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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

Maine West High School

1755 S WOLF RD, DES PLAINES, ILL., 60018 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
2,295
186
5% 13
District 6,770 566 4% 12
State 1.36M 84,195 14% 11
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Take at Least One AP Course

19%
16%

11%
State Avg: 19% District Avg: 16%

AP Pass Rate

67%
83%

85%
State Avg: 67% District Avg: 83%

Take Advanced Math

13%
24%

27%
State Avg: 13% District Avg: 24%

Take Chemistry

21%
38%

38%
State Avg: 21% District Avg: 38%

Take Physics

12%
31%

29%
State Avg: 12% District Avg: 31%

Participate in sports

49%
0.0%

49%
State Avg: 49% District Avg: 0.0%

Are

0%
0%

0% Am Indian
State Avg: 0% District Avg: 0%
5%
15%

11% Asian
State Avg: 5% District Avg: 15%
24%
3%

3% Black
State Avg: 24% District Avg: 3%
27%
19%

33% Hispanic
State Avg: 27% District Avg: 19%
43%
63%

52% White
State Avg: 43% District Avg: 63%

Maine West High School, in Des Plaines, Illinois, is part of the Maine Township High School District 207. The school reports enrolling 2,295 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 186 teachers on staff.

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.

Maine West High School offers 13 AP courses, and 11 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams is 85 percent. This is higher than the district average of 83 percent.

A school's AP pass rate is determined by the number of students who both sat for AP exams and passed some or all of those exams.

Maine West High School has an enrollment rate of 27 percent for advanced math classes, and 38 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 29 percent.

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