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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

Fort Osage High

2101 N TWYMAN RD, INDEPENDENCE, MO., 64058 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,410
88
5% 10
District 4,805 346 6% 10
State 588K 39,863 11% 6
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

34%
41%

31%
State Avg: 34% District Avg: 41%

Take at Least One AP Course

15%
11%

11%
State Avg: 15% District Avg: 11%

AP Pass Rate

58%
56%

56%
State Avg: 58% District Avg: 56%

Take Advanced Math

13%
9%

9%
State Avg: 13% District Avg: 9%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

6%
4%

5%
State Avg: 6% District Avg: 4%

Take Chemistry

16%
11%

11%
State Avg: 16% District Avg: 11%

Take Physics

6%
5%

5%
State Avg: 6% District Avg: 5%

Participate in sports

42%
0.0%

37%
State Avg: 42% District Avg: 0.0%

Are

0%
1%

1% Am Indian
State Avg: 0% District Avg: 1%
3%
3%

2% Asian
State Avg: 3% District Avg: 3%
22%
6%

4% Black
State Avg: 22% District Avg: 6%
5%
6%

5% Hispanic
State Avg: 5% District Avg: 6%
70%
84%

87% White
State Avg: 70% District Avg: 84%

Fort Osage High, in Independence, Missouri, is part of the Fort Osage R-I district. The school reports enrolling 1,410 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 88 teachers on staff.

Fort Osage 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, 34 percent of students in Missouri are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs, while 31 percent of Fort Osage High students are eligible. At the district level, 41 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.

Fort Osage High offers 10 AP courses, and 11 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams matches the district's, each of which is 56 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.

Fort Osage High has an enrollment rate of 9 percent for math classes, and 11 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 5 percent.

Roosevelt High, in St Louis, Mo., is a higher-poverty school than Fort Osage High, with 83 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers two AP courses, and 6 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