 1st grade (some later) to enter the program and must be in 99th percentile in cognitive ability and achievement to enter the program. Students are taught at a minimum of 2 years above grade-level. They stay together as a cohort, going to the same middle school then on to Garfield. Another program also requires testing, but students stay in self-contained classrooms in several elementary schools and are taught about 1 year above grade level. Many of these students also end up in the HS. Given so many talented students at the outset, I personally believe the district could do a great deal better. That this is a "typical" inner-city school is somewhat misleading. What is not misleading is that the facilities are indeed terrible. It also goes to show what all the data on the role elite colleges play in eventual success. Once the student variable is accounted for, what school the student attends makes little difference.</p>