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"Under No Child Left Behind, 85 percent of students needed to meet standards in 2011 while 92.5 percent were required in 2012. At Mill, low-income students missed the mark in reading both years. Naperville Unit District 203 has chosen Meadow Glens and River Woods as alternate schools for Mill students because they are high-achieving and have the capacity to accommodate them, according to Kitty Ryan, assistant superintendent for elementary education. Parents have until Aug. 8 to request a transfer. By law, priority will be given to low-income, low-achieving students."

"In 2009, Norfolk Public Schools partnered with Old Dominion University and three area nonprofits to improve the early reading ability of preschool children and the literacy-instruction skills of their teachers. The project received a three-year, $4.5 million federal grant targeted to children from low-income, homeless or high-mobility military families. The grant was meant to be collaborative, with the division providing project management."

"Part of the debate over school reform is about poverty itself, with the reformers taking the view that a great teacher can overcome the barriers poverty poses, while the other side says that the problems of public schools can't be solved until poverty itself is alleviated. Cantor is suggesting an alternative way of thinking -- that students in public schools can do well if the issues they face are dealt with head-on, instead of sidestepped."

"Shatzkin noted a 2007 Johns Hopkins study that found a three-year gap in reading skills among middle-income and low-income students by ninth grade. Two-thirds of the gap was attributed to summer learning loss, she said. Catherine Augustine, a senior policy researcher with the RAND Corp., said the gap could be because low-income children are reading less during the summer or not being read to as often as their middle-class counterparts. We know from other research that low-income children are more likely to be watching TV and playing video games, and are less likely to be having conversations with adults.'"

"Did you know that nearly 3,500 kids in Monterey County school districts are homeless? That includes all school districts - the Peninsula, Salinas, north and south county alike. So, United Way is partnering with local businesses and the Monterey County Office of Education to spearhead Stuff the Bus, a school supply drive."

"Tens of thousands of young children from low-income families could be dropped from Head Start programs if Congress cannot find a way to prevent automatic cuts to the federal budget in 2013."

"City Council members recently approved zoning changes that will allow a developer to turn St. Mary's Carmelite Church into low-income housing for senior citizens. Work on the $10.5 million project is expected to start sometime next year."

"Zais said the Charleston school reaffirms his belief that poor children can learn, and poverty is not an excuse for failure. He said children from low-income families deserve the same educational opportunities that go to middle-class families who move to areas with good schools or wealthy families who can afford private school tuition."

"More than half of the students in D.C. public or charter schools are reading below grade level, according to an OSSE report, and 60 percent of low-income children who rely on free and reduced-price meals during the school year are not reading at their grade levels."

"The nearly 30-year-old CHA Scholarship fund doled out more than $100,000 in scholarships Sunday to recent graduates or students currently in college. The fund was started in 1983 by John Crawford, a youth services employee for CHA at the time. The scholarships are intended to give kids who live in the city's low income housing something to strive for. If their goals extend to college, the scholarships also provide a financial boost."

"Upward Bound, a program that prepares low-income students for college, is awaiting the results of an appeal on a decision by the U.S. Department of Education to halt its funding. Wojnicki, the program's director, learned May 14 that the program -- which has been on the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point campus since 1968 -- would lose its $500,000 funding as of May 31."

"In Backpacks for Kids,' it's a great chance to help low-income and underprivileged kids get the school year off to a great start, and that makes a difference in how the rest of the year unfolds. It's far better for them to begin classroom work on the right foot than struggle from the beginning."