Every one of the 190 seniors at Ballou High applied to college this year, a first for the long-struggling public school in a poor neighborhood of Southeast Washington. He’s waiting to hear from his top choice, Temple, a public university in Philadelphia. Ballou ranks among the city’s lowest-performing high schools on core measures. Last school year, 3 percent of Ballou students tested met reading standards on citywide standardized exams. [Path to a new life takes these minority high school graduates back to preschool]He said he never doubted that he would go to college.

Source: Washington Post March 27, 2017 22:15 UTC