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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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Alamogordo High

103 CUBA AVENUE, ALAMOGORDO, N.M., 88310 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,685
115
8% 8
District 5,965 370 9% 8
State 275K 17,350 10% 8
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

61%
53%

39%

Take at Least One AP Course

18%
12%

12%

AP Pass Rate

37%
61%

61%

Take Advanced Math

8%
1%

1%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

5%
5%

9%

Take Chemistry

15%
5%

5%

Take Physics

5%
3%

3%

Participate in sports

35%
0.0%

92%

Are

11%
3%

3% Am Indian
1%
3%

3% Asian
3%
7%

7% Black
56%
36%

36% Hispanic
28%
51%

51% White

Alamogordo High, part of the Alamogordo Public Schools district, is located in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The school reports enrolling 1,685 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 115 teachers on staff.

Alamogordo 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, 61 percent of students in New Mexico qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, whereas 39 percent of students at Alamogordo High are eligible. At the district level, 53 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.

Alamogordo High offers eight AP courses, and 12 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams matches the district's, each of which is 61 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.

Alamogordo High's enrollment rates in chemistry, physics and advanced math subject areas are 5 percent, 3 percent and 1 percent, respectively. Gifted and talented at the school has an enrollment rate of 9 percent.

Gadsden High, in Anthony, N.M., is a higher-poverty school than Alamogordo High, with 100 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers four AP courses, and 2 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