ProPublica

Journalism in the Public Interest

Is Your State Providing Equal Access to Education?

This database was last updated in January 2013 and should only be used as a historical snapshot of data from the 2009-10 school year. For more recent data on public and charter schools, check out Miseducation.

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.

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Proviso West High School

4701 HARRISON ST, HILLSIDE, ILL., 60162 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
2,485
154
6% 11
District 5,050 314 7% 7
State 1.36M 84,195 14% 11
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

44%
39%

34%

Take at Least One AP Course

19%
5%

7%

AP Pass Rate

67%
0%

0%

Take Advanced Math

13%
9%

7%

Take Chemistry

21%
16%

26%

Take Physics

12%
9%

9%

Participate in sports

49%
0.0%

29%

Are

0%
0%

0% Am Indian
5%
1%

1% Asian
24%
61%

59% Black
27%
35%

37% Hispanic
43%
4%

3% White

Proviso West High School, part of the Proviso Township High School District 209R, is located in Hillside, Illinois. The school reports enrolling 2,485 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 154 teachers on staff.

Proviso West High 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 34 percent of students at Proviso West High School are eligible. At the district level, 39 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.

Proviso West High School offers 11 AP courses, and 7 percent of students participate in those classes.

Proviso West High School has an enrollment rate of 7 percent for advanced math classes, and 26 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 9 percent.

Chicago Vocational Career Acad High School, in Chicago, Ill., is a higher-poverty school than Proviso West High School, with 100 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers two AP courses, and 3 percent of students are enrolled in those 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