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.

Find a school

Monacan High

11501 SMOKETREE DR., RICHMOND, VA., 23236 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,370
90
6% 24
District 58.6K 3,832 8% 21
State 1.13M 81,901 9% 14
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Take at Least One AP Course

20%
18%

23%

AP Pass Rate

58%
51%

48%

Take Advanced Math

17%
22%

25%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

13%
13%

11%

Take Chemistry

17%
19%

19%

Take Physics

9%
15%

22%

Participate in sports

42%
0.0%

28%

Are

0%
0%

0% Am Indian
7%
3%

4% Asian
26%
29%

34% Black
10%
9%

6% Hispanic
57%
59%

56% White

Monacan High, part of the Chesterfield County Public Schools district, is located in Richmond, Virginia. The school reports enrolling 1,370 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 90 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.

Monacan High offers 24 AP courses, and 23 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams is 48 percent. This is lower than the district average of 51 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.

Monacan High's enrollment rates in chemistry, physics and advanced math subject areas are 19 percent, 22 percent and 25 percent, respectively. Gifted and talented at the school has an enrollment rate of 11 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