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Hundreds of students at KIPP University Prep gathered Friday afternoon to recite a pledge written by their peers. "I pledge to protect the innocence of all children in my world; to support efforts to end child abuse in my community; to believe a child, intervene and report if I suspect child abuse," they said in unison.

As a parent, the most important decision I've made is where my son should go to school. Looking around at the options in my neighborhood in the South Bronx, I panicked: The district schools in my zone were among the lowest-performing in the city.

A five-year study of one charter school system shows its elementary and middle school students have consistently shown strong reading and math skills.

A growing 'grit' movement is taking hold in schools. Teachers at some schools, including Kipp schools, are emphasizing the importance of character skills like persistence and resilience as being crucial parts of a child's education. Rock Center Anchor and Managing Editor Brian Williams reports.

What other organizations can learn from the KIPP network's experiments in taking time for renewal.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg studied at a private prep school, but today he's showing great interest in public schools. Three years ago he donated $100 million to New Jersey schools. Tuesday morning, he attended the opening ceremony for a new public KIPP charter school on 18th Street in San Francisco.

Newark Collegiate Academy is an oasis... In a city where almost half the students don't graduate, nearly all its kids finish, and a remarkable 95 percent of them go on to college.

When Marylanders cast their ballots on Election Day, they said "yes, you can" to same-sex couples who want to get married, to young people whose families immigrated here illegally and who hope to receive in-state tuition, and to casino operators who want to expand their operations here. Now, as we move forward from this election, it's time to say "yes, you can" to another group of Marylanders who are no less deserving of affirmation: public school students from underserved communities.

For four years, they went to school from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., then completed two hours of homework each night. They attended classes on Saturdays. Their school years started in July, cutting one month off their summers. As a result, the class of fifth-graders who entered KIPP Inspire Academy in 2009, many with a third-grade understanding of reading and math, completed eighth grade last week, bound for some of the most prestigious college prep high schools in the region.

KIPP Delta, the group overseeing the network's Arkansas schools, won a $200,000 grant from the national KIPP foundation earlier this year to develop an SMS (Short Message Service) application that will allow them to send information to high school students and alumni about the college admissions and financial aid process through texts.