What really makes a high school low performing?

petlover1022
Sun, 28 Jul 2013 23:58:33 +0000

Not the students. Not the parents! Not the funding. IMO there are two things that will lead to a school being bad or good…

PARENTS
Parents need to be involved in their child’s education. I notice you all want to blame the students, but truthfully it’s not the student’s fault if they live in a household where the parents are not involved or do not motivate their kids.

ADMINISTRATION
If you think it’s the teacher’s fault for not being qualified, it’s actually the admins fault for not making sure the teachers are qualified. It’s also the admin’s job to punish kids that are distracting other students, and to make sure that funds are allocated properly.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a good high school with uninvolved parents and a poor administration, or a bad high school with very involved parents and a strong administration.

And I also agree with halcyonheather…affluent locations tend to have better schools (not always true though, from past experience), but normally “wealthy parents” and “involved/educated parents” are synonymous.

However, just because a school is better-performing than another doesn’t mean you’ll like it better.
Take me for example: I went t elementary and middle school in a very high-performing district and really didn’t like it. Everybody was a snobby brat, there was no diversity (all upper-middle class Italians), there was too high of a focus on sports, it was very cliquey…

I moved at the end of 8th grade because I frankly couldn’t deal with the district anymore. I have since done 9th and 10th grade at an average-performing HS…and it’s been GREAT! Teachers and students are very down to earth, there’s more diversity, and I also stand out more grade-wise and am closer to the top of the class.

On a final note, don’t let the performance of the school on standardized tests define how good it is. A school could have very involved parents, great teachers, motivated students, and a strong administration…but a high number of students who don’t speak English, and therefore, low test scores.

Yes my intended career is teaching. LOL.