Education and Poverty News
"`A cycle of poverty is ensured if young people who are parents don't get through high school,' said Patricia Quinn, executive director for the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy. `A child born to a teen mother has a 27 percent chance of growing up in poverty.'"
"Currently, the state pays for universal preschool in the 31 poorest school districts and funds some low-income children in 116 districts. Then came the economic crisis and the state's preschool expansion was shelved."
"Countless low-income districts already face chronic teacher shortages, and firing all the bad teachers would only compound the problem. As we seek to develop better teachers, we also must figure out how to get more teachers without sacrificing quality."
"Federal stimulus funding, which has supplemented special education and programs that serve low-income students, will drop off after next year, and contributions to the retirement account must begin to increase again."
"Given a 52 percent budget cut in counseling and student services this year, the colleges can't always help them find their way to the financial aid... 'I think for low-income... students to access any services or classes in the system is really a challenge right now,' she said."
"To be sure, Massachusetts school districts here have some important lessons to learn from other states, especially about bringing low-income and special needs students up to speed. But the problem is with the implementation ofstate standards, not the standards themselves."
"They argued against ending the policy of keeping schools socioeconomically diverse, using busing in many cases, to avoid high concentrations of low-income students."
"[Michael Horwits, a social science teacher at Central] also asserted that Central is one of the most diverse schools: 32 percent black, 29 percent Asian, 30 percent white, and 7 percent Latino. Nearly 48 percent are low-income."
"The voucher program, which since 2004 has provided low-income D.C. students with as much as $7,500 in scholarships to attend private schools, has foundered in the Democratic-controlled Congress."
"The annual report on student achievement... would also include where Massachusetts ranks among the 50 states on each measure when comparable data exists and shed light on how well the state's minority and low-income students are being educated..."
"That can result in disparities in how much schools spend per student. For example, in one school with 275 students and 91 percent poverty, the district spends $12,188 per pupil. In another school with 94 percent poverty and 504 students, it spends $9,899 per pupil."
"Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) plans to offer an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill that would continue federally funded vouchers for low-income students attending private schools in Washington."
"Using his 'more carrots, fewer sticks' approach, the president also proposes to restructure Title I funding for impoverished students so schools showing the most improvement -- perhaps the top 10% -- receive more money."
"...[T]hose least well-served historically are low-income and underrepresented minority students, who are less likely than their peers to pursue two- and four-year degrees, and most at risk of not completing college if they do enroll."
"It has placed recess coaches in 170 schools in low-income areas of nine cities, including Boston, Washington and Los Angeles, and of Silicon Valley. Playworks schools are not the only ones with organized recess games."
"While adopting the standards would be voluntary, the Obama administration has said that it intends to withhold millions of dollars in grants for low-income students in states that refuse to join the effort - regardless of the quality of their existing standards."
"Bonuses now given to teachers with National Board certification would be eliminated in 2014, but districts could give teachers incentives to work in low-income areas and low-performing schools."
"After waiting more than a month for Chicago Public Schools to provide him with federally mandated bus service to Fenger, the teen gave up Friday and decided he would return to school in Joliet under the provisions of a law that protects homeless youth."
"'Even though I am part of a low income family I am not giving up on college. This is my only opportunity to beat the odds and better my life forever.'"
"Kern County, according to the report, has more low-income schools left unfunded than any county in California, except for two -- Los Angeles and San Bernardino."
"Although California schools offer more after-school programs than the nation as a whole, the need for many low-income students in Kern County is being unmet and lack of funding is to blame, according to a report released Thursday."
"The school qualifies for the federal grant because standardized test scores in 2008 and 2009 fell in the lowest 5 percent of 128 Virginia high schools that have similar poverty demographics but do not receive funding under Title I..."
"The bill would end government payments to private, commercial student lenders, leaving the government to lend directly to students. It would also redirect billions of dollars to expand the Pell grant program for low-income students, and to pay for other education initiatives."
"The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America... shelled out a whopping $95 million to defeat two dueling initiatives on a 2005 ballot aimed at establishing prescription drug discount programs for low-income Californians."
"Title I schools are those where at least 40 percent of students come from low-income families. In order to get the funding, the Bibb County school board would have to vote to use one of four different improvement models: a turnaround model, a restart model..."
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