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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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Pearland High School

3775 S MAIN ST, PEARLAND, TEXAS, 77581 | Grades 10-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
2,150
128
10% 14
District 18.2K 1,071 13% 18
State 4.01M 269,017 14% 15
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

48%
23%

22%

Take at Least One AP Course

20%
21%

16%

AP Pass Rate

48%
45%

58%

Take Advanced Math

10%
17%

15%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

8%
7%

5%

Take Chemistry

26%
31%

35%

Take Physics

14%
18%

19%

Participate in sports

32%
0.0%

58%

Are

0%
1%

1% Am Indian
4%
10%

5% Asian
15%
16%

13% Black
50%
26%

28% Hispanic
29%
45%

52% White

Pearland High School, part of the Pearland ISD, is located in Pearland, Texas. The school reports enrolling 2,150 students in grades 10 through 12, and it has 128 teachers on staff.

Pearland 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, 48 percent of students in Texas qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, whereas 22 percent of students at Pearland High School are eligible. At the district level, 23 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.

Pearland High School offers 14 AP courses, and 16 percent of students participate in those classes.

For AP tests, the school's pass rate is above the district average, with 58 percent of students passing some or all AP tests. Compare this to the district rate of 45 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.

Pearland High School's enrollment rates in chemistry, physics and advanced math subject areas are 35 percent, 19 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Gifted and talented at the school has an enrollment rate of 5 percent.

Del Rio High School, in Del Rio, Texas, is a higher-poverty school than Pearland High School, with 61 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers 17 AP courses, and 30 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