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

Mitchell High School

1205 POTTER DRIVE, COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO., 80909 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
1,050
55
15% 9
District 26.8K 1,426 12% 13
State 669K 37,345 13% 11
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

35%
44%

55%

Take at Least One AP Course

20%
22%

12%

AP Pass Rate

64%
49%

59%

Take Advanced Math

19%
19%

13%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

8%
9%

5%

Take Chemistry

18%
13%

11%

Take Physics

8%
5%

1%

Participate in sports

48%
0.0%

44%

Are

1%
2%

2% Am Indian
4%
3%

3% Asian
6%
11%

14% Black
29%
22%

33% Hispanic
60%
63%

47% White

Mitchell High School, part of the Colorado Springs School District No. 11, is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The school reports an enrollment number of 1,050 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 55 teachers on staff.

Mitchell 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, 35 percent of students in Colorado are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, whereas 55 percent of Mitchell High School students are eligible. At the district level, 44 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.

Mitchell High School offers nine AP courses, and 12 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams of 59 percent is higher than the district average of 49 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.

Mitchell High School's enrollment rates in chemistry, physics and advanced math subject areas are 11 percent, 1 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Gifted and talented at the school has an enrollment rate of 5 percent.

Mesa Ridge High School, in Colorado Springs, Colo., is a lower-poverty school than Mitchell High School. It does not have any students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers nine AP courses, and 12 percent of students are enrolled in those classes.

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