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"Charter schools that aim to bring low-income students up to grade level, such as the KIPP academies and the Harlem Children's Zone in New York City, generally offer a longer school year and a longer school day."

"Going to college isn't easy. Toss in a few of the typical curves that many single parents face such as poverty, stress and child-care issues and for some, pursuing a degree seems practically impossible."

"Schools make the list if they miss targets in one or more of up to 37 categories -- including the performance of subsets of students like those from low-income families -- two years in a row."

"For many years, diversity in higher education has been measured by how many low-income students and students of color enroll in college. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation wants to make a dramatic change in that definition, by focusing instead on college graduation rates."

"President Barack Obama started the school week Monday with a call for a longer school year, and said the worst-performing teachers have 'got to go' if they don't improve quickly."

"Administrators previously were reluctant to open AP courses at schools such as Wakefield High in Arlington County, where 48 percent of students are low income and presumably don't have the support of college-educated parents. "

"New Jersey's Supreme Court has found in rulings over the past two decades that urban schools were underfunded and ordered the government to fund the most impoverished districts as well as its most affluent suburban schools."

"'They rely on very-low income students to attend their schools, but they don't adequately prepare students to be financially stable,' she said. 'They are not preparing them to have jobs that will let them pay off their loans.'"

"...But like any big-city district, it faces problems. Dozens of schools in the city's urban belt have poverty levels of 75 percent or higher; many of those have low test scores and struggle to recruit and keep strong faculty."

"'The students and families who would suffer the most are low-income and middle-income families,' Halter said.'The very-low-income student may not have sufficient financing to go to school after a lottery scholarship and Pell grant.'"

"Instead of inspiring kids to succeed, our schools only inspire them to drop out. And when they do, they're significantly more likely to go to prison or wind up in poverty."

"Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is about to make a lot of new friends: The 26-year-old tycoon is pouring $100 million of his staggering fortune into Newark's blighted school system after hitting it off with the mayor of the poverty-stricken city."