Many independent schools offer wonderful educational opportunities for students of all ages and abilities. The autonomy of independent schools allows for diverse curriculum and an exceptional student-centered focus. As you consider the options within the world of independent schools, you should ask yourself: what should I look for to make the best choice?

This section includes essential questions to consider when visiting campuses or acquiring information over the phone or on the web. The answers should help narrow your focus among schools as well as help you determine where the superior opportunities exist.

Class Size

Question: The benefits derived from small classes are the promise of most independent schools. The key question is how are schools taking advantage of these smaller classes? What do teachers do differently and better from teachers at other schools?

Background: Independent schools routinely promise the benefits of individual attention associated with small class size. Yet research would suggest that class size is not in and of itself always a good predictor of student achievement and success. The growth potential for students resides in what teachers are doing to take advantage of smaller class sizes.

What to look for: Look for schools that can show how they leverage the class size advantage. Ask how this happens. Evidence includes curriculum that is designed to adapt to individual student needs, the use of cooperative and collaborative practices in the classroom, and the flexible grouping of students. Ask to see some curriculum. When touring a school look at the physical setup of the classes for evidence of teaching and learning approaches other than the straight lecture seating format. Ask about peer and cooperative approaches and how they are used.

Question: What does your school do to provide a more personalized experience for its students?

Background: It is universally accepted that students learn at different rates and in different ways. Individualization is reflected in the way curriculum is designed and how classrooms are structured to reflect that students learn at different rates and in different ways.

What to look for: Parents and students should expect something better than "a one size fits all" approach from an independent school. Look for evidence that the school has curriculum tailored to individual capabilities and backgrounds. Evidence will include materials, evaluation projects, and lesson plans designed for use with different groups of students in each curriculum and classroom. Also, look for a range of teaching practices that includes both teacher and student led methods. It is only when learners are embraced as individuals and their growth advanced with genuine knowledge of their aptitudes and learning history that a school can claim to be individualizing.

Look for opportunities for extra-help, but in doing so ask what the school's teachers know about adjusting their teaching for student understanding. Remember, if a student doesn't get it the first time, teaching it over the same way may not help.

Professional Development

Question: How do you ensure that the teachers are among the best in their profession?

Background: "Good teachers are born not made." How many times have we all heard that admonition? There is more to being a teaching professional than knowing the subject matter, having good communication skills, and caring about students. Here is another statement to think about: "Good teachers can be great when they know their craft." In the last 30 years, huge gains have been made in our understanding of the way people learn and, more importantly, what to do to advance the learning process. Sadly, too little of this knowledge has found its way into classrooms. A teacher, no matter how naturally talented, should embrace and practice these advances. A teacher's professional repertoire should include the skills necessary to assist a range of students within one class to realize their full potentials.

What to look for: Ask what teaching practices are used by the faculty and how the faculty was trained to use them to best effect their students. Ask about recent curriculum innovations and the research that supports the choices the school has made regarding these innovations.

Ask how the school works with teachers to make improved practice part of the normal classroom routine. Look for schools that have a formal program of support that connects professional development with support necessary to implement better practice in the classroom. We know that introducing good professional practice to classrooms is complex and challenging. Ask how much administrative time is dedicated to professional support. Look for evidence of administrators and peers spending time in classrooms helping each other, giving feedback, and evaluating the integrity with which new approaches are implemented.

Look for a school professional development plan that is dedicated to supporting the growth of teachers over time. Such a plan should reflect the school's dedication to a body of well-researched teaching and learning practice. It should go beyond sending faculty to conferences and should include mentoring and ongoing school sponsored faculty workshops followed by planned classroom support for implementation. There also should be a connection between professional development and the way teachers are evaluated and rewarded. Ask to see that plan and evidence of its implementation.

Teacher Growth and Support

Question: How are teachers at your school recognized and rewarded?

Background: The distinction between a teacher who has 20 years of experience to one year of experience 20 times is a critical one when your child's education is at stake. As in any other profession, teachers need to grow in their professional ability if they are to best provide for their students. The criteria by which a school rewards and recognizes

its faculty will in many ways determine whether all teachers develop to their full potential in professional skill and competence.

What to look for: Look for schools that don't base promotions on seniority but rather have established merit pay systems and a clearly defined career path for teachers. Movement along the path should be based on teaching performance. Good professional support programs have both clearly defined position descriptions for teachers and administrators and established evaluation protocols and practices. Ask to see these. There should be evidence of regular evaluation that includes feedback from a number of sources including peers, administrators, self-evaluation, and students. At least two of these inputs are needed for a workable system. Schools that take the time to reflect on what and how they are doing demonstrate a capacity for critique and a commitment to growth.

Advancement at the school should be connected to the evaluation model. Bottom up and top down evaluation is best. This involves administrators being evaluated by the people they supervise. Ask how the evaluation system works, how often teachers' classes are visited, and how the evaluation process ties into career advancement. Schools with good evaluation programs are more likely to be focused on the needs of the student and the activity required to accelerate a student's growth.

Paying Attention

Question: What is the school's plan and program for building on strengths and addressing needs?

Background: Schools are not perfect places. Administrators and faculty should know and share a school's strengths and needs with you and be prepared to tell you how they are addressing the needs and advancing the strengths.

What to look for: When you visit, ask about student retention, disciplinary statistics, college lists, SAT scores -- all the traditional measures of success. But also be sure to dig a little deeper. Ask about the school's greatest needs currently and what is being done to address them. Look for signs of a plan and a process that reflect a strategy for growth and renewal.

Technology

Question: How will your school serve my child's current and future needs in the area of technology?

Background: We are all aware of the pressing new demands of the information age and the wonderful opportunities it affords. Yet many educational institutions are applying an old paradigm, industrial age approach to the introduction of technology -- lots of computer labs where learning about technology becomes a subject and where students can do their homework on the computer. You wouldn't take a course in "pencil" so why do the same with computers? First and foremost, students need to learn "with" technology, capturing its many uses and advantages in a meaningful context. In doing so students can adapt to the inevitable rapid growth and change in the way information technology impacts their lives. Technology should be a normal part of the curriculum in all classes. When teachers can find a place to meaningfully connect "software and Shakespeare, the World Wide Web and the Food Web" you can be more comfortable that the role of technology is a natural part of the life of the school -- integral to the curriculum, neither artificially overplayed nor under-represented. It is on this curricular foundation that a school can build focus areas in programming, multimedia, and other technology centered offerings.

What to Look For: Most schools have and need computer labs, especially for high-end instruction in multimedia and programming, but more important is comprehensive regular classroom access. Remember that the use of labs alone may indicate that a school is unwilling to address the broader integration of technology into the classroom. Look for access across the campus. That means network connectivity in every classroom and a healthy number of computers in those classes at least 1:4 (one computer; four students). Putting in the infrastructure is one thing, actually using it in meaningful ways is another. Look for evidence of routine use when touring a school. Computers and other technology relegated to obscure locations or shrouded in covers represent tell tale signs that the technology is little integrated.

Ask about how much training faculty receive and the ways in which technology is used in classes. Research tells us that teachers prefer to create their own technology resources. Ask how many teachers at the school develop their own teaching resources using technology and what kind of things they create. Ask to look at examples.

Schools with a strong technology program will be excited by your interest and enjoy sharing the talents of their faculty. Remember that every school has its technology stars, but the success of a school experience is based on what the superstars and the rest of the faculty are doing for each student. Ask about what all of the teachers are doing. Finally, ask the school how technology is advancing each student's learning. Expect to hear less of the rhetoric about the information age and more about practical connections in the curriculum (e.g., the way simulations now can be made more meaningful in science or the way hypertext can enrich a student's understanding of poetry). Listen for the real examples and observe the excitement that exists in a school that has envisioned what technology can truly accomplish.

Community LIfe

Question: What should you look for in a community life program?

Background: The community life program of a school is as important as its academic curriculum, something that is especially the case in a boarding school where the school becomes a young person's home for the academic year. All of the questions that were framed from an academic perspective are equally important for a school's community life program:

What is the curriculum?
How are teachers prepared to deliver that curriculum?
How is student living space organized?
What is the faculty / student ratio in those spaces?
How is the community program evaluated?
How do teachers advance in the community life aspect of their professional role?
Does the evaluation program extend into this aspect of the school's program?
What is the extracurricular program?
Ask some students what they think about it.

What to look for: As all parents know and young people realize, adolescence is a period of self discovery and transition. It is essential that this process occurs in a safe and nurturing environment where social as well as academic skills will develop.

Look for evidence that the school, particularly the boarding school, places emphasis on the social as well as the academic growth of the student with the same planning and intentional approach to the community life program as the academic program. Ask about the curriculum and to see it. Expect to hear a clear description and see a document that is practical and shows what is meant to happen in the community life program. Ask about any special programs that build students' social growth and enhance their total learning experience. Effective and safe schools evidence a strong sense of community. Look for schools that can show you evidence of an effort to make the community life experience a truly personal one through a clearly defined curriculum. In a boarding school, look for smaller family oriented living spaces that are less institutional and reflect a strong commitment to the school's loco parentis responsibility. When you see clearly articulated curriculum, evaluation programs, a career path for community parenting, a rich extracurricular program, and happy students bonded with the faculty you know that the school has placed the total life of the student as a top priority.

Leadership

Question: How knowledgeable are members of the school leadership about teaching and learning and how active are they in the curricular life of the school?

Background: The core activity of schools is teaching and learning. Research tells us that quality teaching and learning begins at the top. If the school is to be focused on its mission then the leaders need to be both teaching and learning leaders in the broadest sense.

What to look for: Look for leaders from the admissions office to those individuals charged with leading academic and community life programs to be conversant with the kind of programs, practices, and priorities described here. The school's values, beliefs, and priorities will be shaped by the commitment of its leaders. The core activity of schools is teaching and learning. The leaders should be able to clearly articulate the school's teaching and learning mission and then explain how it is realized through its programs and the professional practice of the faculty.

Dr. Alan Bain was the associate headmaster of Brewster Academy from 1992-2003. He is the author of more than 20 articles in leading journals in education and psychology. Prior to serving as Brewster's associate headmaster, he held faculty positions in the graduate schools of education at the University of Western Australia and Lehigh University and has been appointed Adjunct Associate Professor, Curtin University of Technology Science and Mathematics Education Centre, Perth Western Australia. He is a highly regarded authority on school improvement and the role of technology in the curriculum process. Dr. Bain consults internationally with schools and systems seeking to improve curriculum and teaching and learning models.

The following publications and articles support statements and facts contained in this article on selecting schools.

Cuban, L. (1993). "Computers Meet Classroom: Classroom Wins." Teachers College Record, (9) 2 185-210.

Glennan, T. K., & Melmed, A. (1996). "Fostering the use of educational technology." Santa Monica, CA: Rand.

Lee, Ginny V. "New Images of School Leadership: Implications for Professional Development." Journal of Staff Development. Vol. 14, No. 1, Winter 1993, pp. 2-5.

Oppenheimer, T. (1997, July). "The computer delusion." The Atlantic Monthly [On-line serial]. Available: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97jul/computer.htm

McGiverin, Jennifer, et al. "A Meta-analysis of the Relation Between Class Size and Achievement." Elementary School Journal. Vol. 90, No. 1, September 1989, pp. 47-56.

Pate-Bain, Helen, C. M. Achilles, Jayne Boyd-Zaharias, and Bernard McKenna. "Class Size Does Make a Difference." Phi Delta Kappan. Vol. 74, No. 3, November 1992, pp. 253-256.

Powney, J. (1991). "Teacher Appraisal: The case for a developmental approach." Educational Research, 33(2), 83-92.

Robinson, Glen E. and James H. Wittebols. "Class Size Research: A Related Cluster Analysis for Decision Making." Educational Research Services, Inc. 222 pp. Arlington, VA 22209

Sheingold, Karen. "Technology Integration and Teachers' Professional Development." Learning Technologies: Essential for Education Change. Council of Chief State School Officers, 1 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20001, 1992.

Slavin, R.E. (1990). "Cooperative learning: Theory research and practice." Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Wheelock, A. (1992). "The Case for Untracking." Educational Leadership; v50 n2 p6-10.

Wiggins, G. (1998). "Educative Assessment." San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.