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Find the latest stories, research, and insights on policies, programs, and ideas shaping the national conversation on poverty and economic mobility.
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Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity leads research and consulting initiatives that identify and address barriers to economic well-being.
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State
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Reno Gazette-Journal, January 5, 2011: Upward Bound gives students more choices
"They are students in the nearly 45-year-old Upward Bound program, a federal grant-funded student outreach program meant to foster a broader college consciousness in lower-income students whose families have never had a member earn a four-year degree."
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 5, 2011: The next big reform movement for education is about to begin
"School districts and their local partners in inner cities and rural communities are overcoming poverty and family breakdown to create high-performing schools, including charters and traditional public schools."
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The Associated Press, January 5, 2011: NJ top court has tough questions on school funding
"The Education Law Center, which represents children in low-income cities, argued that it was because the constitution requires the state to provide children a "thorough and efficient education." "
Associated Press, January 4, 2011: New law labels interns 'highly qualified teachers'
"The San Francisco-based appeals court struck down that policy, siding with low-income families in Richmond, Hayward and Los Angeles that claimed that a disproportionate number of uncredentialed teachers were teaching in their schools."
The New York Times, January 4, 2011: Touring Schools That Work, Chancellor Says New Approach Is Needed at Those That Don't
"She visited one school in each borough, serving different grades, most of them with similar student populations: primarily black and Latino students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a snapshot of a system where minorities are the majority and poverty is pervasive."
The Bradenton Herald, January 4, 2011: Teachers learn about homeless students
"About 1,080 homeless children are enrolled in Manatee County schools. The course on homelessness was one of more than 100 offered to educators looking to improve their teaching techniques and strategies in their classrooms."
Los Angeles Times, January 2, 2011: The upward mobility gap
"Among children born into low-income households, more than two-thirds grow up to earn a below-average income, and only 6% make it all the way up the ladder into the affluent top one-fifth of income earners, according to a study by economists at Washington's Brookings Institution."
Orange County Register, January 2, 2011: School gives hope to low-income students, families
"Danielle attended kindergarten at Project HOPE School while living at Isaiah House. Project HOPE is an Orange-based school that provides education and other programs to homeless children."
Lowell Sun, January 2, 2011: Study: Education helped Bay State through downturn
"...Massachusetts lost fewer jobs than most states and maintained higher wages, all while avoiding a significant increase in poverty, according to 'The State of Working Massachusetts,' a report prepared by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a nonpartisan think-tank..."
The New York Times, January 1, 2011: Universities Are Challenged as Demographics Shift
"Nationally, 52 percent of Hispanic students and 58 percent of black students are unable to earn a bachelor's degree in six years, compared with 40 percent of white students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics."
Charlotte Observer, January 1, 2011: Nonprofit for at-risk students faces an uphill year of its own
"Communities in Schools, which offers a variety of support programs for mostly low-income students, has worked with tens of thousands of Mecklenburg youths, many of them first-generation college graduates."
