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"We readily recognize the consistent, ironclad law of association between poverty and educational achievement and attainment. However, we persist in school reform strategies that, despite success at the margins, regularly fail to address the factors associated with poverty that, on average, tend to impede student learning."

"'We've been hearing a lot about the need to assist low-income children with food during the summer and we've decided to see what we could do to help them,' said Marcie Reynolds, director of Cooperative Care Center."

"At Williams, as in other schools surrounded by poverty and violence, this is the work that goes unseen. While officials debate test scores and tax dollars, teachers count victories in students who keep trying to learn when their worlds are falling apart"

"Her ultimate assessment is that the breakfast offerings may exacerbate the obesity problem. ''Poverty and hunger are real issues, yes,' she said, 'but this is not the way to fix it.'"

"Myth 1: Our schools are failing. It's true that schools with large numbers of low-income and English-as-a-second-language students don't perform as well as those with lots of middle- and upper-middle-class students who speak only English."

"That's because the foundation looks at two factors when deciding which schools need a boost --first, which schools have the most low-income students, minority students and students learning English as a second language."

"Several hundred men, women and children will sleep again under bridges, in vacant houses or in crowded shelters when the state s eight winter shelters close this spring, homeless advocates said Friday."

"Offering ongoing, job-embedded professional development that addresses instruction for reaching all students, positive ethnic and racial relations, and the impact of poverty and social class on academic achievement."

"Students affected by home foreclosures, poverty and single parenthood are more likely to fall victim to repeated absenteeism. Low-income children are four times more likely to be chronically absent than their higher-income peers, according to Chang's research."

"Education officials announced... that a soon-to-close Kansas City charter high school misspent more than $256,000 in federal money. The Missouri Department of Elementary... said the issue is Title I money that is allocated for serving students from low-income families."

"When about 90 percent of a student population is on the federal free or reduced lunch program, there are some realities that principals and teachers face. For parents of those students, what takes priority: Teaching kids the multiplication tables, or getting food on their plates?"

"The General Assembly made a commitment a few years ago to improve the low wages of paraprofessionals by bringing their salaries to the federal poverty level for a family of four. Today, a Step I instructional paraprofessional earns only $17,670 per year. "