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What Makes a Good School?

By Ryan Crawley,

24 Jan 2020

When parents are looking for a change and considering moving, they always try to find an area that has a good school for their kids.

But what constitutes a “good school”? Parents don’t often have a guideline in mind when determining which school is better than the other.

However, they should look at a few key things when figuring out which school is best for their child. An Active Community A community that is active in school sports and activities is usually a nice place to move into.

When you ask parents that have kids going to that school what it is like, they should be able to speak of it in a positive manner.

You will always run into a couple unhappy parents in any district, so make sure you ask more than just a few people. Check Out the School Report Card Now I am not talking about those report cards that are sent home with kids detailing how they did in each subject.

I mean the school report card that shows graduation rates, average grades, scores on standardized tests, and behavior issues.

Sometimes it is not as easy to attain this information as you may think.

But if it is a good district with positive numbers, they will be happy to share the information with you. Does It Have a Curriculum Map? Not all districts have a curriculum map, but they definitely should.

A curriculum map outlines exactly what each student is to learn at every grade level.

This way there will be no surprises as your child enters each grade.

Also, it gives you a chance to prepare your kid as best as possible for what they will need to know for each grade level.

By having a curriculum map it will ensure that teachers are not overlapping their material too much as the students proceed through school.

Revisiting a certain topic is fine to kind of kick-start a kid’s memory, but covering the same thing for two years in a row is not a good use of valuable time. Strong Leadership Strong leadership does not just fall upon the administrators, but the teachers, the maintenance people, and the office staff as well.

It really does take a team of people to ensure the students have a quality school to guide them through not only their educational journey but forming strong relationships with those around them. A Positive Student Body Often times, the attitude of the students can make or break a school system.

If the students are positive and respectful to their peers and educators, then this will mean a lot to the success of the entire school.

If they are rebelling and have serious behavior problems, it reflects poorly on the entire district.

Bad behavior can beget more poor behavior and this is not an environment you will want you kids in. Teachers Who Care When it comes down to it, the teachers are the first in line and the last in line to ensure a quality school system.

It begins with the educators and ends with the educators as they are the ones that are in constant contact with your child daily.

How well they can do their job can depend on the class sizes at each grade level.

If there are 30 or more students per classroom, then it can be difficult to reach every student.

If class sizes are closer to 20 students, this will benefit your child and the teacher greatly. All in all, there are several key items to look at when determining if your child is attending a good school.

You can’t just focus on only one thing because it all builds on each other.

If you put in the time to research all of these things, then you should definitely have an answer if it is a good school to be attending.