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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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Spanaway Lake High School

1305 168TH STREET EAST, SPANAWAY, WASH., 98387 | Grades 10-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,135
59
2% 6
District 17.1K 901 5% 7
State 833K 42,424 7% 8
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

38%
38%

40%

Take at Least One AP Course

18%
17%

13%

AP Pass Rate

49%
47%

47%

Take Advanced Math

15%
11%

10%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

8%
5%

9%

Take Chemistry

14%
15%

15%

Take Physics

7%
3%

2%

Participate in sports

40%
0.0%

48%

Are

2%
3%

3% Am Indian
10%
12%

20% Asian
7%
12%

17% Black
16%
10%

11% Hispanic
64%
63%

49% White

Spanaway Lake High School, in Spanaway, Washington, is part of the Bethel School District. The school reports enrolling 1,135 students in grades 10 through 12, and it has 59 teachers on staff.

Spanaway Lake 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, 38 percent of students in Washington are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, whereas 40 percent of Spanaway Lake High School students are eligible. At the district level, 38 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.

Spanaway Lake High School offers six AP courses, and 13 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams matches the district's, each of which is 47 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.

Spanaway Lake High School's enrollment rates in chemistry, physics and advanced math subject areas are 15 percent, 2 percent and 10 percent, respectively. Gifted and talented at the school has an enrollment rate of 9 percent.

Skyline High School is a lower-poverty school than Spanaway Lake High School, with 2 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school hasn't reported or may not offer a AP courses. The school is located in Sammamish, Wash.

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