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.

Find a school

Jenison High School

2140 BAUER RD, JENISON, MICH., 49428 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,590
65
0% 11
District 4,605 210 2% 11
State 949K 49,657 5% 8
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

38%
21%

17%

Take at Least One AP Course

17%
24%

24%

AP Pass Rate

59%
76%

76%

Take Advanced Math

14%
12%

12%

Take Chemistry

22%
26%

26%

Take Physics

11%
28%

28%

Participate in sports

48%
0.0%

34%

Are

0%
0%

0% Am Indian
3%
2%

3% Asian
22%
2%

2% Black
5%
5%

6% Hispanic
68%
86%

87% White

Jenison High School, in Jenison, Michigan, is part of the Jenison Public Schools district. The school reports enrolling 1,590 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 65 teachers on staff.

Jenison High School is below both the state and district averages in terms of the percentage of its students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. On average, 38 percent of students in Michigan are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs, while 17 percent of Jenison High School students are eligible. At the district level, 21 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.

Jenison High School offers 11 AP courses, and 24 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams is the same as the district's, both at 76 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.

Jenison High School enrolls 12 percent of students in advanced math classes, and 26 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 28 percent.

Central High School, in Grand Rapids, Mich., is a higher-poverty school than Jenison High School, with 89 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers one AP course, and 10 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