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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Kalamazoo Central High School

2432 N DRAKE RD, KALAMAZOO, MICH., 49006 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,690
87
5% 15
District 12.2K 696 11% 14
State 949K 49,657 5% 8
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

38%
66%

50%

Take at Least One AP Course

17%
18%

20%

AP Pass Rate

59%
42%

37%

Take Advanced Math

14%
12%

14%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

12%
21%

38%

Take Chemistry

22%
8%

7%

Take Physics

11%
5%

5%

Participate in sports

48%
0.0%

43%

Are

0%
1%

1% Am Indian
3%
2%

2% Asian
22%
48%

51% Black
5%
10%

7% Hispanic
68%
39%

39% White

Kalamazoo Central High School, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is part of the Kalamazoo Public School District. The school reports enrolling 1,690 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 87 teachers on staff.

Kalamazoo Central High School is above the state average but below the district average in terms of the percentage of its students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. On average, 38 percent of students in Michigan qualify for free or reduced-price lunch programs, whereas 50 percent of Kalamazoo Central High School students do. At the district level, 66 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.

Kalamazoo Central High School offers 15 AP courses, and 20 percent of students participate in those classes.

For AP tests, the school's pass rate is below the district average, with 37 percent of students passing some or all AP tests. Compare this to the district rate of 42 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.

Kalamazoo Central High School has an enrollment rate of 14 percent for math classes, and 7 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 5 percent, and the gifted and talented program has a participation rate of 38 percent.

Northville High School, in Northville, Michigan, is a lower-poverty school than Kalamazoo Central High School, with 3 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers 19 AP courses, and 29 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