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.

Find a school

Washington High

600 BLUE JAY DR, WASHINGTON, MO., 63090 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,470
81
6% 3
District 4,620 294 5% 2
State 588K 39,863 11% 6
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

34%
22%

14%

Take at Least One AP Course

15%
8%

8%

AP Pass Rate

58%
58%

58%

Take Advanced Math

13%
23%

27%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

6%
6%

6%

Take Chemistry

16%
17%

20%

Take Physics

6%
6%

7%

Participate in sports

42%
0.0%

53%

Are

0%
0%

0% Am Indian
3%
1%

0% Asian
22%
1%

0% Black
5%
1%

1% Hispanic
70%
96%

98% White

Washington High, in Washington, Missouri, is part of the Washington district. The school reports enrolling 1,470 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 81 teachers on staff.

Washington High is below both the state and district averages for the percentage of its students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. On average, 34 percent of students in Missouri qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, whereas 14 percent of students at Washington High are eligible. At the district level, 22 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.

Washington High offers three AP courses, and 8 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams matches the district's, each of which is 58 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.

Washington High has an enrollment rate of 27 percent for math classes, and 20 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 7 percent, and the gifted and talented program has a participation rate of 6 percent.

Roosevelt High, in St Louis, Mo., is a higher-poverty school than Washington 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