It’s school choice season once again. If you are like most parents, you feel frantic and befuddled, or even ready to use the dartboard approach. Big surprise: every school claims to be “great.” How can you filter out the flash and make the right choice?

Answers to a few questions will help identify the best school for each child. These questions work whether you are choosing a first school or considering a switch. They are based on the highest quality, unbiased education research, and they apply to all school types (public, private, religious, etc.).

Questions 1 through 4 affect all children’s academic learning. Add to those a few targeted questions about your child’s and your family’s particular needs and values (Question 5 gets you started), and you will be ready to choose the school that best fits your family and child. Just keep in mind: “Great School, Great Fit.”

Question 1: Do you expect all students to meet tough grade level standards?
Applaud:  Would grade level work challenge your child? If not, see Question 2. If so, seek a school that relentlessly ensures every child masters core subjects. Don’t take the school’s word for it—ask if a high percentage of kids like yours meet grade level standards. Scores for children similar to yours in previous performance, parent income, race, and gender are far more accurate predictors of what your child will learn than are overall school scores.

Avoid:  Schools making excuses for kids who are behind academically or are from disadvantaged backgrounds. Also avoid schools that pretend none of their students struggle. Even selective schools and those with mostly well-educated parents have more than a few students who face learning challenges at some point. You need know in advance how the school will respond.

Question 2: Do you raise goals for individual students beyond grade level?
Applaud:  All-you-can-eat learning with no limits for kids ready to learn more. Percent-at-grade-level scores don’t tell you much if your child could learn beyond grade level. Seek schools where more than just “gifted” kids score at the top. Look for schools where all children, including those already ahead, experience large yearly “gains” or “growth.”

Avoid:  Schools that say, “Our grade level work is tough enough for all students” and schools where everyone makes grade level, but few kids scores far above grade level.

Why? Both academically-bright children and motivated “typical” kids miss out in schools that limit instruction to grade level. One parent sought our reassurance when her bright son, Ned, stagnated in a school claiming academic superiority. Its one-size-fits-all standards left Ned bored and feeling “different.” Tired of borrowing homework assignments from a neighbor, Ned’s parents moved their son to the neighbor’s school. Ned learned more and made friends.

3: How do you monitor individual students’ progress?
Applaud:  Weekly monitoring of your child’s learning progress is ideal and not at all unrealistic in a school organized to ensure that every child learns. School staff should be able to explain to you in plain language how this is done. Small group or one-on-one contact between children and the lead teacher is almost always necessary for a school to implement effective, frequent monitoring.

Avoid:  Schools using end-of-grade tests only. Also avoid schools that say, “We don’t need to monitor our kids.” Every school has students who need extra help and others who are ready to move at a faster pace. A school cannot detect a child’s changing learning needs if it does not monitor progress frequently.

4: Do teachers adapt methods to ensure each child learns (and loves) learning?
Applaud:  Every teacher is expected and trained to reach every child by addressing individual kids’ interests, strengths, and weaknesses. Other staff (“resource teachers” and specialists) should play a clear, consistent role in monitoring and adapting to children’s needs. Otherwise, the best teachers will burn out and leave, and less capable teachers will stick to a one-size-fits-all routine. Other parents should be able to give you examples of how teachers have adjusted instruction to meet their children’s needs.

Avoid:  Schools that say, “We know the one best way to teach all children.” Research has repeatedly disproven this outdated notion. Also avoid schools that say it is up to each teacher to decide whether and how to adjust instruction. You can be sure that your child will experience an enormous teacher-by-teacher quality rollercoaster in such a school.

5: Does the school fit your child’s and family’s needs and values?
Many parents have pondered this question in the past without help to find accurate answers. While research shows that every child benefits academically from a Great School (which questions 1-4 address), each child and family also has a unique set of other “Must Have” school needs and values.

It’s not always easy to choose the best-fit school. Many parents get it right only after their children suffer. One parent bemoaned the years that her child Annie attended a “hands-on” school popular among friends. Annie stood around watching other children work and play. When testing revealed that Annie learned best in a “look and listen” environment, her parents switched her to a school with that approach. Annie thrived academically and socially.

Today, parents can make wiser choices earlier. Making a great match has many benefits, including a happy, successful child who loves school. The five questions above are a great place to start.

Learning More about School Test Scores

For public district and charter schools:
www.greatschools.net

For private schools:
Ask the individual schools for data

For help interpreting test scores:
www.pickyparent.com, click on “Resources and Links”

Bryan C. Hassel, Ph.D. (Rhodes Scholar) and Emily Ayscue Hassel are nationally recognized education experts and co-authors of the book Picky Parent Guide: Choose Your Child’s School with Confidence, The Elementary Years, K-6 (Armchair Press, 2004), which helps parents choose the right school for each child and get into their chosen schools. The book is available at PickyParent.com and most booksellers. The Hassels have two school-age children of their own.