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"Legislators this year thought they had fixed a $436 million grant program intended to raise up the state's poorest school districts, but you can't convince folks in rural Calhoun County that they succeeded."

"Instead, P.S. 257, where 73 percent of the students are Hispanic, has found integration to be far more intricate. One of four Williamsburg elementary schools to win a 2010 magnet grant from the United States Education Department to spur desegregation, it has struggled to follow a federal model created decades ago while focusing on more urgent battles: for resources, students and, above all, test scores."

"Low-income students lose more than two months in reading achievement. More than half of the achievement gap between low- and high-income students is explained by the difference in summer learning opportunities. Of course, not all students lose ground. Middle- and upper-income students actually gain reading skill during the summer."

"Gary Huggins, CEO of the nonprofit National Summer Learning Association in Baltimore, said most children lose about two months of math skills each summer, and low-income children lose an additional two to three months of reading skills. And that loss can have a cumulative affect."

"'Either their parents don't speak English a barrier for children of migrant workers who travel from one rural location to another or they come from a poverty-stricken area and there is a lack of education,' Kelley said."

"'Many kids get two meals a day at school. During the summer that's a huge gap. Families struggle to stretch their budgets. The kids who are at risk of malnutrition come to school disadvantaged. It makes it harder for them to concentrate and retain information they've learned,' said Anni Pat McKenney, project coordinator for Healthy Lincoln County."

"Fewer low-income children across the country received free or discounted meals during the 2011 summer break than a year earlier, despite steady increases nationwide in the number of children dependent on subsidized meals during the school year, according to a study released this month."

"Focusing on outcomes is a logical way to assess how students are doing. From standardized testing, we know that Minnesota has one of the largest achievement gaps for students of color in the nation."

"Don't look for me to help elect Mitt Romney president, but those who use the presidential election as a partisan guide to private learning options for low-income children are playing their own brand of education politics."

"The Pure Michigan FIT Program, mentioned in Snyder's State of the State address, will incorporate nutritional signage at grocery stores, efforts to improve access to healthy foods for low-income families and nutrition education for doctors and other health professionals."

"'I think the reasons minority students don't attend college are the same as the widening (academic) achievement gap,' she said. 'Poverty or culture can play a part. But they also don't have role models in schools, there aren't enough teachers or staff for them to look up to or see as role models.'"

"The agreement came after a $3.47 million federal five-year grant aimed at increasing the number of students in STEM fields, including Hispanic and low-income students. The schools received the award in October 2011, and have been practicing some form of the initiative since 2008, when they signed a memorandum of understanding that called for a closer working relationship."