My parents (and one step-parent) were also public school teachers, and after the first round of parent-teacher conferences, they could usually easily tell which students would sail through and excel, which ones would try but struggle, and which ones were going to actively harm the classroom environment--simply by meeting the parents (or for the latter group, observe that the parents never even showed up). This heuristic had nothing to do with school funding or the race of the student or parent.