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"Imagine a high school where students show up for class only four days a week. You'd probably say that campus is plagued with serious problems. But not if it's one of Chicago-based Cristo Rey's 26 private Catholic high schools, which are finding success nationwide with an innovative school-work model. Now the organization wants to bring its innovative strategy to Dallas, opening a school here that gives low-income students a real chance to make it to college and to attain a prosperous future."

"Citizen Schools, a national nonprofit organization that partners with middle schools to expand the learning day for low-income students, announced a $250,000 grant from the Biogen Idec Foundation to help fund Citizen Schools' innovative STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) apprenticeship programs in Massachusetts and North Carolina."

Grants from the Winnick Family Foundation will enable the visits of more than 3,600 low-income students to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The museum is announcing a total of $20,665 has been given by the foundation to 28 schools in Illinois, Missouri and Iowa. Grants from the California-based organization range from $150 to $1,101 per school."

"The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation opened a new college scholarship for high-achieving, lower-income high school seniors who seek to attend the country's best four-year colleges and universities. In what is expected to be an extremely competitive scholarship, as many as 40 recipients will be awarded up to $30,000 each year for tuition, books, living expenses, and other required fees."

"The Philadelphia School Partnership has received a $5 million challenge grant from the Walton Family Foundation to help create and expand high-quality city schools. [��_] Education is one of the foundation's major areas of interest. It has given more than $1 billion to K-12 education efforts, especially those that expand options for low-income students."

"Clay County is one of the most beautiful parts of West Virginia, especially during the fall foliage season. Clay also is one of the poorest places in the nation."

"Parents of children enrolled in Head Start began looking for alternative child care on Tuesday, after the federal-government shutdown closed nine of the early-education centers in the Big Bend."

"In the two years since Edison schools have switched from serving breakfast before classes begin to after the bell rings, more eligible students are being served."

"A report finds the number of low-income children who eat breakfast at New Jersey schools has jumped by 21 percent from October 2010 to March 2012."

"Schools in New Jersey are feeding breakfasts to more low-income students, but as many as 320,000 who are eligible are still not being served."

"The labor is going to be long and difficult, but this baby is on its way in most affluent countries. Japan and Germany, two countries long considered laggards in the child care area, are now increasing their spending. In the United States, President Obama is keeping the issue atop his domestic agenda, where it is gaining traction despite slim chances of Congressional approval. Many states and several big cities have developed innovative and successful pre-K programs."

"Need evidence that the federal budget cuts enacted under the so-called sequester are taking a toll on people in North Jersey? Look no further than Head Start, the widely acclaimed program that provides early childhood education and other services to low-income children and their families."