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.
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Niles West High School
5701 OAKTON, SKOKIE, ILL., 60077 | Grades 9-12
| Students | Total Teachers | Inexp. Teachers | AP Courses | |
| This School |
2,520
|
178
|
10% | 20 |
| District | 4,615 | 340 | 11% | 20 |
| State | 1.36M | 84,195 | 14% | 11 |
Niles West High School, part of the Niles Township CHSD 219, is located in Skokie, Illinois. The school reports an enrollment number of 2,520 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 178 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.
Niles West High School offers 20 AP courses, and 18 percent of students participate in those classes.
For AP tests, the school's pass rate is above the district average, with 88 percent of students passing some or all AP tests. Compare this to the district rate of 87 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.
Niles West High School has an enrollment rate of 22 percent for advanced math classes, and 23 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 26 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
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