Low-Income Students

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 13: School supplies are displayed at a Target store on August 13, 2026 in Downtown Brooklyn in New York City. Back to school supplies are expected to cost more than 10% more for families amid a rise in inflation driving up costs.
School supplies are displayed at a Target store on August 13, 2026, in New York City. Back-to-school supplies are getting more expensive and families are struggling to pay for them, prompting educators to step in and help.
Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Budget & Finance How to Help When Families Can't Afford School Supplies
Inflation and other economic challenges are making back-to-school shopping more costly.
Jennifer Vilcarino, August 20, 2026
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4 min read
Karen Locken plays with children in an Early Head Start program in Pasadena, California on Friday, April 18, 2025 .
Karen Locken plays with children in an Early Head Start program in Pasadena, California on Friday, April 18, 2025 .
Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS
Early Childhood Trump Admin. Moves to Dismantle Head Start Quality Standards
The Trump administration announced plans to dismantle the federal regulations that have defined Head Start for decades.
Elizabeth Heubeck, August 6, 2026
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5 min read
Third graders at Oak Ridge Elementary School, Ben Vue, 9, left, Genesis Cortez, 9, Grettell Dominguez, 9, and Vanessa Guerra 8, right, sit together while eating lunch on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023 , in Oak Park .
Third graders at Oak Ridge Elementary School in Oak Park, Calif., sit together while eating lunch on Feb. 22, 2023. Several schools across the country have announced they're no longer providing free meals to all students because they've stopped qualifying for the federal Community Eligibility Provision.
Lezlie Sterling via TNS
Student Well-Being & Movement Some Schools Stop Free Meals for All as SNAP Enrollment Falls
A rising number of schools no longer qualify for a federal program to provide free meals to all students.
Caitlynn Peetz Stephens, August 6, 2026
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6 min read
Michelle Ayala, 18, plays with building blocks with campers at LASOS summer camp at Bel Air High School in Bel Air, Md., on July 24, 2025.
An 18-year-old plays with building blocks with campers at LASOS summer camp at Bel Air High School in Bel Air, Md., on July 24, 2025. High costs prevent nearly half of children whose parents want them in summer programs from attending.
KT Kanazawich/AP
Curriculum High Costs Keep 12.6 Million Kids Out of Summer Programs, Report Finds
The Afterschool Alliance report recommends greater public and private funding of summer programs.
Mark Walsh, August 3, 2026
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3 min read
$35.00Soon to be La Porte High School graduates listen to speeches from their classmates during commencement exercises Thursday, June 12, 2025, at Kiwanis Field in La Porte, Ind.
Newly minted high school graduates listen to speeches from their classmates during commencement exercises on June 12, 2025, at Kiwanis Field in La Porte, Ind. For the first time this year, high school graduates from low-income families can qualify for federal Pell Grants for short-term workforce training programs.
Amanda Haverstick/La Porte County Herald-Dispatch via AP
College & Workforce Readiness A New Option for High School Graduates? Federal Aid for Workforce Credentials
Workforce Pell will grant students federal aid for certificate courses as short as eight weeks.
Mark Walsh, May 28, 2026
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6 min read
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A 4th grade student vies for the attention of a turtle during her class’s weekly visit to the Da Vinci Science Center on May 18, 2026, as part of the center’s partnership with the Allentown school district’s Central Elementary STREAM Academy.
Scott Lewis for Education Week
Science Can a Science Museum Reshape Learning? Inside One District's Experiment
A state-of-the-art science museum and a formerly under-resourced elementary school form a rare partnership.
Elizabeth Heubeck, May 27, 2026
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10 min read
Classroom supplies are seen in a classroom in Bowie, Md., on Aug. 15, 2025. Equity sticks are a system the teacher uses to call on students by randomly assigned number.
A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office examines the factors that make it more or less likely a school will be labeled underperforming.
Kevin Mohatt for Education Week
Every Student Succeeds Act These Factors Make a School More Likely to Be Labeled Failing
Schools that educate large numbers of students of color and low-income children are most at risk.
Alyson Klein, March 20, 2026
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4 min read
Students in Cristina Hernandez's International Baccalaureate Math Analysis and Approaches Higher Level 1 work on an assignment during class at Bonita Vista High School on Oct. 10, 2024 in San Diego, Calif.
Students work on an assignment during a high school class on Oct. 10, 2024, in San Diego. An EdWeek Research Center survey shows that teachers in more impoverished school districts say they're less likely to assign homework.
Ariana Drehsler for Education Week
Teaching Homework Assignments Less Common in High-Poverty Districts
An EdWeek Research Center survey examines out-of-school assignments by poverty level of the school system.
Jennifer Vilcarino, February 27, 2026
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3 min read
Volunteers work at a drive-up food and school supply distribution location at Sunset Station Casino in Henderson, Nev., on April 29, 2020. The center was a joint effort between local organizations, including Communities In Schools of Nevada. Communities In Schools affiliates have helped students with a surge of need during a lapse of federal nutrition aid.
Volunteers work at a drive-up food and school supply distribution location at Sunset Station Casino in Henderson, Nev., on April 29, 2020. The center was a joint effort between local organizations, including Communities In Schools of Nevada. Communities In Schools affiliates have helped students with a surge of need during a lapse of federal nutrition aid.
Erik Kabik/MediaPunch/IPX via AP
Families & the Community Q&A What the Lapse in SNAP Funding Shows About the Role of Schools
An emergency fund will help school coordinators with students' needs during the government shutdown.
Evie Blad, November 12, 2025
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4 min read
Pencil sketch with graduation hat bridging the gap between wooden blocks for miniature student to cross.
Getty Images + Education Week
Equity & Diversity Opinion Schools Alone Can't Be the Great Equalizer. So What Now?
When I started as a school leader, I thought focusing on factors external to school was just “making excuses.” Not anymore.
Ornella Parker, September 5, 2025
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5 min read
Illustration of hand with money.
Digital Vision Vectors
Student Well-Being & Movement What Happens When You Give Students $50 a Week?
Students who received $50 a week showed improved attendance and financial literacy, researchers found.
Evie Blad, July 22, 2025
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6 min read
Image of a $100 dollar bill that is cut into blocks for distribution.
E+/Getty
Education Funding Who Will Bear the Brunt of Trump's Hold on $6.8 Billion in School Funds?
The sudden absence of expected federal funds has already cost some educators their jobs.
Mark Lieberman, July 7, 2025
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12 min read
Cafeteria worker Nuria Alvarenga serves lunch to students through a service window at Firebaugh High School in Lynwood, Calif. on April 3, 2024. Demand for school lunches has increased after California guaranteed free meals to all students regardless of their family's income.
Cafeteria worker Nuria Alvarenga serves lunch to students through a service window at Firebaugh High School in Lynwood, Calif. on April 3, 2024. Demand for school lunches has increased after California guaranteed free meals to all students.
Richard Vogel/AP
Student Well-Being & Movement The Number of Students Getting Free School Meals Is in Flux. Why?
New York has become the latest state to make school meals free to all students regardless of income.
Arianna Prothero, June 13, 2025
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5 min read
Willow Palmer, 5, at right, comforts classmate River Yang, 3, as he sits in the safe place nook at the Meadow Lakes CCS Early Learning, a Head Start center, May 6, 2024, in Wasilla, Alaska.
Willow Palmer, 5, at right, comforts classmate River Yang, 3, as he sits in the safe place nook at the Meadow Lakes CCS Early Learning, a Head Start center, on May 6, 2024 in Wasilla, Alaska. Since the start of the Trump administration, Head Start programs have had difficulty accessing their funding and have lost many of the federal contacts they worked with due to layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Now, they're anticipating a budget proposal from the White House that eliminates funding for the early childhood program.
Lindsey Wasson/AP
Education Funding Trump Wants to Gut Head Start. He's Already Begun
More than 800,000 students would lose access to early childhood education if Trump's draft budget proposal is enacted.
Mark Lieberman, April 28, 2025
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11 min read