Latest Coverage

"Recognizing the systemic barriers that keep low-income, first-generation, and minority students from finishing college, civil-rights groups like the National Urban League, the National Council of La Raza, and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, or Naleo, are moving beyond issues of college access to degree completion."

"West Des Moines' overall enrollment has remained steady in the past five years, while the percentage of low-income students the district serves has increased from 13 percent in 2005-06 to 21 percent in 2009-10."

"Irish, Putnam and Lincoln all score in the top percentile for student achievement for schools with similar populations. We have more students in poverty, and our neighborhood schools serve them more effectively and efficiently than anyone else can."

"It was hardly surprising to see the number of low-income kids in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools had inched up this year. Given the number of Charlotte-area adults who remain jobless..., it's surprising that the proportion of CMS poor isn't even higher than 53 percent."

"Smyth, which takes in mostly low-income African-American children from the community, as well as a handful of students from across the city through a lottery because it is considered a magnet school, did not meet federal academic standards last year."

"Middle school poverty rates ranged from about 97 percent at Spaugh to 16 percent at Community House. High schools' rates ranged from 93 percent at the alternative Midwood campus to 11 percent at Providence."

"In the swath of high-poverty neighborhoods that surround downtown - known as the city's crescent - crime and violence are high and raising children can be a struggle."

"Tuesday, administrators will present a revised 2011-12 student assignment plan that's expected to include tweaks to move minority and low-income students from schools across the county to schools in their Southeast Raleigh neighborhoods. "

"Now Bill Gates, who in recent years has turned his attention and considerable fortune to improving American education, is investing $335 million through his foundation to overhaul the personnel departments of several big school systems. A big chunk of that money is financing research by dozens of social scientists and thousands of teachers to develop a better system for evaluating classroom instruction."

"The overall percentage of teachers with less than three years experience has grown dramatically in one year - especially in high-poverty schools in the city - widening the teacher gap between high- and low-poverty schools, according to a report the group released yesterday."

"As part of the project to develop new ways to evaluate teachers, researchers have recruited 3,000 teachers in seven school systems Dallas; Denver; Charlotte, N.C.; Hillsborough County, Fla.; Memphis; New York; and Pittsburgh who allowed themselves to be videotaped in their classrooms."

"The group provides scholarships to help the 50 low-income single mothers enrolled in the program graduate from college. Women can use the $255 monthly stipend for whatever they need to help them finish their degrees."