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

Jhs 157 Stephen A Halsey

63-55 102ND ST, REGO PARK, N.Y., 11374 | Grades 6-9

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,070
104
15% N/A
District 959K 83,265 21% 2
State 2.07M 171,244 14% 7
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

49%
72%

61%

Take Advanced Math

16%
15%

0%

Take Chemistry

17%
15%

0%

Take Physics

9%
8%

0%

Are

0%
0%

0% Am Indian
10%
15%

23% Asian
22%
30%

14% Black
26%
40%

25% Hispanic
42%
14%

38% White

JHS 157 Stephen A Halsey, part of the New York City Public Schools district, is located in Rego Park, New York. The school reports an enrollment number of 1,070 students in grades six through nine, and it has 104 teachers on staff.

JHS 157 Stephen A Halsey is above the state average but below the district average in terms of the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. On average, 49 percent of students in New York are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs, whereas 61 percent of JHS 157 Stephen A Halsey students do. At the district level, 72 percent of students 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.

The school hasn't reported or may not have a gifted and talented program.

The Young Scholars Academy Of The Bronx, in Bronx, N.Y., is a higher-poverty school than JHS 157 Stephen A Halsey, with 83 percent of its students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school hasn't reported or may not have a gifted and talented program.

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