Patch demonstrated that trend in a story last month. The gap is also apparent when one examines scores at specific elementary schools in Elmhurst School District 205.

Lincoln Elementary School performed the best last year on the math part of the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, which is given to third through eighth graders. According to state data, 67 percent of Lincoln's students met state math standards on the exam.

Here's another thing: Lincoln has the lowest percentage of low-income students locally, at 3 percent.

By far, Conrad Fischer Elementary School, the district's largest elementary, has the highest percentage of low-income students, at 52 percent. Its performance on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness was the lowest, with 21 percent of students meeting standards.

The local schools' results on the exam's English language arts portion were similar.

District-wide, students' performance on the test generally improved from a year earlier.

At Tuesday's school board meeting, resident Tom Chavez, who unsuccessfully ran for school board earlier this year, noted the gap in the results among local schools.

Chavez said that despite what the district's marketing department puts out, the schools are "vastly underperforming."

"A district propaganda piece reports that 92 percent of parents are satisfied with their child's education when Conrad is at 24 percent proficiency," Chavez told the board. "It would be like the Bears' front office saying that 92 percent of fans are satisfied with the team's performance this year with a 3-and-7 record. I'm curious to know which parents were carefully selected by the district's marketing department to take that survey."

The school board did not respond, which is its policy on public comments.

Here is a look at the math proficiency and low-income rates at Elmhurst elementary schools:

School	% Students Proficient Math	% Low-income Students
Conrad Fischer	21%	52%
Edison	58%	8%
Emerson	58%	12%
Field	64%	7%
Hawthorne	64%	5%
Jackson	51%	6%
Jefferson	60%	4%
Lincoln	67%	3%

Source: Illinois Report Card