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

Skyline High School

1122 228TH AVE SE, SAMMAMISH, WASH., 98075 | Grades 10-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,365
51
16% N/A
District 16.9K 685 8% 8
State 833K 42,424 7% 8
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

38%
7%

2%

Take Advanced Math

15%
19%

16%

Take Chemistry

14%
17%

9%

Take Physics

7%
9%

7%

Participate in sports

40%
0.0%

16%

Are

2%
1%

0% Am Indian
10%
23%

18% Asian
7%
3%

1% Black
16%
6%

3% Hispanic
64%
68%

77% White

Skyline High School, in Sammamish, Washington, is part of the Issaquah School District. The school reports enrolling 1,365 students in grades 10 through 12, and it has 51 teachers on staff.

Skyline High School is below 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 programs, while 2 percent of Skyline High School students are eligible. At the district level, 7 percent 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.

Skyline High School hasn't reported or may not offer AP courses.

Skyline High School has an enrollment rate of 16 percent for advanced math classes, and 9 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 7 percent.

Spanaway Lake High School, in Spanaway, Wash., is a higher-poverty school than Skyline High School, with 40 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers six AP courses, and 13 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