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Eric Cooper of NUA and Dan Domenech of AASA, explore the poverty issues impacting schools

"While there are bright spots here and there, Camden's standardized test scores are typically below the statewide average for districts in the lowest socioeconomic state ranking known as District Factor Group "A.""

"Some may argue that more investment in Georgia pre-k should benefit only families who cannot afford quality child care on their own. But making enrollment income-based is counter-productive: most school failure occurs in children above the poverty line."

"At Champion Middle School, in a neighborhood with a housing project plagued by drugs and poverty, mired in failure despite years of turnaround efforts, the district installed a principal who had once taught at Champion, Edward Baker."

"Cardozo, near 13th Street and Florida Avenue, is a neighborhood high school that takes all comers in an attendance area that includes about a dozen group homes and homeless shelters."

"'The first step out of poverty and public assistance is a good education. A lot of these kids never saw college in their future. Now, a number of them are looking to that possibility.'"

"Gist's plan would have provided an honors diploma to students who score highly on standardized tests. The plan came under attack from advocates of low-income, minority and special-education students who often score poorly on standardized tests."

"Popular programs such as health research and federal aid to school districts appear likely to take a hit when lawmakers write the spending bill... Republicans promise not to cut the minimum $5,550 Pell Grant for low-income college students."

"This is his best proposal, but we should go further. Decades of data and research have confirmed that test scores are far more linked to out-of-school factors, such as poverty, than in-school quality."

"The foundation is joining forces with DonorsChoose.org , a website that helps teachers find donors for class projects, to offer $100,000 in matching grants for projects benefitting 11,000 students in more than 400 high-poverty classrooms in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools."

"What's important to know, however, is that policy experts have complained for years that the federal poverty measure, formulated 50 years ago, fails to include critical daily costs of living, such as out-of-pocket medical costs and taxes that squeeze seniors on fixed incomes."

"To earn the High Poverty-High Performing distinction, schools must have a performance score above 100 for two consecutive years and have at least 65 percent of its student population enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program."