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"Incoming kindergartners in some Lane County high-poverty schools will get a jump-start on school during the next eight weeks. Young students in the Bethel, Eugene, Springfield, South Lane and Creswell school districts will attend free twice-weekly sessions starting this week to improve their early literacy and social skills with the hope that they will be more likely to succeed in school."

"A $1 million donation to Rowan University will help 50 low-income New Jersey students pay for their college educations, while a high school support program will help them get there. [��_] The donation comes from Robert O. Carr, who cofounded a Princeton-based credit-card processing company and started a scholarship program, Give Something Back Foundation, in 2001 in his native Illinois."

The Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program is headed toward insolvency before the end of 2016. Without congressional action, beneficiaries could see their benefits delayed or cut by nearly 20 percent.

"The first lawsuit involving the state's new education funding formula is a big one, with potential statewide implications. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, civil rights attorneys charged the Los Angeles Unified School District with shortchanging English learners, low-income children and foster youth by hundreds of millions of dollars. The district disputes the claim."

"Beginning Monday, elderly low-income Philadelphians can receive $20 worth of vouchers for fresh, locally grown produce from Philadelphia Corporation for Aging (PAC). The vouchers, which can be used at 59 farmers' markets citywide, will be available on a first-come, first-served basis and will be valid until Nov. 30."

"The CDC said black children ages 5 and older are five times more likely to drown than whites. County leaders want that figure to fall."

"Marva Collins, a legendary educator known for fostering expectations of excellence for children raised in the poor neighborhoods of Chicago, died last week at age 78. But her legacy lives on, both in the children and the teachers whose lives she touched while she was the founderand heart and soulof Westside Preparatory Academy."

"Up to 150 students from low-income families could attend the University of Delaware without racking up student debt thanks to a $3 million grant from the Give Something Back Foundation."

"To reduce the burden of those loans, Eggers founded nonprofit ScholarMatch in 2010. He took inspiration from crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, envisioning a website where donors would be able to read students' stories and support them financially. The organization has made good on that promise. By this fall, it will have paid out nearly $1 million in scholarships."

"The gap in academic achievement among 37 Northeast Pennsylvania school districts widened. Just two school districts outperformed 35 others across Northeast Pennsylvania in Times-Shamrock Newspapers' 15th annual analysis of academic performance. Last year, four stood above the rest."

"Minnesota is taking aim at social and institutional forces that put the least-experienced and least-qualified teachers in the state's neediest schools. Majority-white schools in Minnesota have half as many nontenured teachers as schools with large numbers of black, Asian, Hispanic or American Indian students, according to the Department of Education. Low-income, low-performing and especially charter schools also have high percentages of early-career teachers and those who are not fully licensed."

"This week, the GE Foundation released a solutions-driven white paper, titled 'The Skills Gap and the New Economy: Implications for Low-Income Students,' that outlines strategic steps needed to help low-income students succeed in college and career. According to the white paper, 'Right now millions of young people are struggling to find good jobs and to launch successful careers, while thousands of companies are unable to expand and innovate because they cannot fill critical positions.'"