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

Stadium

111 N E ST, TACOMA, WASH., 98403 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,685
84
1% 8
District 27.9K 1,530 3% 6
State 833K 42,424 7% 8
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

38%
57%

25%

Take at Least One AP Course

18%
11%

13%

AP Pass Rate

49%
50%

76%

Take Advanced Math

15%
22%

32%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

8%
3%

14%

Take Chemistry

14%
15%

21%

Take Physics

7%
3%

4%

Participate in sports

40%
0.0%

40%

Are

2%
2%

1% Am Indian
10%
14%

10% Asian
7%
23%

14% Black
16%
15%

6% Hispanic
64%
46%

69% White

Stadium, part of the Tacoma School District, is located in Tacoma, Washington. The school reports an enrollment number of 1,685 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 84 teachers on staff.

Stadium 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 Washington are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs, while 25 percent of Stadium students are eligible. At the district level, 57 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.

Stadium offers eight AP courses, and 13 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams of 76 percent is higher than the district average of 50 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.

Stadium's enrollment rates in chemistry, physics and advanced math subject areas are 21 percent, 4 percent and 32 percent, respectively. Gifted and talented at the school has an enrollment rate of 14 percent.

Toppenish High School, in Toppenish, Wash., is a higher-poverty school than Stadium, 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