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.

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Glacier Peak High School

7401 144TH PLACE SE, SNOHOMISH, WASH., 98296 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,450
48
11% 7
District 8,445 430 6% 10
State 833K 42,424 7% 8
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Take at Least One AP Course

18%
25%

10%

AP Pass Rate

49%
81%

100%

Take Advanced Math

15%
16%

8%

Take Chemistry

14%
24%

17%

Take Physics

7%
5%

4%

Participate in sports

40%
0.0%

43%

Are

2%
1%

0% Am Indian
10%
6%

8% Asian
7%
2%

2% Black
16%
7%

4% Hispanic
64%
84%

87% White

Glacier Peak High School, part of the Snohomish School District, is located in Snohomish, Washington. The school reports enrolling 1,450 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 48 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.

Glacier Peak High School offers seven AP courses, and 10 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams is 100 percent. This is higher than the district average of 81 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.

Glacier Peak High School has an enrollment rate of 8 percent for advanced math classes, and 17 percent of students take chemistry. The enrollment rate for physics at the school is 4 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