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.

Find a school

Gray Middle School

812 11TH AVE NW, MOULTRIE, GA., 31768 | Grades 8-9

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,245
91
14% N/A
District 9,050 636 7% 6
State 1.47M 103,585 8% 10
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

52%
67%

69%

Take Advanced Math

18%
7%

0%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

11%
13%

15%

Take Chemistry

17%
22%

0%

Take Physics

8%
4%

0%

Participate in sports

30%
0.0%

19%

Are

0%
0%

1% Am Indian
3%
0%

0% Asian
37%
27%

27% Black
12%
22%

19% Hispanic
45%
48%

51% White

Gray Middle School, part of the Colquitt County district, is located in Moultrie, Georgia. The school reports enrolling 1,245 students in grades eight and nine, and it has 91 teachers on staff.

Gray 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, 52 percent of students in Georgia qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, while 69 percent of students at Gray Middle School do. At the district level, 67 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.

Gray Middle School hasn't reported or may not offer AP courses.

Gray Middle School's enrollment rate for gifted and talented is 15 percent.

Thomson-Mcduffie Junior High School is a lower-poverty school than Gray Middle School, with 61 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 Thomson, Ga.

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