In 1966, James Coleman's massive American schooling survey concluded that family background was principally associated with the existing inequities in cognitive achievement. Coleman's conclusion about schooling's minimal influence on academic performance violated an educational consciousness viewing school as the "great equalizer." Two decades after the Coleman Report, this paper explores schools' compensation for class-related inequalities by reviewing the effectiveness of federal egalitarian educational programs and by describing one state study of the relationship between various environmental variables and pupil achievement. Part I addresses three assumptions underlying the rationale for compensatory education in the early 1960s: (1) the total environment profoundly influences measured intelligence and school achievement; (2) schools are part of the total environment; and (3) improved schooling for disadvantaged children could compensate for inadequacies in measured intelligence and scholastic achievement caused by environmental deficiencies. After reviewing research since 1966, the paper focuses on the issue of sustaining effects. Apparently, a "fade out" of early gains is a continuing problem. Part II describes a Colorado survey for third-, sixth-, ninth-, and eleventh-grade levels using regression analysis techniques. Results suggest that school-related variables do influence achievement, but their impact is restricted to the lower grades--perhaps due to a strengthening of peer and community mores during adolescence. Similar to Coleman, the current survey finds family variables more related to achievement than are school variables. Included are 80 references. (MLH)