Latest Coverage

"Scroggins said the nonprofit received a record high 48,000 applicants this year for 5,800 positions. Teach for America recruits commit two years to teach at schools that serve impoverished students."

"What the tests really show is a student's socioeconomic level. Every year when the test results are released, schools with a higher percentage of students who receive free or reduced lunches do worse than those with a smaller percentage. The dirty little secret about the test is that it exposes that the poverty rate for children is more than 23 percent in the United States."

"On the other side, most liberals, labor unions and advocacy groups for the elderly oppose any reduction of benefits, such as raising the retirement age, eliminating benefits for the wealthy or creating private accounts. The National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare says these kinds of reforms would dismantle the program and be detrimental to low-income workers, minorities and women."

"More students are living in non-traditional families and are, by regulatory definition, classified as homeless, said Waupun interim Superintendent Donald Childs. Waupun's free and reduced-lunch population is now above 40 percent in both the primary and intermediate schools, and the district average is above 37 percent."

"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."