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.
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Petal High
1145 HIGHWAY 42 E, PETAL, MISS., 39465 | Grades 9-12
| Students | Total Teachers | Inexp. Teachers | AP Courses | |
| This School |
1,155
|
90
|
6% | 6 |
| District | 3,915 | 268 | 7% | 6 |
| State | 338K | 22,455 | 13% | 6 |
Petal High, part of the Petal School District, is located in Petal, Mississippi. The school reports an enrollment number of 1,155 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 90 teachers on staff.
Petal High is below both the state and district averages in terms of the percentage of its students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. On average, 64 percent of students in Mississippi are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs, while 46 percent of Petal High students are eligible. At the district level, 51 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.
Petal High offers six AP courses, and 25 percent of students participate in those classes.
The school's pass rate for AP exams is the same as the district's, both at 53 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.
Petal High enrolls 30 percent of students in advanced math classes, and 17 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 5 percent.
Canton Elementary School, in Canton, Miss., is a higher-poverty school than Petal High, with 99 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
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