If you look at Sean Reardon’s scatterplot, there is one dot that stands out from the rest in the third-from-the left box, indicating a high-poverty district whose third-through-eighth graders are 1.1 grade levels above the national average. That is Steubenville, Ohio, in the heart of the Rustbelt and part of Appalachian Ohio.

When Reardon looked closer he found that Steubenville’s third and fourth graders score toward the top of the country and then tail off afterwards. So what are they doing in Steubenville do be so high performing in elementary school? And how are they addressing the fact that their students don’t continue to perform at the top of the country as they move into secondary grades?