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How Good (or Bad) Are the Schools Near You?
The above charts generated by ProPublica's Opportunity Gap database seem to indicate that there indeed is one.
Pro Publica has published a database that makes it easy for you to compare your access to quality education and at what cost in an effort to provide insight into the opportunity gap demonstrated by economic difference in the classroom.
The data for L.A.-area school districts indicates that the higher the percentage of students who get free or reduced-price lunches the lower the percentage of students who take at least one AP course. For example, 76 percent of LAUSD students receive free or discounted lunches and 16 percent take at least one AP course. The data flips, however, for Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified: 1 percent get free/reduced priced lunch, and 41 percent take at least one AP course.
Los Angeles Unified School District:
via ProPublica.
To access schools information near you visit projects.propublica.org/schools and enter your address, ZIP code, or school name.
The database, which contains information on about three-quarters of all students in the country (from all public schools in districts with greater than 3,000 students) is sourced from the U.S. Department of Education Office Civil Rights.
How do your schools compare?
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
