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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

East Side Community School

420 EAST 12TH STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y., 10009 | Grades 6-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
550
10
60% N/A
District 959K 83,265 21% 2
State 2.07M 171,244 14% 7
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

49%
72%

79%
State Avg: 49% District Avg: 72%

Take Advanced Math

16%
15%

17%
State Avg: 16% District Avg: 15%

Take Chemistry

17%
15%

17%
State Avg: 17% District Avg: 15%

Take Physics

9%
8%

31%
State Avg: 9% District Avg: 8%

Participate in sports

44%
0.0%

10%
State Avg: 44% District Avg: 0.0%

Are

0%
0%

2% Am Indian
State Avg: 0% District Avg: 0%
10%
15%

8% Asian
State Avg: 10% District Avg: 15%
22%
30%

27% Black
State Avg: 22% District Avg: 30%
26%
40%

59% Hispanic
State Avg: 26% District Avg: 40%
42%
14%

5% White
State Avg: 42% District Avg: 14%

East Side Community School, in New York, New York, is part of the New York City Public Schools district. The school reports enrolling 550 students in grades six through 12, and it has 10 teachers on staff.

East Side Community School is above both the state and district averages for the percentage of students eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunch. On average, 49 percent of students in New York qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, while 79 percent of students at East Side Community School do. At the district level, 72 percent of students qualify.

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.

East Side Community School has an enrollment rate of 17 percent for advanced math classes, and 17 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 31 percent.

Odyssey Academy, in Rochester, N.Y., is a lower-poverty school than East Side Community School, with 15 percent of its students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school hasn't reported or may not have a gifted and talented program.

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