Yes, I acknowledge, @socaldad2002 , that even the administrators and teachers in poorly performing high schools want those students to matriculate to some kind of college – better if that’s a 4-year college. I agree that it would be naive to think otherwise. However, I think the point earlier posters were making was that, even though there may be an intended level of college within the sights of the h.s., enrollment at that h.s. does not come with an implicit assumption that all will become serious candidates for the highest (“most elite”) college possible. The goal is to prepare the students maximally for what each student can maximally attain, and frankly, an aspect of that goal is to increase or maintain a high profile for the high school among their consumership. But in a narrow sense, the only legal and practical guarantee the high school can offer is completion of their own requirements toward a diploma, and the diploma is the proximate “prize.”