Graduates of low-performing schools face hard road

WASHINGTON (AP) — Johnathon Carrington grew up on the sixth floor of a low-income District of Columbia apartment complex, a building most recently in the news for a drive-by shooting that injured 13. His parents told him early on that education could be his escape, and Carrington took them at their word. He graduated June 14 as the valedictorian of his neighborhood school, Dunbar High, and against all odds is headed to Georgetown University. But Carrington, 17, is nervous, and so are his parents. What if Dunbar — where truancy is chronic and fewer than one-third of students are proficient in reading — didn't prepare him for the rigors of college? What if he isn't ready? "I don't think I'm...