High schools do support the academic needs of today's high schools well. There seems to be a very high percentage of college-bound students, which would indicate that this is the case. Many high schools offer advanced courses that will help the more advanced students, and they offer the regular core classes for the rest. High schools offer many areas of study as well. Courses range from Advanced Calculus to Drama. High schools are doing a very good job of preparing their students for the next levels of education.

For a small child, a blanket can be a lot of things—:a hiding place, a fortress, a portable piece of home. Connect for Kids Intern Kate Ashford profiles a New Jersey program that collects handmade blankets from a statewide network of volunteers, and gets them into the hands of children facing serious illness or trauma.

Research shows that violence is learned, and often it's learned in the early stages of life. A new program called ACT (Adults and Children Together) Against Violence aims to help adults show kids through their own actions how to behave positively and avoid violence.

Just because teens doze off in class doesn't mean they're staying up too late—early school start times and biology play a part. Kathleen Meister reports on two New Jersey mothers who lobbied for a later school start time in their district.

For 25 years, the Association for Children of New Jersey has been the voice for children, demanding action for children who have no power to wield, no vote to cast, no campaign contributions to make.

ACNJ’s roots are grounded in protecting abused and abandoned children. The association is part of an evolution that began in 1847, when the Newark Orphan Asylum was established. Over the years, other child-related organizations were created to care for orphans, foster children and children in troubled families. In 1978, two of those groups – the Citizens Committee for Children and Child Service Association – merged to form the Association for Children of New Jersey.

Do state preschool programs make a difference for kids? In a word: yes, according to a rigorous assessment from the National Institute for Early Education Research. In a study of 5,071 kindergarten-age children in five states -- Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and West Virginia -- those who attended state-funded preschool programs scored higher on early language, literacy, and math tests. The differences were statistically significant, and applied to children of all economic backgrounds.

Investments in preschool for Newark's youngest students are paying off, with fewer fourth graders failing statewide tests, according to Newark Kids Count 2005, an annual snapshot of the state of children growing up in New Jersey's largest city. The state’s preschool programs are helping address academics and overall well-being according to the report.

Based on the averaged freshman graduation rate, a new measure the U.S. Dept. of Education is using to assess more accurately and comprehensively how many students are graduating from high school, 11 states drastically overestimate the number of students who graduate from their high schools. The biggest offenders include North Carolina, New Mexico, Mississippi, Indiana and South Dakota, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education summary. New Jersey, North Dakota and Wisconsin graduated the highest percentages of their high school students on time, while Washington, DC, South Carolina and Georgia had the lowest graduation rates.

Mathematica gives good marks in its report to Congress on the State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIPs) that offer health care coverage to children in families with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level and beyond. In almost all areas examined—outreach, enrollment and access to services—the programs are succeeding. In the 10 states studied, programs were put in place quickly, and overall, families were satisfied with the ease of enrolling children, many of whom remained enrolled for 12 months, depending on the state.

W. Steven Barnett is Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research.