Are socio-economically disadvantaged students condemned to perpetuate an intergenerational cycle of poor academic achievement, poor job prospects and poverty? Not if they attend schools that provide them with more regular classes.

Resilient students in the 2006 and 2009 PISA surveys displayed high levels of academic achievement despite the fact that they came from disadvantaged backgrounds. They beat the odds stacked against them to outperform peers from the same socio-economic background and be ranked among the top quarter of students internationally...