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

Casper Classical Academy

920 SOUTH BEVERLY, CASPER, WYO., 82601 | Grades 6-9

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
200
13
8% N/A
District 13.3K 780 13% 4
State 46.1K 3,384 12% 8
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

30%
32%

18%

Take Advanced Math

8%
2%

0%

Take Chemistry

12%
8%

0%

Take Physics

5%
3%

0%

Participate in sports

52%
0.0%

20%

Are

1%
1%

0% Am Indian
1%
1%

5% Asian
2%
2%

2% Black
13%
8%

5% Hispanic
82%
89%

90% White

Casper Classical Academy, part of the Natrona County School District #1, is located in Casper, Wyoming. The school reports enrolling 200 students in grades six through nine, and it has 13 teachers on staff.

Casper Classical Academy 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, 30 percent of students in Wyoming are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch programs, while 18 percent of Casper Classical Academy students are eligible. At the district level, 32 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.

The school hasn't reported or may not have a gifted and talented program.

C Y Junior High School, also in Casper, Wyo., is a higher-poverty school than Casper Classical Academy, with 30 percent of its students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school hasn't reported or may not have a gifted and talented program.

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