How To Evaluate Your Child's School

An Excellent Future: The local high school influences the entire school system. Of course, the middle school is important too, but the key grades are 10, 11 and 12. At this point, even well-educated parents lose the ability to make up for what the school lacks. Find out if the local high school has advanced placement courses, or if it provides dual enrollment in local college courses. Above all, the elementary school principal should be knowledgeable about and proud of his students’ futures.

A Well-Stocked and Well-Used Library: Are there enough books and computer terminals? How many students are using them? A principal may proudly boast of the number of computers the school owns, but that means nothing if they aren’t turned on. Do students choose to visit the library in their free time? Find out what kinds of library resources are available to students. How is technology used to support teaching and learning at this school? How much technology is integrated into the curriculum, and how much computer training are teachers required to undergo?

Good Communication: An excellent school goes out of its way to let parents know how their child is doing and, just as important, what it expects from its students. Find out what the school will do if your child falls behind, or has a problem. What are the lines of communication? At many elementary schools, it is customary for the principal to write a weekly newsletter for parents to keep them up-to-date on all kinds of issues.

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See also Resources: Organizations, Web links and books.