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The Opportunity Gap

Is Your State Providing Equal Access to Education?

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.

Find a school

Moses Lake High School

803 E. SHARON AVE., MOSES LAKE, WASH., 98837 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,955
85
7% 11
District 7,595 384 7% 11
State 833K 42,424 7% 8
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

38%
53%

40%
State Avg: 38% District Avg: 53%

Take at Least One AP Course

18%
11%

11%
State Avg: 18% District Avg: 11%

AP Pass Rate

49%
56%

56%
State Avg: 49% District Avg: 56%

Take Advanced Math

15%
18%

18%
State Avg: 15% District Avg: 18%

Take Chemistry

14%
10%

10%
State Avg: 14% District Avg: 10%

Take Physics

7%
1%

1%
State Avg: 7% District Avg: 1%

Participate in sports

40%
0.0%

40%
State Avg: 40% District Avg: 0.0%

Are

2%
1%

1% Am Indian
State Avg: 2% District Avg: 1%
10%
2%

2% Asian
State Avg: 10% District Avg: 2%
7%
2%

2% Black
State Avg: 7% District Avg: 2%
16%
37%

34% Hispanic
State Avg: 16% District Avg: 37%
64%
58%

61% White
State Avg: 64% District Avg: 58%

Moses Lake High School, part of the Moses Lake School District, is located in Moses Lake, Washington. The school reports enrolling 1,955 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 85 teachers on staff.

Moses Lake High School 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, 38 percent of students in Washington qualify for free or reduced-price lunch programs, whereas 40 percent of Moses Lake High School students do. At the district level, 53 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.

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

The school's pass rate for AP exams matches the district's, each of which is 56 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.

Moses Lake High School has an enrollment rate of 18 percent for advanced math classes, and 10 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 1 percent.

Toppenish High School, in Toppenish, Wash., is a higher-poverty school than Moses Lake High School, with 84 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers four AP courses, 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