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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

Glenda Dawson High School

2050 CULLEN BLVD, PEARLAND, TEXAS, 77581 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,955
112
13% 21
District 18.2K 1,071 13% 18
State 4.01M 269,017 14% 15
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Take at Least One AP Course

20%
21%

27%
State Avg: 20% District Avg: 21%

AP Pass Rate

48%
45%

38%
State Avg: 48% District Avg: 45%

Take Advanced Math

10%
17%

19%
State Avg: 10% District Avg: 17%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

8%
7%

7%
State Avg: 8% District Avg: 7%

Take Chemistry

26%
31%

27%
State Avg: 26% District Avg: 31%

Take Physics

14%
18%

16%
State Avg: 14% District Avg: 18%

Participate in sports

32%
0.0%

43%
State Avg: 32% District Avg: 0.0%

Are

0%
1%

1% Am Indian
State Avg: 0% District Avg: 1%
4%
10%

15% Asian
State Avg: 4% District Avg: 10%
15%
16%

32% Black
State Avg: 15% District Avg: 16%
50%
26%

12% Hispanic
State Avg: 50% District Avg: 26%
29%
45%

38% White
State Avg: 29% District Avg: 45%

Glenda Dawson High School, part of the Pearland ISD, is located in Pearland, Texas. The school reports an enrollment number of 1,955 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 112 teachers on staff.

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.

Glenda Dawson High School offers 21 AP courses, and 27 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams of 38 percent is below the district average of 45 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.

Glenda Dawson High School has an enrollment rate of 19 percent for math classes, and 27 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 16 percent, and the gifted and talented program has a participation rate of 7 percent.

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