Poor centers go after poor training. The best centers go after the best training. When I was younger I would have evaluated that the poor centers HAD to choose poor training due to low finances. With a lot more experience, in business, government, church and psychology, I am beginning to see it differently now. The direction of causation is opposite to what I first thought!
Doing my marketing calls, I am finding a predictable pattern. The centers with the worst academic outcome do not consider anything but the cheapest and worst training. The centers with the best academic outcome for the students, regardless of their overall budget, are interested in luxury training. They are interested in finding out what is new and available. Of course, the centers with poor academic outcomes are indeed often in the pats of town with lower SES, but the center’s budget may not be lower than other centers. Inquiring on the phone costs nothing in any case. For a center with a lower budget, shopping for a great value might be more of a challenge, but it is predictably not even considered.
Further, while it is theoretically possible to occasionally get unusual values or even excellent service pro bono, by and large there is a correlation between value and cost. Great training like any other item will cost something, Everyone knows this and plans accordingly.
Centers that refuse to consider investing in better training will never have a superior staff and thus will not be able to produce superior results in their students. By contrast, great centers depend upon great teachers. Great teachers rely on and want great training. So centers that invest in great training will have better teachers, and better academic outcomes.
Poverty is a state of mind more than it is an amount of money. The way out of poverty is to invest in education. Wisdom is better than gold.