Latest Coverage

"Policies that address the consequences of these changes, which recent poverty figures show have worsened, are more likely to improve the life chances of the children from low-income families."

"Welcome to Fantasyland. Eric Welch just sent me a detailed plan for a public charter school in Fairfax County. He and several other people on the board of what they call the Fairfax Leadership Academy say they want to help low-income families with a school unlike any that local students have had before."

"Substantial educational change will never occur until we as a country decide that enough is enough and make a commitment to change, no matter what it takes. When America realizes all children deserve a stellar education regardless of who their parents are, their socioeconomic status or where they happen to live, we will be able to reform our education system."

"Additional teacher training and collaboration were common threads for many schools. Several said their teachers had not been using the latest state standards or were drifting from the curriculum. Most of the schools serve high-poverty students."

"Klimkiewicz said she was pleased gains were made across all students and not just subgroups of students like special-education or low-income students. She said the school district has had a 100 percent passage rate for students for six years, but she wanted students to not only pass the test, but achieve higher results."

"In Clackamas County, 1,542 students were identified as homeless during the last school year, according to data released this week by the Oregon Department of Education. Statewide, the homeless student population jumped by about 1,500 to 20,545 students."

"Part of the state's extra investment will begin to reach programs like Lessons Learned, which serves nearly 100 children, many of whom are of modest means. The push to give increased reimbursements to early childhood education centers that serve low-income families begins today."

"In return for a substantial hike in funds to help schools serve low-income students, states must measure how all their schools are doing, based on the state's education standards."

"Public School 153 in Harlem, where 85 percent of students qualify for free lunch, the measure used by the city to define children who live in poverty, will lose the most workers, seven. At Intermediate School 195, also in Harlem, where 53 percent of students performed well below average in last year's state standardized tests, six school aides would be let go."

"Almost all of those who participate in traditional Medicare, as opposed to managed-care plans, obtain supplemental coverage, either through their retirement packages (about 40 percent); from Medicaid in the case of low-income seniors (about 15 percent); or by purchasing private insurance policies known as Medigap (about 30 percent)."

"Harmony Public Schools and KIPP-Austin last week each received a sizable chunk of a $25 million expansion grant from the U.S. Department of Education. To win the competitive grant, the charter school operators had to have a proven record of improving the academic performance of low-income students."

"Writing in a recent issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, John Quiggin, a visiting professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University, argues that the Great Academic Leap Forward "is both a consequence of, and a contributor to, the growing inequality and polarization of American society.""