Parental income/class is the best predictor of standardized test scores, & not just in the US -- in every country you look at, including places like Sweden which supposedly make much more effort to equalize environment & income & enrich learning for all.
And the gap is not just between the poor and everyone else: it's stepwise: the somewhat poor do better than the deeply poor, the middle class does better than the somewhat poor, the upper middle class does better than the middle/working class, and the superrich do better than the upper middle class.
You can speculate about why; my speculation is that it's the cumulative effect of greater access to resources, which includes educated parents that talk to you, take you to lots of learning experiences, having books and other learning tools in the home, having formal enrichment programs, better schools, different expectations and life experiences, more stable home life, better nutrition -- everything and anything you can think of.
And despite the enrichment Igel speaks of, the gap, though it can be reduced, has never been eliminated anywhere to my knowledge.
Of course this is statistical -- individual children may not follow the pattern (the genius from the slums, the poor performer from the 1%) -- but the majority fall within the statistical norm.
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