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"With the introduction on Wednesday of a bill by U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa to expand preschool access to low-income families, more children like Tegan may have the same opportunity."

"Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday proposed a new reading initiative aimed at boosting proficiency by using $12 million in each of the next two years from federal assistance funds aimed at low-income families."

"It's harder to snag coveted affordable senior housing in this city than it is to get into an Ivy League college. Almost 3,000 low-income elderly city residents applied the 66 studios and one-bedroom apartments at the HANAC-PCA Senior Residence in Astoria, a $24 million complex that will be unveiled on Friday."

"It seems odd, almost irrational, to hear all the talk of the new Common Core teaching methods and tests to measure student and teacher performance without first figuring out how to address the biggest problem many schools face: poverty."

"Educating children who live in poverty emerged as the top priority when Springfield school board members were asked about topics that deserve attention and time during upcoming meetings."

"It has become a depressingly universal truth in education that children from poorer backgrounds tend on average to do less well than their richer counterparts. But what would happen if you took those poorer families and gave them money, real hard cash? If you make a poor family richer, will their children's chances of success rise accordingly?"

"Michelle Obama, after nearly five years of evangelizing exercise and good eating habits, will begin a new initiative on Tuesday that seeks to increase the number of low-income students who pursue a college degree. The goals of the program reflect the first lady's own life and will immerse her more directly in her husband's policies."

"The report looked at an alarming new analysis of a longitudinal study that tracked 13,000 children in kindergarten in 1998-99. By third grade, only 36% of children were on track in the cognitive knowledge and skills area. Fewer children in low-income families, only 19%, were on track by third grade, and just 14% of African-American children, and 19% of Hispanic children scored at or above the national average on math, reading and science."

"The 2013 Illinois School Report Card released last week for the first time includes a breakdown of the number of students classified as homeless at each public school in the state. Those numbers, for the 2012-13 school year, show that more than 600 schools -- about 15 percent of Illinois schools -- report homeless student populations of at least double the state average of 2 percent."

"U.C.L.A. began identifying foster students five years ago when it introduced its Guardian Scholars program, and the results are promising. There are now 250 current and former foster students at the university. [��_] The Pritzker Foundation recently gave $3 million to U.C.L.A.�s program. Casey Family Scholars provides scholarships and support services directly to students, an average of $3,500 a year to about 220 undergraduates."

"Between 2007 and 2012 the rate of childhood poverty rose in Vermont from 12.4 percent to 15 percent. The number of Vermonters on the state's welfare program, called Reach Up, rose by 20 percent. In some school districts as many as half the students qualify for reduced-price lunches, which means they are from low-income families."

"The United States is one of few advanced nations where schools serving better-off children usually have more educational resources than those serving poor students, according to research by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Among the 34 O.E.C.D. nations, only in the United States, Israel and Turkey do disadvantaged schools have lower teacher/student ratios than in those serving more privileged students."