Reduced rate internet and computers for households below $25,000

Families who qualify for free school lunches will be able to sign up for $9.95 a month high-speed Internet services from top cable providers.

Further, families eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches will be able to buy low-cost computers.

Specifically, households need at least one child that participates in the National School Lunch Program to be eligible for the reduced-cost high-speed Internet service.

The initiative is part of the Federal Communications Commission's effort to extend affordable broadband Internet access across the United States.

A third of Americans, some 100 million people, do not have high-speed Internet services in their homes, with cost being among the top barriers to broadband adoption.

A Commerce Department report on U.S. broadband adoption released on Wednesday found that only 43 percent of households with annual incomes below $25,000 had broadband access at home, while 93 percent of households with incomes exceeding $100,000 had broadband.

Eligible families will be able to sign up for the service during a three-year period starting in the spring in some areas, with the offer going nationwide by next September to coincide with the school year.

"Providing our children with a quality education requires much more than the teaching and learning that takes place inside of the classroom," said Michael Powell, head of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association.

Families can enjoy the discounted rate for two years. Source

Report: Percentage of high-poverty schools rises

The percentage of public schools where more than three quarters of students are eligible for free or reduced price lunch--a key indicator of poverty--has increased in the past decade, and children at these schools are less likely to attend college or be taught by teachers with advanced degrees.

The findings come from a special report on high poverty schools included in the 2010 Condition of Education study, which reports on a broad range of academic indicators across K-12 and higher education.

The U.S. Department of Education report released Thursday found that the percent of high poverty schools rose from 12 to 17 percent between the 1999-2000 and 2007-2008 school years, even before the current recession was fully felt. By comparison, the overall poverty rate for children increased from 17 to 18 percent, leading researchers to believe that that a higher percentage of poor kids were signing up for the meal program.

Read the entire article here.