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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

Shea Senior High School

485 EAST AVENUE, PAWTUCKET, R.I., 02860 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,025
70
6% 2
District 8,595 611 5% 3
State 110K 7,794 9% 5
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

44%
74%

85%
State Avg: 44% District Avg: 74%

Take at Least One AP Course

9%
4%

3%
State Avg: 9% District Avg: 4%

AP Pass Rate

43%
17%

0%
State Avg: 43% District Avg: 17%

Take Advanced Math

11%
7%

6%
State Avg: 11% District Avg: 7%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

8%
10%

20%
State Avg: 8% District Avg: 10%

Take Chemistry

23%
19%

20%
State Avg: 23% District Avg: 19%

Take Physics

13%
10%

9%
State Avg: 13% District Avg: 10%

Participate in sports

42%
0.0%

35%
State Avg: 42% District Avg: 0.0%

Are

1%
1%

1% Am Indian
State Avg: 1% District Avg: 1%
4%
2%

2% Asian
State Avg: 4% District Avg: 2%
10%
29%

31% Black
State Avg: 10% District Avg: 29%
20%
26%

43% Hispanic
State Avg: 20% District Avg: 26%
65%
41%

23% White
State Avg: 65% District Avg: 41%

Shea Senior High School, part of the Pawtucket district, is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The school reports an enrollment number of 1,025 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 70 teachers on staff.

Shea Senior High School is above 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, 44 percent of students in Rhode Island are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, whereas 85 percent of Shea Senior High School students are eligible. At the district level, 74 percent of students 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.

Shea Senior High School offers two AP courses, and 3 percent of students participate in those classes.

Shea Senior High School has an enrollment rate of 6 percent for math classes, and 20 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 9 percent, and the gifted and talented program has a participation rate of 20 percent.

Cranston High School West, in Cranston, Rhode Island, is a lower-poverty school than Shea Senior High School, with 8 percent of its students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers eight AP courses, and 8 percent of students are enrolled in those classs.

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