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"Billie Park said her family bought the restaurant in 1982 and used to deliver meals for the Safe Harbor homeless program in Twin Falls. But that program ended in December."

"She raises the question that I have asked myself...: Why do high schools in a city like Portland --with less poverty, fewer social problems and racial tensions and a middle class committed to public schools --perform so poorly?"

Topic(s): Aging

"That makes Obama's push to rid classrooms of bad teachers critically important. It's all the more so for poor students, whose parents lack the knowledge and connections to demand the best for their kids."

"The scholarships, expanded in size and availability through the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery, are designed to increase the number of degree holders in the state and help eliminate financial barriers for low-income students."

"Although 88 percent of its students live below the poverty line, UCA consistently has met or exceeded expectations on Georgia's Criterion-Reference Competency Tests, which determine if students in grades 1-8 have learned what the state says they should."

"What's more galling is that civil rights groups would oppose Obama administrationinitiatives to improve failing schools... And that the basis for their opposition is the claim that the initiatives are unfair to minority and low-income students."

"Mintz, in a middle-income neighborhood, has more than half its students listed as economically disadvantaged, but does not qualify for low-income funding under the federal Title 1 program.So money is, indeed, a factor."

"In Vermont and the nation, low-income children typically score lower than middle- and upper-income children on standardized tests. Some research suggests low-income children slide academically in summer, while higher-income children continue to learn."

"The changes were even more dramatic for black and Hispanic students, children with disabilities, students in high-poverty districts and those whose first language is not English."

Nearly a third of all public high school studentsand roughly half of those who live in low-income communitiesfail to graduate with their class, according to an op-ed by Dorothy Stoneman, president and founder of YouthBuild USA . The author argues that the young people without a high school diploma are more likely to face unemployment and poverty, especially during the recession. Stoneman recommends that Congress continue to invest in programs that provide low-income young adults with effective education and job training. In YouthBuild programs, young people earn their GEDs and learn job skills by building affordable housing for poor and homeless families.

"Almost 1 million homeless students attended public schools in 2008-09, a 41 percent increase over the previous two years and another sign of how broadly the economic recession has struck America."