Despite reports to the contrary,1 the availability of physics as a course for high school students is not equitably distributed throughout the United States. While some schools provide physics for all who wish to take it, a more common scenario is limited availability, often open only to the few students who have completed the necessary prerequisite courses. This is particularly true in urban districts where physics is not universally available in secondary school.

1.
M. Neuschatz and M. McFarling, Broadening the Base: Physics at the Turn of a New Century (AIP, College Park, MD, 2003).
2.
Some idea of the magnitude of the NYC School District is indicated by its budget, which at $12.5 billion (2003–04) is larger than the GDP of many small countries.
3.
Annual School Reports (New York City Department of Education, 2004). Available at http://schools.nyc.gov/daa/SchoolReports.
4.
W.
Hellman
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5.
State Indicators of Science and Math Education (The Council of Chief State School Officers, Washington DC, 2003).
6.
“Physics Enrollment in U.S. High Schools, 1948–2005,” AIP Statistical Research Center: High School Physics Surveys. Available at http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/highlite/hs2/hstfigs07.pdf.
7.
See L. Darling-Hammond, The Right to Learn: A Blueprint for Creating Schools that Work (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1997).
8.
J. Bosman, “Small Schools are Ahead in Graduation,” New York Times, 6/30/2007.
9.
Lost in Space: Science Education in New York City Public Schools (The City Council of the City of New York: Committee on Education, 2004).
10.
College Board, “Increase in Advanced Placement Student Success Achieved in All 50 States,” (2006). Available at http://www.collegeboard.com/press/article/0,,50291,00.html.
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