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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Chatham High
100 CAVALIER CIR, CHATHAM, VA., 24531 | Grades 9-12
| Students | Total Teachers | Inexp. Teachers | AP Courses | |
| This School |
665
|
50
|
17% | 6 |
| District | 9,620 | 748 | 9% | 6 |
| State | 1.13M | 81,901 | 9% | 14 |
Chatham High, part of the Pittsylvania County Public Schools district, is located in Chatham, Virginia. The school reports an enrollment number of 665 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 50 teachers on staff.
Chatham High is above the state average but below the district average in terms of the percentage of its students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. On average, 32 percent of students in Virginia qualify for free or reduced-price lunch programs, whereas 33 percent of Chatham High students do. At the district level, 45 percent of students qualify.
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.
Chatham High offers six AP courses, and 14 percent of students participate in those classes.
For AP tests, the school's pass rate is below the district average, with 30 percent of students passing some or all AP tests. Compare this to the district rate of 40 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.
Chatham High has an enrollment rate of 17 percent for math classes, and 17 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 2 percent, and the gifted and talented program has a participation rate of 11 percent.
Armstrong High School, in Richmond, Va., is a higher-poverty school than Chatham High, with 65 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers nine AP courses, and 4 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
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