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"Iowa City Community School Board members soon will vote on a new diversity policy for the district. If approved, the document will set benchmarks to more evenly spread poverty around the district. Faced with geographic, economic and political challenges, though, how school leaders would obtain those goals isn't totally clear."

"The Over-the-Rhine charter school serves 261 students in grades K-8. The students are almost exclusively minority and low-income, from tough urban neighborhoods. Nearly 16 percent have disabilities. They all qualify for the free or reduced-price lunch program because of their poverty level."

"The Imagination Library mails age-appropriate books to impoverished homes for children up through age 5, in an effort to jumpstart their interest in reading and increase their literacy. From birth to 5 is when the brain is growing and absorbing the most,' Fisher said. If they start kindergarten and they're not prepared, they're already behind. A kindergarten teacher can tell when a child hasn't been exposed to books.'"

"Children born into poverty are twice as likely to be in special education, 30 percent more likely to never go to college and 70 percent more likely to be arrested for committing a violent crime. Many of those children will also be more likely to become a teen parent, drop out of school and never hold a job.

"First Book-Long Island connects children to books in a number of ways: The local advisory board and its network of volunteers raise funds or garner book donations and distribute them to eligible organizations (one that serves a population that is at least 70 percent below the federal poverty line); or it helps an eligible organization apply for a grant through First Book National, which then gives that organization access to the First Book Marketplace."

"The initiative will target 14 classrooms that serve about 200 students in areas of the city with high rates of poverty. Low- income students tend to enter kindergarten less prepared than their more affluent peers, and the quality of pre-kindergarten programs can vary tremendously in the private sector."

"Through the generosity of Times readers and a match by the McCormickFoundation, nearly $450,000 was granted to local literacy programs thisyear as a result of the Los Angeles Times Holiday Campaign. The campaign,part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a McCormick Foundation Fund,raises contributions to support established literacy programs run bynonprofit organizations that serve low-income families whose children arereading below grade levels, who are at risk of illiteracy or who havelimited English proficiency."

"The 2nd annual Strides for Education 5K Walk/Run raised more than $30,500for college scholarships for The Foundation for Lee County Public Schools'Take Stock in Children Program [...] It is a nonprofit organization with asolid 17-year history of providing mentors, educational scholarships andhope for Florida's low-income and deserving students. The organization hasprovided educational support and college scholarships for over 18,000children in partnership with more than 800 public schools throughout 67counties in Florida."

"There is nothing easy about trying to boost academic outcomes for poor kids. That is why we've supported a range of aggressive interventions for the Chicago Public Schools over the years, including school closures, charter openings, turnarounds, improved teacher evaluations, a longer school day and changes to teaching tenure, hiring and firing rules."

"Education affects the number of people who depend on welfare, the number of incarcerated people and the number of people who live below the poverty line in America. An investment in education is investment in the future of the United States and its status as an international superpower."

"Enrichment through preschool is particularly important for children from low-income families, experts say. The state's childhood poverty rate is now climbing faster than the national average. That's among the unprecedented challenges facing this generation of Iowa children, the subject of a yearlong Des Moines Register special project."

"Learning to take turns or to identify the colors of the rainbow may not sound like big business, but experts say early childhood education has the potential to become the state's No. 1 economic development tool. Researchers have found that investing in the early education of low-income children, in particular, has produced positive results. For every dollar spent on such programs, studies have found a return of $4 to $9."