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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Auburn Junior High School

332 SAMFORD AVE, AUBURN, ALA., 36830 | Grades 8-9

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
910
67
16% N/A
District 6,145 433 14% 12
State 611K 39,097 9% 6
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

50%
26%

26%

Take Advanced Math

15%
33%

0%

Take Chemistry

14%
7%

0%

Take Physics

3%
3%

0%

Participate in sports

31%
0.0%

39%

Are

1%
0%

0% Am Indian
1%
7%

9% Asian
34%
26%

29% Black
4%
2%

2% Hispanic
59%
64%

59% White

Auburn Junior High School, part of the Auburn City district, is located in Auburn, Alabama. The school reports enrolling 910 students in grades eight and nine, and it has 67 teachers on staff.

Auburn Junior High School is below the state average and in line with the district average in terms of the percentage of its students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. On average, 50 percent of students in Alabama qualify for free or reduced-price lunch programs, whereas 26 percent of Auburn Junior High School students do. At the district level, 26 percent 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.

Auburn Junior High School hasn't reported or may not offer AP courses.

Enterprise Junior High School, in Enterprise, Ala., is a higher-poverty school than Auburn Junior High School, with 41 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school hasn't reported or may not offer AP 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