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"The governor's plan, known as the Local Control Funding formula,' directs additional funds to students with the greatest need low-income students, English learners and foster youth. But one portion of the plan, known as the concentration grant,' allocates additional funds to districts in which 50 percent of the student population qualifies as being educationally disadvantaged."

"Like much of the nation, Ohio has slashed enrollment and funding in public preschool for children in low-income families, according to a report released today. State aid for preschool dropped by more than half a billion dollars in the 2011-2012 school year, the largest one-year drop ever, found the study by the National Institute for Early Education Research which has tracked state pre-kindergarten programs since 2002."

"For us, 2012 was all about trying to tilt some of the MOOC attention toward the more novice learner, the low-income and first-generation students,' he said. And 2013 is about blending MOOCs into college courses where there is additional support, and students can get credit. While some low-income young adults can benefit from what I call the free-range MOOCs, the research suggests that most are going to need more scaffolding, more support.'"

"That pattern of poor performance was compounded by the fact that what little growth school districts enjoyed accrued heavily to higher-income and white students, not to the low-income and minority students who were supposed to benefit. Closing schools neither improved student outcomes nor saved districts money, and even the strong charters in these three cities delivered more mixed benefits than commonly reported."

"At a news conference in Washington to unveil the report, Arne Duncan, the secretary of education, said children from low-income families start kindergarten an average of 12 to 14 months behind their wealthier peers in language development and pre-reading skills. That is morally and educationally unacceptable,' he said. And from a long-term economic competitiveness standpoint, it is just plain dumb.'"

Sherece Y. West-Scantlebury, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation

"The advisers are recent college graduates who get training and set up shop in high schools with large percentages of low-income students. The advisers connect with students who have the potential to succeed in college and help them take the steps to get there."

"Minnesota's education community has never been more focused on closing our achievement gap, one of the highest in the nation. However, our efforts are hampered when the basic needs of our students are unmet, needs as basic as safe and stable housing. How can we close the achievement gap when thousands of students don't know where they're going to sleep at night?"

"The academic gap is widening because rich students are increasingly entering kindergarten much better prepared to succeed in school than middle-class students. This difference in preparation persists through elementary and high school. My research suggests that one part of the explanation for this is rising income inequality."

"Learning those skills in preschool - things like listening skills, vocabulary, sharing, focusing - add up to kindergarten readiness,' which some studies show is critically important to a child's future success. Especially children who come from low-income families - and about 85 percent of these students do."

"That low-income score comparison still has the voucher program's students as a whole scoring lower than MPS low-income students in math: 12.9% proficiency in the voucher schools vs. 15.4% proficiency among MPS low-income students."

"Offering free breakfasts to all interested students in low-income areas, not just to those who qualify under federal guidelines, is a program that some state legislators are trying to expand to schools in poor neighborhoods across Texas."