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

Lowndes High School

1606 NORMAN DRIVE, VALDOSTA, GA., 31601 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
2,875
176
6% 13
District 10.1K 703 12% 13
State 1.47M 103,585 8% 10
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

52%
41%

33%

Take at Least One AP Course

16%
9%

9%

AP Pass Rate

52%
62%

62%

Take Advanced Math

18%
2%

2%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

11%
10%

12%

Take Chemistry

17%
0%

0%

Take Physics

8%
0%

0%

Participate in sports

30%
0.0%

18%

Are

0%
0%

0% Am Indian
3%
1%

1% Asian
37%
21%

23% Black
12%
6%

4% Hispanic
45%
69%

70% White

Lowndes High School, part of the Lowndes County district, is located in Valdosta, Georgia. The school reports enrolling 2,875 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 176 teachers on staff.

Lowndes High School is below both the state and district averages for the percentage of its students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. On average, 52 percent of students in Georgia qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, whereas 33 percent of students at Lowndes High School are eligible. At the district level, 41 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.

Lowndes High School offers 13 AP courses, and 9 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams is the same as the district's, both at 62 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.

Lowndes High School's gifted and talented program has an enrollment rate of 12 percent, while advanced math enrolls 2 of students.

School Of Technology At Carver, in Atlanta, Ga., is a higher-poverty school than Lowndes High School, with 89 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