5 Things to Look For When Choosing a Great College-Prep High School
It's November, and we're already just about halfway through the school year. And if you're in eighth grade or the parent of an eighth-grader, it's time to start thinking about the right high school for next year. How did that happen so fast? It probably seems like just yesterday that you were buying glue sticks and backpacks to get ready for kindergarten. And now it's textbooks and bigger backpacks...and about time to think about what you and your family want in a high school--to get ready for success after graduation.
Here at Ednovate, we specialize in high schools. That means that all of our attention and focus is on making your four years of high school the best they can possibly be--or you, now...and for your future. After many years of teaching in high schools, being a high school principal, creating new high schools, and now leading a network of high schools, here are the top 5 things I would suggest that families look for when choosing a school:
#1: Energetic and Positive Team of Administrators and Staff
Great schools start with great educators working together for your child. Full stop. I love it when I pick up my son from school and every teacher and the director and office staff say goodbye to him by name, even teachers he’s never met. It shows me that they are all looking out for all of their kids.
The way I like to get a pulse of the teams at high schools is to ask everyone the following two questions: How are things going? How do you know? And then I listen to everyone’s response.
Great school teams have common traits in response to these questions. First, I listen for the tone. It may or may not be going great, but I am listening for tones of hope, optimism and positive energy. Second, I listen for a common response. Good school teams all define success in a common way. For example, if I ask a principal, counselor, and teacher how is the school doing, I hope to hear all three of them say something along the lines of “We have some work to do, but overall great! Ninth-grade reading has really been a strong area of growth for us.” This means that they are optimistic about the future and have a shared common language of what success means. That’s a great start.
#2: Great Academic Results
Here is where my google search comes in. I will look at the California Department of Education’s state dashboard, the US News and World Report, Great Schools, the school district’s performance rating (if they have one), and the school’s website. And I will look for commonalities. It is very rare for a school to be great on one academic exam and not many others. Strong academic performance shows up in many areas. For example, a strong college-prep school will have great college-acceptance rates, strong scores on the ACT/SAT, state test scores, AP scores and even win in debates, academic decathlons and more.
#3: College Prep Curriculum
I also don’t want to limit any options that my student will have for academic choices after high school, so I ensure that every school can offer four years of math, science, English and social studies. This is a minimum requirement for college acceptance. In California, you should ask “Will my child be able to complete all the A-G requirements for college admissions at CSUs and UCs during regular school hours?” If the answer is yes, then keep on going.
#4: Safe, Clean and Calm Learning Environment
This one you can get a sense of pretty quickly. When I tour a school I go to the front desk and see if they ask for my ID or if there is a process to accept guests. Hopefully, they don’t just let me walk in. If they do, hopefully, someone immediately identifies me as a guest and offers to help. My next stop is the bathrooms. Yes, the bathrooms. A school that cares about safety and cleanliness knows that bathrooms are a place prone to both uncleanliness and bullying. I look for clean floors, bright lights and a minimal amount of people hanging out in the restrooms. If the bathrooms are clean and safe, then we are ready to move onto #5.
#5: Find a School with a Passion for Their Programs
A school can have a checkmark for numbers 1 through 4. Now you are looking for schools with a passion, or what I like to call “the soul of a school.” Yes, they are college prep but they should also strive to be excellent in some program. Some people are excellent in sports, others in dance, visual arts or band. Others focus on community service and some love robotics. I was a teacher at a career tech school, and the principal of a health science high school that prepared future doctors, nurses, social workers, and dentists. Not all students have to be an athlete or a doctor at each school, but the school should have a specialized area of excellence, in addition to strong, overall academic results. Excellence then is expected everywhere and not just inside or outside of the classroom.
After almost 20 years in working high schools, these are my 5 top tips for choosing a great college-prep high school. Hope this is helpful to your family, and it’s certainly just meant to be a starting point to help guide you and complement the individual interests of you and your student. I’d love to hear from you about what you look for in a high school, and Team Ednovate is always happy to help assist you and answer any questions you have.I wish you good luck during this high school choice season.