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"Recent events point to the misuse of test results. Both houses of the Tennessee legislature passed a bill to punish the families of low-scoring, low-income public school students by reducing Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (welfare) by 30 percent. This move transforms the purpose of state examinations, from whole school accountability to family retaliation."

"What we all know is when you leave it up to kids and schools, the poor kids and kids of color will be disproportionately not in the curriculum that could make the most difference for them,' said Kati Haycock, president of the Education Trust, a nonprofit group that advocates for racial minorities and low-income children."

"Because educational opportunity has much to do with upward mobility, it is distressing that low-income students who qualify for top-tier colleges rarely end up there. Flummoxed by the admissions process and scared off by what they think will be unmanageable costs, many of these students settle for lesser colleges with lower graduation rates, less financial aid (which means more debt) and less marketable degrees."

"Poverty is not an excuse for children, parents or teachers, and we all take great comfort in the extraordinary journeys that some take to success. But poverty can produce enormous challenges, especially when communities and schools lack the systems and supports that teachers, parents and children need."

"Advancing through the state Legislature is a bill (SB 0132 and HB 0261) that would cut one-third of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits to families whose kids make poor grades or skip school too much. It smacks of a crush-the-weak fascism, a spit-on-you disdain for the poor, and reveals an obliviousness to the complexities of 21st century poverty."

"In discussing the administration's proposed 2014 budget, Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters that raising the federal tobacco tax by 94 cents would generate $75 billion over the next decade, enough to pay for federal subsidies to states to enroll all low-income and some moderate-income 4-year-olds in quality preschool."

"Putting food on the table could soon depend on your child's report card in Tennessee, where the state legislature is considering a bill that would make state assistance to needy families contingent upon children's school performance."

"The Wilson County Children's Music Association will pattern itself after similar programs in bigger cities that provide musical opportunities for underprivileged youth."

"The greatest increases in enrollment have occurred among the lowest-income groups over the 2006-11 period; income groups that fall below the median household income threshold not only make up the majority share of the total enrollment, but account for the greatest percentage increase in enrollment at Virginia's public higher education institutions. Lower-income groups are disproportionately affected by changes in costs."

"The Food Research and Action Center states in its School Breakfast Scorecard: 2011-2012 School Year, that increasing participation in the School Breakfast Program, and extending these benefits to all low-income children, can contribute significantly to improving health and learning outcomes."

"Despite being told that Gov. Bill Haslam is now flatly opposed to a bill that would cut welfare benefits to parents of children failing in school, Republican legislators unanimously backed the measure in a House committee on Tuesday."

"Across the country in communities like Newark, the early college high school model is being lauded as a way to provide low-income students with a road map to and through college. According to the most recent figures from the National Center for Education Statistics, 68 percent of all high school graduates make it to a two- or four-year institution, but only 52 percent of low-income students do the same."