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
Thornwood High School
17101 S PARK AVE, SOUTH HOLLAND, ILL., 60473 | Grades 9-12
| Students | Total Teachers | Inexp. Teachers | AP Courses | |
| This School |
2,140
|
160
|
19% | 7 |
| District | 5,895 | 464 | 22% | 8 |
| State | 1.36M | 84,195 | 14% | 11 |
Thornwood High School, part of the Thornton Township High School District 205, is located in South Holland, Illinois. The school reports an enrollment number of 2,140 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 160 teachers on staff.
Thornwood High School is above the state average but below the district average in terms of the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. On average, 44 percent of students in Illinois are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs, whereas 46 percent of Thornwood High School students do. At the district level, 64 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.
Thornwood High School offers seven AP courses, and 8 percent of students participate in those classes.
For AP tests, the school's pass rate is above the district average, with 10 percent of students passing some or all AP tests. Compare this to the district rate of 5 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.
Thornwood High School's enrollment rates in chemistry, physics and advanced math subject areas are 25 percent, 20 percent and 17 percent, respectively. Gifted and talented at the school has an enrollment rate of 8 percent.
Chicago Vocational Career Acad High School, in Chicago, Ill., is a higher-poverty school than Thornwood High School, with 100 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers two AP courses, and 3 percent of students are enrolled in those courses.
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
What's the story behind this data?
Please share any tips or local knowledge with our reporters.