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The Opportunity Gap

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.

From http://projects.propublica.org/schools. © Copyright 2011 Pro Publica Inc.

Find a school

St. Cloud High School

2000 BULLDOG LANE, ST CLOUD, FLA., 34769 | Grades NOT CONTINUOUS

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,740
110
32% 33
District 46K 2,890 27% 19
State 2.43M 163,474 19% 13
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

50%
66%

43%
State Avg: 50% District Avg: 66%

Take at Least One AP Course

37%
50%

46%
State Avg: 37% District Avg: 50%

AP Pass Rate

44%
24%

28%
State Avg: 44% District Avg: 24%

Take Advanced Math

30%
32%

35%
State Avg: 30% District Avg: 32%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

6%
1%

0%
State Avg: 6% District Avg: 1%

Take Chemistry

16%
16%

17%
State Avg: 16% District Avg: 16%

Take Physics

5%
4%

4%
State Avg: 5% District Avg: 4%

Participate in sports

24%
0.0%

38%
State Avg: 24% District Avg: 0.0%

Are

0%
1%

0% Am Indian
State Avg: 0% District Avg: 1%
3%
3%

2% Asian
State Avg: 3% District Avg: 3%
24%
11%

5% Black
State Avg: 24% District Avg: 11%
27%
53%

36% Hispanic
State Avg: 27% District Avg: 53%
46%
32%

56% White
State Avg: 46% District Avg: 32%

St. Cloud High School, in St Cloud, Florida, is part of the Osceola district. The school reports enrolling 1,740 students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12, and it has 110 teachers on staff.

St. Cloud High School 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, 50 percent of students in Florida are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs, while 43 percent of St. Cloud High School students are eligible. At the district level, 66 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.

St. Cloud High School enrolls 35 percent of students in advanced math classes, and 17 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 4 percent.

Immokalee High School, in Immokalee, Fla., is a higher-poverty school than St. Cloud High School, with 81 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school enrolls 8 percent of students in its gifted and talented program.

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