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"A report released last week by Auburn University shows that the high poverty levels and low educational attainment among women have a direct correlation to the region's high number of teen births."

"That amount ranks Ohio fifth in the nation for total aid its residents received out of the $41 billion Pell grant program, according to the U.S. Department of Education. In the 16 public and private colleges and universities in southwest Ohio - extending from Edison Community College in Piqua to the University of Cincinnati - more than 60,000 students receive a Pell grant, which does not have to be repaid."

"For Costis, education is a key factor in ending the cycle of poverty and homelessness, and that's why she's working to expand the House of Tiny Treasures program. Currently, 32 homeless children are enrolled, at a cost of $16,000 a year - paid for mostly with private donations. "

"About 60 seniors will receive free assistance from the trainees, she said. The family service currently has 850 frail-elderly clients, most of whom live below poverty levels and need help buying food and paying rent.Unemployed seniors is one of several target groups the workforce alliance wants to help find jobs, said Patrick Cannan, an alliance spokesman. It's also offering grants to help the homeless, young people recently out of foster care and ex-offenders, he said."

"The most substantial improvements show up in the shrinking gap between low-income children and their classmates, an outcome that has largely eluded the rest of the state when annual test scores are released each year. Six years ago there was a more than 50-point difference between what children from low-income households and the rest of the school were scoring on the math tests."

"Two local school districts are missing the mark when it comes to meeting the achievement needs of low-income and minority students, according to a report issued by an education advocacy group this week. San Luis Coastal Unified and Lucia Mar Unified were the only two local school districts ranked in the study by the Oakland-based Education Trust-West."

"Montgomery County has developed an action plan to help more low-income kids succeed in school that doubles as an application for a national award."

"The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted Tuesday night to endorse the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency's bid to administer the county's Head Start program, which provides preschool services for about 600 children from low-income families."

"These teachers know that under such a system, they will rank lower if they spend time teaching ideas that, while important to students, aren't included on the crucial test. They will rank lower if they accept the challenge of teaching troubled children or working in a high-poverty area where students' academic performance is suppressed by fewer opportunities to learn outside school."

"On a chilly morning, some 20 low-income parents convened on the city's Southwest Side to hear a presentation on how reading to their children enhances brain development and school readiness. Hardly unusual -- except most of the prospective "students" were all younger than 6 months."

"After high school graduation, when he turned 18 and was too old to live in a foster home, Macias knew exactly where he was headed: the streets. 'There weren't a lot of options with no money and no job, I was pretty sure I'd be homeless,' he says. But before he could pack his duffel bag, Macias received some happy news. A foster care worker told him about the Utah Youth Mentor Project, a program that matches teens who have aged out of state care with volunteers who provide friendship, advice and help with everything from finding an apartment to balancing a checkbook. "

"Georgia added a fourth category, 'alert' schools, to make sure it could offer assistance to schools that, unlike those with the priority, focus or reward designation, may not receive federal Title 1 assistance given to schools with a high percentage of low-income students."