What makes a good school?

There are numerous factors that go into deciding what makes a school good, including the staffing of the school, the area of which the school is in, and the amount of money that the school has available to it. It is possible that two people commenting on the same school could have contradictory views on whether or not that school is good. Everyone's high school experience is at least slightly different from everybody else's, which causes these differences in opinions in what makes a school good. The viewpoint of which that person views a school also affects how they view the school. For example, a person judging a school for the Department of Education for New York State might look at a school differently than a parent of a student at that school. Often times a school is said to be good or bad based on statistics, such as test scores, graduation rates, or college attendance. Although there will be differences, there is usually a large majority that decides one way or the other, when it comes to determining if a school is good or bad.

The two main factors in determining a school's "value" are staffing, which includes teachers and administration, and funding. It is very important to have highly qualified teachers teaching students. How can students be expected to learn what the curriculum calls for them to learn, when the teachers themselves need an education in what they are teaching. Such was the case for Jacob, an African American junior from the South Bronx of New York City. In the letter, "Postcards from America," from Letters to the Next President, Jacob says, "I'd like a teacher who really knows math and knows how to teach it. All through high school, I don't think I ever had a teacher really qualified in math. When I heard there was a Math Regents test, I knew I wasn't prepared. So I left. No Diploma." This is a very sad case because the failure of his teachers in not knowing the material they were teaching caused him to drop out of high school and give up a