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"President Obama's call for universal preschool in his State of the Union address underlines a national shift in thinking about early childhood education, driven by advances in neuroscience and a growing urgency about the need to close the achievement gap between poor and privileged children. A small but increasing number of states have invested tax dollars in preschool during the past decade, and millions of parents are walking their 3- and 4-year-old children into classrooms instead of keeping them at home or with a babysitter."

"The donation will be seed money for expanding a two-year-old food pantry program now in six Multnomah County low-income schools. The donation, and a challenge for other businesses to join the campaign, could grow the program to 24 more school-based food pantries in counties served by the Oregon Food Bank."

"Georgia's pre-kindergarten program will get a turn in the national spotlight this week when President Barack Obama uses Decatur as a backdrop to promote an education initiative to give low-income preschoolers an earlier start on their schooling."

"Wichita and several other major Kansas school districts fought a proposal Tuesday that would take poverty measures out of the school finance formula, focusing instead on test scores. Under Senate Bill 103, districts would no longer be able to count students beyond third grade as at risk' just because they qualify for free and reduced lunch."

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"The Obama administration last week gave Gov. Rick Scott one of the two waivers he's requested for managing Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the very poor. The waiver affects long-term care for 87,000 low-income seniors and disabled people who now receive nursing home or in-home care under Medicaid. Given that Medicaid consumes about $21 billion of the state's $74 billion budget and that long-term care accounts for about 18 percent of Medicaid's budget we all have a stake in the efficient management of the program's long-term care services for our most frail citizens."

"High-rise apartments can reinforce the sense of isolation that already threatens low-income elders. Add security guards and a management office that, like a school principal's, is located near the front door, and the greater neighborhood can seem remote. So some community advocates are trying to connect high-rise residents to their neighborhoods."

"In Texas, the achievement data about students who come from disadvantaged homes is not good. Evidence from the state's latest school finance lawsuit reveals that 47 percent of low-income ninth-graders failed at least one of their high school end-of-course exams last year - after three tries. Collectively, low-income ninth-graders failed 262,343 end-of-course exams last year - after three tries."

"The concept of an assistance program for cash-strapped seniors on fixed incomes has been advocated by Councilwoman Carmen Ramirez, who suggested the idea when the council approved utility rate increases last year."

"Dr. Ramesh Raghavan, a child mental-health services researcher at Washington University and an expert in prescription drug use among low-income children, said there are circumstances in which prescribing medication is a doctor's only recourse to help a child struggling in school.But he added that society should not force doctors into those situations, and should make available other methods to improve school environments and help families and children who are finding it difficult to thrive academically."

"Comcast launched the Digital Connectors Program in 2009 with the goal of helping young adults, particularly from low-income families, learn about computers and software, and pass the knowledge on to others in their communities. Each high school student in the program must agree to donate 57 hours of volunteer time by leading classes, tutoring students and otherwise sharing their knowledge. The classes are taught at the computer center, which opened in June 2010 with a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce."

"It's the latest sign that the District is on track to become a city where a majority of children are educated not in traditional public schools but in public charters: A California nonprofit group has proposed opening eight D.C. charter schools that would enroll more than 5,000 students by 2019. The proposal has stirred excitement among those who believe that Rocketship Education, which combines online learning and face-to-face instruction, can radically raise student achievement in some of the city's poorest neighborhoods."