In Jordan, east-side high schools offer an average of 19 AP courses each, compared with 15.8 for those on the west side. However, west-side Riverton High School offers the most: 22. But Riverton has the district's worst pass-fail percent among students who take AP tests, with only 54 percent passing.

Overall, east-side Jordan students pass 72 percent of the AP tests they take, compared to only 64 percent on the west side.

In Granite, east-side high schools offer an average of 18.3 different AP courses, compared to 14.2 on the west side. However, individual schools that offer fewer AP classes tend to offer more concurrent enrollment classes (where students co-register with a local college for both college and high school credit), and vice versa.

The number of concurrent enrollment classes offered in Granite high schools is virtually even on both sides of the valley: 31.0 in east-side schools and 30.8 in west.

Jordan provided data only about total credits earned through concurrent enrollment, rather than about courses offered at each school. It showed that three of the four high schools where students earned the most college credit were on the east side (but the one with the most was west-side Bingham, and east-side Hillcrest was in last place). Data showed west-siders were more likely to need to take such courses somewhere besides their home school, sometimes at east-side schools.

Jordan has set up distance programs to improve student access to classes. For instance, Jordan High has broadcast American Sign Language to many schools where interest is too low to justify hiring another teacher, Newbold said. Students also can attend classes in different schools, and those from all over the valley can attend an applied technology center, which the district has on both the east and west sides, for concurrent enrollment classes.

International baccalaureate programs, which can provide up to about 30 hours of college credit, appear to benefit east-side students more.

Jordan offers that program, open to any district student, at east-side Hillcrest High School. Granite offers one program on the east side, at Skyline High School, and one on the west, at Hunter High. However, nearly three-fourths of Granite students live on the west side, so a 50-50 split of programs may not necessarily be equal.

There also are far more kids finishing the IB program at Skyline than at Hunter, as shown by the class of 2006. At Skyline, 37 of the 41 IB students who enrolled as sophomores earned either an IB diploma or certificate. At Hunter, eight of 61 enrolled as sophomores received IB diplomas or certificates (two also are challenging to receive diplomas).

Bottom line: 90 percent finished the program at Skyline, and 13 percent finished at Hunter.