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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Sierra Vista High School

8100 W ROBINDALE RD, LAS VEGAS, NEV., 89113 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
2,225
89
4% 14
District 302K 15,025 9% 11
State 409K 21,153 8% 8
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

40%
41%

19%

Take at Least One AP Course

12%
11%

9%

AP Pass Rate

48%
48%

53%

Take Advanced Math

12%
12%

14%

Take Chemistry

17%
18%

17%

Take Physics

4%
5%

4%

Participate in sports

30%
0.0%

28%

Are

1%
1%

1% Am Indian
8%
10%

28% Asian
11%
14%

14% Black
38%
41%

22% Hispanic
41%
35%

35% White

Sierra Vista High School, in Las Vegas, Nevada, is part of the Clark County School District. The school reports enrolling 2,225 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 89 teachers on staff.

Sierra Vista High School 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, 40 percent of students in Nevada are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs, while 19 percent of Sierra Vista High School 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.

Sierra Vista High School offers 14 AP courses, and 9 percent of students participate in those classes.

For AP tests, the school's pass rate is above the district average, with 53 percent of students passing some or all AP tests. Compare this to the district rate of 48 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.

Sierra Vista High School enrolls 14 percent of students in advanced math classes, and 17 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 4 percent.

McDermitt High School, in Mcdermitt, Nev., is a higher-poverty school than Sierra Vista High School, with 80 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