Evaluating Schools

Are there problems in you school, but you're not sure where?  The questions listed below may help you better understand the nature and sources of the problems.  Many of the questions are based on former State Superintendent Saul Cooperman's book, How Schools Really Work.

2. Specific Questions

Ÿ Are there academic problems?

Ÿ Are there debate clubs, chess clubs, and science fairs in the elementary schools?

Ÿ Are students involved in drama?

Ÿ Are works of art prominently displayed in the school?

Ÿ Are opportunities for academic recognition as frequent as athletic recognition?

Ÿ Are there competitions in math, science, social studies and foreign language?

Ÿ Do teachers seek opportunities to work with students before and after school?

Ÿ Are teachers concerned with "time on academic task?"

Ÿ Do classes start on time?

Ÿ Is homework carefully assigned to promote thinking and application of learned concepts and skills?

Ÿ Is homework corrected promptly?

Ÿ Is homework made relevant to the student context?

Ÿ Are district goals and priorities reviewed to periodically?

Ÿ Are community and faculty involved?

Ÿ Is there an emphasis on learning?

Ÿ Are basic skills stressed?

Ÿ Do teachers and administrators work to find more time for learn?

Ÿ Is there a homework policy?

Ÿ Is there a Can-do attitude?

Ÿ Does the curriculum reflect rising expectations of excellence?

Ÿ Or, is the curriculum being dumbed down?

Ÿ Does the school focus on external student disadvantages of victimhood to rationalize lower expectations, and lament over poor performance, or do teachers role up their sleeves and do the best they can under the circumstances?

Ÿ Is the aphorism "meeting the needs of my students" coded language for lowering standards and expectations?

Ÿ Are academic standards lowered to prevent dropouts?

Ÿ Are students socially promoted?

Ÿ Do teachers use falling IQ scores to adjust curriculum or excuse failure?

Ÿ Does the school focus more on the societal problems than on clear plans for educational improvement?

Ÿ How much planning goes into the curriculum?

Ÿ Does the school use comparisons with other schools to avoid improving its own performance?

Ÿ Does the rhetoric of support for high standards match the reality of planning, programs, and results?

Ÿ Every week, do teachers and principals ask, "Are the students learning what they are supposed to?"

Ÿ  What can be done better?

Ÿ Is constant attention is given to progress in reading, writing, and math?

Ÿ Does information constantly flow to students, parents, and the public about academic curriculum?

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Ÿ Are there discipline problems?

Ÿ Halls

Ÿ Are they clean?

Ÿ Are they maintained?

Ÿ Are they cheerful?

Ÿ Are they monitored?

Ÿ   Bathrooms

Ÿ Are they clean?

Ÿ Are they maintained?

Ÿ Are they cheerful?

Ÿ Are they monitored?

Ÿ   Cafeterias

Ÿ Are they clean?

Ÿ Are they maintained?

Ÿ Are they cheerful?

Ÿ Are they monitored?

Ÿ   Classrooms

Ÿ Are they clean?

Ÿ Are they maintained?

Ÿ Are they cheerful?

Ÿ Are there disruptions?

Ÿ Are there complaints about disruptions?

Ÿ   Offices

Ÿ Are they clean?

Ÿ Are they maintained?

Ÿ Are they cheerful?

Ÿ Are they full of students who have misbehaved?

Ÿ   Assemblies

Ÿ Are they orderly?

Ÿ Are they noisy?

Ÿ   Discipline policy

Ÿ Is it clear?

Ÿ  What is punished?

Ÿ  How is it punished?

Ÿ  What's the punishment?

Ÿ  Who does the punishing?

Ÿ  What's the process?

Ÿ Is there an appeal? Of what?

Ÿ Is it followed?

Ÿ Do disruptive students bounce between treatment programs, teachers or administrators?

Ÿ Are the sources of disruption predictable & persistent?

Ÿ Are disruptions reported?

Ÿ Is the disciplinary policy reasonable?

Ÿ  Was it written with parents, teachers & administrators?

Ÿ Are the limits of noise, impoliteness & tardiness acceptable?

Ÿ Is a dress code needed?

Ÿ Is the policy focused on what is best for the students (rather than best for the school or the board)?

Ÿ Are disciplinary policies aimed at real problems?

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Ÿ Are there teacher problems?

Ÿ Using grades, A through F, rate your teachers on:

Ÿ  availability

Ÿ  attendance

Ÿ  involvement

Ÿ  concern and sensitivity

Ÿ  speed of homework and test correction

Ÿ  use of essay questions

Ÿ  directness in following the curriculum

Ÿ  response to student feedback

Ÿ  organization and record keeping

Ÿ  accuracy of corrections & grading

Ÿ  accuracy of material presented

Ÿ Does the teacher set and communicate high expectations to all students?

Ÿ Do you hear, "You can do it, I will help"?

Ÿ Do you hear, "Don't worry about it"?

Ÿ Do standardized test scores support claims of high expectations?

Ÿ Does the teacher look for breaks (time off from task), show unrelated movies, or make excessive use of entertainment in place of education?

Ÿ Does the teacher ask difficult questions?

Ÿ  Factual questions?

Ÿ  Thinking questions?

Ÿ  Questions seeking alternatives?

Ÿ Does the entire class respond to questions, or do only a few hands go up?

Ÿ Does the teacher use valuable instruction time to let students work on homework?

Ÿ Does the teacher often stray from the topic?

Ÿ Does the teacher focus mostly on building skills through the practice of a procedure to the detriment of learning and applying concepts and thinking about them in creative ways (esp. across subject areas)?

Ÿ Does the teacher, and do the assignments, focus too much on what to learn and not enough on how to learn?

Ÿ Are the teacher's lesson plans carefully constructed and consistent with the course of study?

Ÿ Are teaching aids carefully integrated into the lessons?

Ÿ Is the teacher available in the classroom after school 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes?

Ÿ  How many students stay after school for help?

Ÿ Is there a late bus?

Ÿ Are teachers regularly evaluated?

Ÿ Are teachers involved in writing evaluation plans?

Ÿ Are evaluations aimed at improving student learning?

Ÿ Are teachers given supportive suggestions for correcting weaknesses?

Ÿ  What happens if teachers fail to correct weaknesses?

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Ÿ Are there problems with the courses of study (curricula)?

Ÿ Do they list the objectives to be taught?

Ÿ Do they state the standards of acceptable learning?

Ÿ Do they state the methods of assessment?

Ÿ Are examinations analyzed to discover which concepts are not being taught?

Ÿ Are they specific and easy to read?  Can you tell by reading them what the teachers will be teaching?  Are they specific enough for you to make informed decisions about how best to supplement and reinforce the curriculum?

Ÿ Are they distributed to parents at the beginning of every year?

Ÿ Do they have internal consistency and logically progress from subject to subject & grade level to grade level?

Ÿ Are concepts built upon and not repeated many times without need?

Ÿ Do they include learning resources for parents to use with students?

Ÿ Are they more than paraphrased table of contents, sample test questions, and resources listed in the textbook?

Ÿ Do teachers jump on the bandwagon of "hot topics," needlessly repeating the same idea or assignment across many courses?

Ÿ Does the school let teachers do what they want to, or does it insist on an integrated curriculum with clearly written objectives and coordinating test questions?

Ÿ Have the courses of study been updated recently?

Ÿ Do teachers follow the courses of study in the classroom?

Ÿ Are teachers involved in critical instructional issues?

Ÿ Do they have a say in transgrade issues?

Ÿ Are they part of district-wide curriculum committees?

Ÿ Are courses of study revised by the best teachers?

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Ÿ Are there grading problems?

Ÿ Is the grading policy clear?

Ÿ Is the grading policy applied consistently?

Ÿ Does the grading policy make allowances for students taking advanced courses?

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Ÿ Are there writing problems?

Ÿ Do students write daily, from the 1st grade on?

Ÿ Are there major checkpoints across grade levels where writing must become better?

Ÿ Does the school evaluate student writing over time (viewing recent and past writing samples together)?

Ÿ Does the school have a specific approach to writing? Is it consistent and objective?

Ÿ How many writing assignments are given in each class each year?

Ÿ Do teachers give essay tests routinely?

Ÿ When and how is grammar taught?

Ÿ Do students' papers show corrections for mistakes in writing across all courses?

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Ÿ Are there problems with the library?

Ÿ Do students use the library independently or in groups?

Ÿ Do teachers plan their lessons and their major objectives around library resources?

Ÿ Do students show the ability to gather, sift, and analyze information?

Ÿ Is the library central to their work?

Ÿ Is the library a busy place? Is it used frequently by students?

Ÿ Can students discover, with library resources, that issues are often complex and there are often several sides to issues and not one right answer?

Ÿ Do teachers require major papers of most students?

Ÿ Is the library the hub of getting information for papers>?

Ÿ What type of measurement is used to show how frequently and how well students are becoming independent learners?

Ÿ   administrators often ask for more books, more periodicals, more teachers, more rooms, more carts, more of everything! The wrong goals are pursued and few of the right questions or issues are ever raised

Ÿ Do administrators often ask for more library resources without a proposal for integrating the resources into the curriculum?

Ÿ Is the library collection adequate for its mission?

Ÿ   Observe the library for 30 minutes.

Ÿ Are students constantly stream toward the library to do their own research?

Ÿ  How many children are in the library during the school day?

Ÿ  What are the children doing?

Ÿ Is the library open after school?

Ÿ Is it crowded (esp. compared to the athletic fields)?

Ÿ  What evidence is there that the library is the learning center of the school?

Ÿ Is there evidence that the students are becoming independent library users and self-reliant learners?

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Ÿ Are there homework problems?

Ÿ What is the school policy on homework?

Ÿ Is it followed?

Ÿ Are there informal exceptions?

Ÿ What is the quality of the homework?

Ÿ Are homework assignments thoughtful?

Ÿ Do they reinforce classroom teaching?

Ÿ Do students get one tough problem each day in each class?

Ÿ Is homework corrected promptly?

Ÿ Do teachers spread homework out relatively evenly, or do they cram a lot in at the end of the quarter or year?

Ÿ Do teachers cram 5 days of homework into 4 days, avoiding weekend assignments?

Ÿ Do teachers assign homework a few days in advance to accommodate hectic student schedules?

Ÿ Do students have an effective way of learning about homework assignments when they are absent from class?

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