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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Chalmette High School

1100 EAST JUDGE PEREZ DR., CHALMETTE, LA., 70043 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,235
123
26% 5
District 5,140 372 24% 5
State 606K 42,651 11% 6
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

63%
68%

56%

Take at Least One AP Course

7%
2%

2%

AP Pass Rate

32%
44%

44%

Take Advanced Math

10%
17%

17%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

4%
2%

4%

Take Chemistry

18%
23%

23%

Take Physics

6%
3%

3%

Participate in sports

32%
0.0%

34%

Are

1%
1%

1% Am Indian
1%
3%

3% Asian
43%
22%

19% Black
3%
9%

7% Hispanic
51%
65%

71% White

Chalmette High School, part of the Saint Bernard Parish School Board district, is located in Chalmette, Louisiana. The school reports enrolling 1,235 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 123 teachers on staff.

Chalmette 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, 63 percent of students in Louisiana qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, whereas 56 percent of students at Chalmette High School are eligible. At the district level, 68 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.

Chalmette High School offers five AP courses, and 2 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams matches the district's, each of which is 44 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.

Chalmette High School has an enrollment rate of 17 percent for math classes, and 23 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 3 percent, and the gifted and talented program has a participation rate of 4 percent.

Mandeville High School, in Mandeville, Louisiana, is a lower-poverty school than Chalmette High School, with 13 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers 10 AP courses, and 13 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