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"The Generation Next partnership, to be formally announced Thursday, will focus first on fostering research-based strategies for closing racial and economic achievement gaps in Minneapolis and St. Paul, both district and charter schools. But it hopes to expand to suburban districts if it demonstrates results. New federal data this week indicated that Minnesota ranked last in four-year graduation rates for Latino and American Indian students, second to last for black students and near the bottom for low-income students."

"The rankings also consider factors such as graduation rates and achievement gaps, which are differences in the test scores of students considered advantaged or not advantaged due to poverty, race or disability. But Merrill's population of students considered to be disadvantaged is so high the state couldn't give the school an achievement gap score, Director of Curriculum and Assessment Julie Mosher said. The school's typical' student population is too small to determine statistically reliable data."

"While there has been a growing recognition of the correlation between poverty and school performance, little has been to done to systemically address it. Recently, a survey for the Normandy schools indicated that 111 organizations were working with the schools. This activity, unless strategically planned, will have minimal value."

"As an increasingly elite D.C. begins walling itself off from the masses, the rough outline of an architecturally restored yet soulless city emerges. Redlined school boundaries around wealthy neighborhoods keep out less-privileged students. Closed streets and parking restrictions make for a walkable city.' For the low-income resident who must travel longer distances to get to work and stores, a better description would be trudge town.'"

"The chief targets of the LFT's wrath, as they have been for months, are two laws enacted earlier this year. One expanded Louisiana's voucher program from New Orleans only to a statewide choice for low-income students attending troubled public schools to switch to private and parochial schools at state expense."

"In a time of scarce federal funding, the University of Louisville will receive $3.3 million to grow a program for prepping low-income high schoolers for college. The Courier Journal reports the 46-year-old Upward Bound program aims to ready freshmen, sophomores and juniors from needy homes who would be the first in the family to pursue higher education."

"As state lawmakers and members of a Gov. Bill Haslam-appointed task force consider the scope of a possible school voucher program in Tennessee, talks aren't limited to using public dollars for private schooling. Rather, under one scenario designed to expand choice further, low-income students enrolled in struggling schools could attend higher-performing public schools across town, outside their home districts and - if need be - across county lines."

"We are watching millions of children fail to get the right beginning in life while some policymakers and talking heads bicker over federal spending for critical programs such as Head Start preschool. Head Start, a proven family and child development initiative that has helped millions of children start school right for close to 50 years, fails only in its inability to serve all eligible kids due to lack of sufficient resources. Universal pre-kindergarten is a critical step for Kentucky in erasing educational deficits at all socioeconomic levels, but it is particularly important for poor children."

"The Promise Neighborhood project already has received a $300,000 federal grant to start a neighborhood improvement plan, and organizers hope to capture a $30 million grant this year. If they do, the money will be used to bring together more than 20 service providers and government agencies to help the area's 2,000 children with more learning opportunities before kindergarten and outside of school. The Promise Neighborhood, one of the city's most distressed areas, is a 15-square-mile area in East Nashville where at least 68 percent of the children live in poverty."

"Teachers and education technicians, after-school enrichment programs, preschool for low-income children and vocational training for people with disabilities -- all are at risk if Congress and the White House can't agree on taxes and spending."

"Kids who came from families with a high standard of living populated the college prep, honors or Advanced Placement classes. Those who came from families considered low income were in the low-level classes that weren't preparing them for college. How could that be? It seemed statistically impossible that every single kid, because he or she came from a family without money, was intellectually deficient."

"Executive director Roberta Lamont said the role of a Family Partnership mentor is dual -- to be aware of available resources and options while serving as a support, sounding board and encouraging friend to the client. Our job is not to solve problems or fix their lives,' she said. The big piece is the relational match. Poverty can be very isolating. Someone may want to go on to college but be fearful of the unknown.'"