Libby Schaaf, mayor of Oakland, established in January the Oakland Promise, a project with more than 100 community partners working to triple the number of the city's low-income, public school students who go on to graduate college. Over the next decade, 55,000 college savings accounts (totaling $14 million) will be opened for children born into […]

Traditional parent-teacher conferences may go the way of dial-up internet as administrators experiment with innovative family engagement programs to increase student achievement, experts say. "Parents are really interested in activities and events that involve interaction with teachers," says Elena Lopez, associate director of the Harvard Family Research Project, a national platform for family and community […]

Tucked among the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia is a high-poverty school district that looks a lot like the United Nations. It was something Harrisonburg City Public Schools Superintendent Scott Kizner was most proud of. "These refugee students feel like a part of the social fabric," Kizner says. "And every day all students at this district […]

Guilford County Schools in North Carolina raised $35 million last year to help fund every high school student's college education in full. The effort is part of the district's recent partnership with Say Yes to Education, a nonprofit that also works communitywide in Syracuse and Buffalo, New York, to provide scholarships and social services. Say […]