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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

Worthen Elementary School

3200 MARYVILLE RD, GRANITE CITY, ILL., 62040 | Grades K-5

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers
This School
405
20
0%
District 6,910 355 7%
State 1.36M 84,195 14%
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

44%
51%

43%
State Avg: 44% District Avg: 51%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

13%
5%

4%
State Avg: 13% District Avg: 5%

Are

0%
0%

0% Am Indian
State Avg: 0% District Avg: 0%
5%
1%

2% Asian
State Avg: 5% District Avg: 1%
24%
10%

11% Black
State Avg: 24% District Avg: 10%
27%
6%

5% Hispanic
State Avg: 27% District Avg: 6%
43%
83%

80% White
State Avg: 43% District Avg: 83%

Worthen Elementary School, part of the Granite City CUSD 9, is located in Granite City, Illinois. The school reports an enrollment number of 405 students in grades kindergarten through five, and it has 20 teachers on staff.

Worthen Elementary School is below both the state and district averages for the percentage of its students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. On average, 44 percent of students in Illinois qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, whereas 43 percent of students at Worthen Elementary School are eligible. At the district level, 51 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.

Worthen Elementary School's enrollment rate for gifted and talented is 4 percent.

Greene N Elementary School, in Chicago, Ill., is a higher-poverty school than Worthen Elementary School, with 100 percent of its students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school hasn't reported or may not have a 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