Latest Coverage

"`They're the best,' Broad said, quickly adding that others are also doing well... Though Gwinnett County is in suburban Atlanta, the district meets the criteria for the Broad Prize because it has a high percentage of minority and low-income students."

""There are examples all across the nation of public schools that work in high-poverty neighborhoods, but none of them are here," said Jos̩ Cerda III, a vice president with IFF."

"The award, financed by philanthropist Eli Broad (it rhymes with "road"), was created to highlight school districts making significant gains with low-income and minority students... [T]hose students are less likely than white and middle-class peers to pass exams and graduate..."

"Andrea Thomas tried the traditional college route. After graduating from Ridgeland High School, she enrolled at one of the state's public universities, but she felt like a number and didn't have a base of support."

"The program... comes at a time of heightened concern aboutchildhood poverty in the city. Census data show that the poverty rate among black children is 43 percent, up from 31 percent in 2007 and significantly higher than national rates."

"Students in underachieving poor and minority districts are more likely to be taught by underqualified teachers than those in better-performing, affluent white districts, according to a survey released Monday in Austin that measured teacher quality across the state."

"At the age of 80, Exaltacion Divinagracia thought that life would be easier. The petite widow still works part time at a nursery school... After church on Saturdays and Sundays, she drags a beat-up suitcase from one food pantry to the next in search of enough to eat for the coming week."

"A state education commission is set to release recommendations on how to close the achievement gap between low-income Connecticut students and their peers."

"Among the BHCC night students is 29-year-old Eric Reddin, taking his first college class. Reddin, who served in the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, lives in a Boston shelter for homeless veterans."

"The poverty rate for seniors fell last year, from 9.7 percent to 8.9 percent. In 2009, incomes rose for households headed by people 65 and older, while every other age group lost ground, according to Census Bureau figures reported recently in USA Today."

"Four new board members elected last fall joined with Margiotta in ending the policy of trying to balance the percentage of low-income students at schools."

"The Green Bay School District student population is about 42 percent minority, while minorities make up less than 15 percent of most suburban enrollment numbers. Green Bay also enrolls the most students living in poverty."