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.

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Mc Farland High

259 SHERWOOD AVE., MCFARLAND, CALIF., 93250 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
840
40
10% 6
District 3,150 149 5% 6
State 5.34M 237,404 6% 11
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

53%
99%

97%

Take at Least One AP Course

19%
16%

16%

AP Pass Rate

59%
13%

13%

Take Advanced Math

12%
29%

29%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

10%
4%

7%

Take Chemistry

16%
13%

13%

Take Physics

7%
4%

4%

Participate in sports

32%
0.0%

50%

Are

1%
0%

0% Am Indian
12%
0%

1% Asian
7%
0%

1% Black
52%
98%

96% Hispanic
26%
2%

2% White

McFarland High, in Mcfarland, California, is part of the McFarland Unified district. The school reports enrolling 840 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 40 teachers on staff.

McFarland 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, 53 percent of students in California qualify for free or reduced-price lunch programs, whereas 97 percent of McFarland High students do. At the district level, 99 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.

McFarland High offers six AP courses, and 16 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams matches the district's, each of which is 13 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.

McFarland High has an enrollment rate of 29 percent for math classes, and 13 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 4 percent, and the gifted and talented program has a participation rate of 7 percent.

Miramonte High, in Orinda, Calif., is a lower-poverty school than McFarland High. It does not have any students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers 15 AP courses, and 41 percent of students are enrolled in those classes.

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