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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 Sterling Morton Freshman Cntr

1801 55TH AVE, CICERO, ILL., 60804 | Grades 9

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,280
73
27% N/A
District 8,510 431 25% 16
State 1.36M 84,195 14% 11
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

44%
72%

91%
State Avg: 44% District Avg: 72%

Take Advanced Math

13%
6%

0%
State Avg: 13% District Avg: 6%

Take Chemistry

21%
19%

0%
State Avg: 21% District Avg: 19%

Take Physics

12%
8%

0%
State Avg: 12% District Avg: 8%

Are

0%
0%

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

0% Asian
State Avg: 5% District Avg: 1%
24%
5%

3% Black
State Avg: 24% District Avg: 5%
27%
85%

94% Hispanic
State Avg: 27% District Avg: 85%
43%
9%

3% White
State Avg: 43% District Avg: 9%

J Sterling Morton Freshman Cntr, part of the J S Morton High School District 201, is located in Cicero, Illinois. The school reports enrolling 1,280 students, and it has 73 teachers on staff.

J Sterling Morton Freshman Cntr is above both the state and district averages for the percentage of students eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunch. On average, 44 percent of students in Illinois qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, while 91 percent of students at J Sterling Morton Freshman Cntr do. At the district level, 72 percent of students qualify.

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 Sterling Morton Freshman Cntr hasn't reported or may not offer AP courses.

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