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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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Jefferson High School

4401 W CYPRESS ST, TAMPA, FLA., 33607 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,685
101
12% 28
District 185K 13,292 23% 11
State 2.43M 163,474 19% 13
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

50%
52%

63%

Take at Least One AP Course

37%
51%

49%

AP Pass Rate

44%
42%

37%

Take Advanced Math

30%
38%

27%

Take Chemistry

16%
19%

20%

Take Physics

5%
7%

1%

Participate in sports

24%
0.0%

8%

Are

0%
0%

0% Am Indian
3%
3%

2% Asian
24%
23%

38% Black
27%
30%

48% Hispanic
46%
43%

12% White

Jefferson High School, in Tampa, Florida, is part of the Hillsborough district. The school reports enrolling 1,685 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 101 teachers on staff.

Jefferson High School is above 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, 50 percent of students in Florida are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, whereas 63 percent of Jefferson High School students are eligible. At the district level, 52 percent of students 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.

Jefferson High School offers 28 AP courses, and 49 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams of 37 percent is below the district average of 42 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.

Jefferson High School enrolls 27 percent of students in advanced math classes, and 20 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 1 percent.

Florida Youth Challenge Academy is a lower-poverty school than Jefferson High School, with 1 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school hasn't reported or may not offer a AP courses. The school is located in Starke, Fla.

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