What phrase best applies to the academic fate of economically disadvantaged children?

They tend to be "behind at the starting gate," because they have not had the home-life that will give them the best chance of starting out and developing properly, and will continue to fall behind as the years progress because they still do not have support systems in place that will assist them in achieving their goals.

“ Do worse on tests of reading readiness and math ”, “ fall behind grades or get a late start” and “ don't graduate high school” are example of phrases that best applies to the academic fate of economically disadvantaged children.