A new report says New York City’s lowest performing middle schools aren’t given adequate resources.

A group of parents, unions and educators – called the Coalition for Educational Justice (Make the Road by Walking is a member) – studied achievement scores and teacher quality. Although test scores are notorious for dropping in the middle grades, the coalition found middle schools with the lowest marks also had higher concentrations of students in poverty and children of color.

John Beam, of the National Center for Schools and Communities at Fordham University, says these schools were also less likely to get high quality teachers.

BEAM: We’re talking about teachers that haven’t gotten their masters yet, we’re talking about teachers that aren’t permanently certified yet, we’re talking about teachers who are teaching out of license. In middle school that’s a particular issue because that’s when kids start going to class by subject matter.

REPORTER: The education department hadn’t seen the report yet, but a spokesman said the city has been closing failing schools and pouring more money into academic interventions.