Latest Coverage

"President Obama visited a schoolhouse in this suburb of Philadelphia on Tuesday to announce stricter financing standards for the government's Head Start program, which offers preschool training for children from low-income families."

"The Pew report seemed somewhat at odds with a Census Bureau study released Monday showing that under a new, alternative way of measuring poverty that includes health care costs, 15.9 percent of Americans 65 and older are living in poverty, slightly higher than the 15.2 percent of Americans ages 18 to 64 living in poverty."

"The federal government's Head Start program provides preschool for 900,000 low-income children. In an attempt to improve quality, Obama plans to require all lower-performing Head Start programs that fail to meet a new set of benchmarks to compete for continued federal funding."

"A new measure of poverty in the United States that includes in-kind income from programs like food stamps, out-of-pocket medical costs and regional housing expenses puts 49.1 million Americans below the poverty level -- 2.5 million more than the U.S. census reported in September."

"Discretionary income refers to the difference between a borrower's family income and 150 percent of the poverty level for that family size."

"The differences are even more stark among low-income students. Charter public-school pupils who qualified for free or reduced-price lunches outscored low-income students in the districts they came from by between 15 and 18 points on the three tests. Since MCAS is graded on a 200-280 scale, 15 points is a very significant difference."

"The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than a household headed by someone under 35, according to an analysis of census data released Monday. While people typically accumulate assets as they age, this wealth gap is now more than double what it was in 2005 and nearly five times the 10-to-1 disparity a quarter-century ago, after adjusting for inflation."

"The San Fernando Valley campus, in a working-class pocket of North Hills, was singled out by Los Angeles Unified Supt. John Deasy in a conversation we had last month about whether low-income, Latino students in this district are doomed to mediocrity."

"It was unclear, for example, how a potential Romney administration would set the level of premium support for Medicare and how much that defined amount would increase as medical costs continue to skyrocket. Though Romney said wealthier seniors would be asked to pay more than low-income seniors, he did not explain how those differentiations would be made."

"'In the face of really difficult challenges, which in their case is high poverty in their system, they've been able to dramatically increase student achievement,' Barge said of Shirley Hills. 'It really drives home that there are no excuses.'"

"'They said every child should be able to learn, regardless of their poverty level,' said Gisela Feild, Miami-Dade's administrative director for assessment, research and data analysis. Otherwise, it would have been good to include, Feild said. 'We all know that poverty is a big indicator.'"

"Low-income students, those eligible for free and reduced-cost lunch, have increased by about 60 percent in both districts. Currently, 26 percent of Red Bank students and 14 percent of Freehold students have limited English proficiency."