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The Opportunity Gap

Is Your State Providing Equal Access to Education?

ProPublica analyzed federal education data from the 2009-2010 school year to examine whether states provide high-poverty schools equal access to advanced courses and special programs that researchers say will help them later in life. This is the first nationwide picture of exactly which courses are being taken at which schools and districts across the country. More than three-quarters of all public school children are represented. Read our story and our methodology.

From http://projects.propublica.org/schools. © Copyright 2011 Pro Publica Inc.

Find a school

J. M. Tate Senior High School

1771 TATE RD, CANTONMENT, FLA., 32533 | Grades NOT CONTINUOUS

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,975
113
12% 8
District 38.9K 2,811 16% 8
State 2.43M 163,474 19% 13
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

50%
58%

30%
State Avg: 50% District Avg: 58%

Take at Least One AP Course

37%
14%

8%
State Avg: 37% District Avg: 14%

AP Pass Rate

44%
50%

44%
State Avg: 44% District Avg: 50%

Take Advanced Math

30%
20%

17%
State Avg: 30% District Avg: 20%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

6%
5%

6%
State Avg: 6% District Avg: 5%

Take Chemistry

16%
9%

2%
State Avg: 16% District Avg: 9%

Take Physics

5%
2%

0%
State Avg: 5% District Avg: 2%

Participate in sports

24%
0.0%

32%
State Avg: 24% District Avg: 0.0%

Are

0%
1%

1% Am Indian
State Avg: 0% District Avg: 1%
3%
3%

1% Asian
State Avg: 3% District Avg: 3%
24%
37%

14% Black
State Avg: 24% District Avg: 37%
27%
3%

2% Hispanic
State Avg: 27% District Avg: 3%
46%
55%

82% White
State Avg: 46% District Avg: 55%

J. M. Tate Senior High School, in Cantonment, Florida, is part of the Escambia district. The school reports enrolling 1,975 students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12, and it has 113 teachers on staff.

J. M. Tate Senior High School is below both the state and district averages in terms of the percentage of its students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. On average, 50 percent of students in Florida are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs, while 30 percent of J. M. Tate Senior High School students are eligible. At the district level, 58 percent are eligible.

ProPublica's analysis found that all too often, states and schools provide poor students fewer educational programs like Advanced Placement, gifted and talented programs, and advanced math and science classes. Studies have linked participation in these programs with better outcomes later in life. Our analysis uses free and reduced-price lunch to estimate poverty at schools. We based our findings on the most comprehensive data set of access to advanced classes and special programs in U.S. public schools — known as the Civil Rights Data Set— released by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

J. M. Tate Senior High School has an enrollment rate of 17 percent for advanced math classes, and 2 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for the school's gifted and talented program is 0 percent.

Immokalee High School, in Immokalee, Fla., is a higher-poverty school than J. M. Tate Senior High School, with 81 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school enrolls 8 percent of students in the gifted and talented program.

These data points were reported by schools and districts to the Office for Civil Rights. For more information about the data, see our full methodology.

— Generated by Narrative Science