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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Okeeheelee Middle School

2200 PINEHURST DR, WEST PALM BEACH, FLA., 33413 | Grades 6-8

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers
This School
1,310
86
33%
District 163K 10,936 20%
State 2.43M 163,474 19%
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

50%
44%

60%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

6%
11%

2%

Are

0%
1%

1% Am Indian
3%
3%

2% Asian
24%
28%

15% Black
27%
29%

63% Hispanic
46%
39%

20% White

Okeeheelee Middle School, part of the Palm Beach County district, is located in West Palm Beach, Florida. The school reports an enrollment number of 1,310 students in grades six through eight, and it has 86 teachers on staff.

Okeeheelee Middle School is above both the state and district averages for the percentage of students eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunch. On average, 50 percent of students in Florida qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, while 60 percent of students at Okeeheelee Middle School do. At the district level, 44 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.

Okeeheelee Middle School's enrollment rate for gifted and talented is 2 percent.

Switzerland Point Middle School is a lower-poverty school than Okeeheelee Middle School, with 4 percent of its students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school enrolls 8 percent of students in its gifted and talented program. The school is located in St. Johns, 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