Education and Poverty News
"The national network of KIPP charter schools last spring announced plans to more than double the number of its low-income students who graduate from college, by partnering with colleges and universities that encourage KIPP students to apply and support those who enroll."
"...[F]reedom is what CCP provided for Lopez and Joyner, who graduated with associate’s degrees last week. Lopez, 26, earned a full ride to Bryn Mawr, and Joyner, 45, has been accepted to the University of Pennsylvania."
"Outside the schools, their community is one where child poverty topped 50 percent in 2000, according to census and state health data; that is four times the national rate for white children. Here, third-grade test scores are used to project future prison capacity when prison contractors lobby the state for funds."
"From low graduation rates to low standardized test scores, the governor said addressing these issues is essential to decreasing poverty rates on Guam."
"Nearly 80 percent of the students qualify for subsidized lunch, a mark of poverty. The school's makeup is in line with charter schools nationally, which are over all less integrated than traditional public schools."
"Funding for some of these programs is provided through Head Start, the federal program that provides early childhood services to low-income children."
"There are 4,700 homeless students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and less than 25 percent graduate, said Annabelle Suddreth, executive director of A Child’s Place. The local nonprofit works with Charlotte-area homeless children, who are often behind in their studies and suffer emotional problems."
"Targeted for cuts are the Head Start program, child care subsidies for parents who are either working or continuing their education and funding for home visits for children in low-income families."
"The writer then went on to argue that this will 'destroy' the public school system in South Carolina and will be of no benefit to low-income families because they won’t be able to afford private schools. He also complained that private schools are not accountable, and there are bad and good in all schools."
"The Sherwood school with the highest percentage of low-income students is getting federal money for a free pre-kindergarten program next fall. Hopkins Elementary School is screening children for the half-day program. It's likely to be an afternoon class and will serve up to 20 students, said program coordinator Errin Esparza."
"'At a time when postsecondary education is more important than ever, Georgia's higher education policies and priorities are putting up barriers to make it harder for black, Hispanic and poor Georgians to get a college education,' concluded a report from the University of Pennsylvania, Institute for Research on Higher Education and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education."
"There's more to it, though. Almon's study of the topic leads her to believe that pre-schools and schools serving a high-poverty student population are leading the trend to reduce or eliminate play time. The intentions are good - to beef up academic programming for at risk children. But by pushing concepts before children are ready, it could sour them on learning and backfire, Almon said."
"The e-mails show that in February 2010, Mr. Klein and several charter school advocates participated in a phone call with the board members of the Robin Hood Foundation, a nonprofit group that fights poverty. The first attempt by charter advocates to get the State Legislature raise the charter cap had failed miserably, and the main advocacy group pushing for the higher cap, Education Reform Now, needed money for a second attempt, which was ultimately successful."
"Congress has starved the Pell grant program, an educational lifeline for low-income families. This year Congress made it even tougher for poor students to qualify for the full Pell grant ($5,550, hardly a princely sum). This past academic year, families that made $32,000 or less automatically qualified for the maximum Pell grant, but for the coming year a household can make no more than $23,000 to qualify."
"The proposal also would give businesses and individuals a dollar-for-dollar tax credit if they contribute to organizations that would give scholarships to low-income or handicapped students. However, those tax credits could not exceed $25 million statewide in a given year."
"The agency did not release the language of the proposal, but said it would cap the cost of projects eligible for the credit, and limit construction of affordable housing in high poverty areas. It would also reward developers for building houses or apartments for families who are now homeless. "
"Cleveland Schools Director Martin Ringstaff said the city high school is seeking out students for advanced classes who may not traditionally have considered them, including minorities and those from low-income families."
"While U.S. lawmakers pay lip service to the value of families, other major economies, such as Canada and Japan, have some form of paid parental leave. By contrast, U.S. law only calls for unpaid leave to support working parents — an unrealistic option for families that depend on weekly wages, particularly when welcoming a new family member."
"Much of the state's enrollment increase is made up of children from low-income families, which could affect the state's future prosperity depending on how state leaders and legislators handle the new reality."
"YouthBuild provides on-the-job training, with the students helping to build single family homes for low-income families with Housing Hope. They also receive certification and class instruction from Edmonds Community College. The students get their GED through Everett Community College."
"As the Boulder Valley School District figures out where to cut about $6 million from next school year's budget, parents at high poverty schools are hearing that their schools could lose resources. School principals last week received base "staffing allocation" numbers, which at elementary schools include classroom teachers and specialists like art teachers. "
"For more than four decades, Miami-Dade County officials have managed Head Start, the storied preschool program for children from low-income families. But the county now wants out — and 'generous' salaries are partly to blame. On average, Miami-Dade paid its Head Start teachers $76,860 in salary and fringe benefits in 2011, county records show."
"But as one teacher, Rebecca Sayler of Atlanta, wrote to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, 'If you get rid of all of the bad teachers ... we will still have students who are reading below grade level and unable to demonstrate even basic skills in other areas. That's because the main problem in education isn't teachers. The main problem is poverty.'"
"Cummings has had a passion for helping the homeless veterans population for years. In fact, she wrote a graduate paper on homeless veterans during college at Siena Heights. She graduated in 2008 with a master's degree in organizational leadership."
"Reedy said the budget for the entire project is between $200,000 and $250,000, which will come from Title I funds - a federal funding stream earmarked for the education of low-income students. She said it will not affect the budgets of other low-income schools."
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