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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Franklin High

100 PANTHER DRIVE, FRANKLIN, N.C., 28734 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
995
69
9% 8
District 4,280 316 8% 4
State 1.36M 88,261 10% 8
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

34%
49%

39%

Take at Least One AP Course

14%
5%

6%

AP Pass Rate

51%
64%

64%

Take Advanced Math

20%
16%

14%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

12%
7%

8%

Take Chemistry

13%
11%

13%

Take Physics

3%
2%

3%

Participate in sports

39%
0.0%

50%

Are

2%
0%

1% Am Indian
3%
1%

1% Asian
28%
1%

1% Black
11%
11%

9% Hispanic
55%
86%

88% White

Franklin High, part of the Macon County Schools district, is located in Franklin, North Carolina. The school reports an enrollment number of 995 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 69 teachers on staff.

Franklin High is above the state average but below the district average in terms of the percentage of its students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. On average, 34 percent of students in North Carolina qualify for free or reduced-price lunch programs, whereas 39 percent of Franklin High students do. At the district level, 49 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.

Franklin High offers eight AP courses, and 6 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams is the same as the district's, both at 64 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.

Franklin High has an enrollment rate of 14 percent for math classes, and 13 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 3 percent, and the gifted and talented program has a participation rate of 8 percent.

Southeast Halifax High, in Halifax, N.C., is a higher-poverty school than Franklin High, with 78 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers two AP courses, and 7 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