ProPublica

Journalism in the Public Interest

Cancel

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

Highland Park High

2424 SE CALIFORNIA AVE, TOPEKA, KAN., 66605 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
920
78
11% 1
District 14.1K 1,186 8% 11
State 279K 19,236 10% 11
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

45%
68%

75%
State Avg: 45% District Avg: 68%

Take at Least One AP Course

15%
7%

1%
State Avg: 15% District Avg: 7%

Take Advanced Math

14%
8%

5%
State Avg: 14% District Avg: 8%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

4%
3%

2%
State Avg: 4% District Avg: 3%

Take Chemistry

16%
15%

7%
State Avg: 16% District Avg: 15%

Take Physics

7%
4%

2%
State Avg: 7% District Avg: 4%

Participate in sports

45%
0.0%

31%
State Avg: 45% District Avg: 0.0%

Are

1%
2%

2% Am Indian
State Avg: 1% District Avg: 2%
4%
1%

1% Asian
State Avg: 4% District Avg: 1%
12%
27%

47% Black
State Avg: 12% District Avg: 27%
20%
22%

23% Hispanic
State Avg: 20% District Avg: 22%
60%
47%

27% White
State Avg: 60% District Avg: 47%

Highland Park High, part of the Topeka Public Schools district, is located in Topeka, Kansas. The school reports an enrollment number of 920 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 78 teachers on staff.

Highland Park High is above both the state and district averages for the percentage of students eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunch. On average, 45 percent of students in Kansas qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, while 75 percent of students at Highland Park High do. At the district level, 68 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.

Even though Highland Park High reports having AP-level classes, there are no students enrolled in those classes.

Highland Park High has an enrollment rate of 5 percent for math classes, and 7 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 2 percent, and the gifted and talented program has a participation rate of 2 percent.

Blue Valley West High School, in Overland Park, Kansas, is a lower-poverty school than Highland Park High, with 4 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers 32 AP courses, and 32 percent of students are enrolled in those classs.

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