这篇文章对学校的考察可够细了，不过非常有用。我正在翻译，有点长，先将原文放在这里供正在选校的家庭参考。

9 questions to help you pick the best private high schoolBy: Patrick O'Brien December 3, 2013 6:59 pm By iStockSelecting a private school for your child can be tough, so make sure that you’re comprehensive in your search.Each year, millions of families make the decision to send their students to private high schools.The choice can create exciting opportunities for a student but usually comes with a significant price tag. Regardless, many parents believe that the quality of the education and overall experience make a private school the right choice for their children’s futures.Selecting a private school can be challenging, as each institution offers unique opportunities and teaching approaches.There are large and small private schools, single-sex environments, independent and religiously affiliated, etc. To make the best possible choice for your student, it is important for you to understand your goals in pursuing a private school education.Meaningful family dialogue will lay the foundation for a productive decision-making process. It is very important to let your student play a major role in this effort.Be comprehensive in your search. Don’t let minor differences in relative distance or cost stop you from fully understanding the range of available options. Also, know that some schools offer financial aid and others award merit scholarships.Below are nine questions that can help you select the best private high school for your child. While you may prioritize some factors over others, each will add value to your process. You can get some answers from each high school’s profile, a tool schools use to provide information on the school to colleges. It can be found on a school’s website or is available, upon request, in print form. You’ll get most answers, however, by doing meaningful research. You’ll need to invest time to most wisely invest your education dollars.1. What is the school’s academic track record? There is not one metric that will tell the story, but if you look at several, you’ll begin to get a picture of the relative academic quality of schools you may be considering. Whether or not you believe your child is a top academic performer, an academic program with proven results should be a priority. Look at any measurement over a period of several years, as any school can have one class of superstars. Here are a few factors that will help tell the story:a.SAT and ACT scores. Ask for school averages by year, and the performance of the top 25% and of the middle 50%. Regardless of the level at which your child has achieved thus far, it is important to understand the academic environment your son or daughter will enter.b.Accelerated learning programs in place and related results. AP and IB classes are the most common. Find out how many AP classes (or IB classes) are offered. What is the level of participation in AP classes and what percent of students who take the test achieve a score of 4 or 5 on the AP test (on the 1-5 scale)? At a school that encourages more students to challenge themselves with AP course work, this percentage might be lower so you must look at both the level of student participation and results. If a school will disclose only what percent received a “3, 4, or 5” in aggregate, they are often trying to hide poor performance. Many selective colleges do not offer college credit for “3” scores and in some cases a “5” is required to earn credits.c.The percent of seniors who are National Merit recognized. This measurement is based on one test on one day (the PSAT) so it is not a comprehensive measure, but it does provide another relevant data point. Look at the percentage of students recognized and their level of recognition, not the raw number.d.Programs in place to address special needs. If special needs (learning style differences, for example) are a consideration for you, make it a point to talk to other parents who have had students at the school with that special need. Are there extra support programs? How are they accessed? What is the fee structure? A school’s positive results with other students with your child’s special need help ensure that your student’s needs will be met.Ignore any statistic touting scholarship dollars earned by a school’s students. One top student, applying to many schools and pursuing every possible scholarship opportunity, could amass $1,000,000 in scholarship offers (based on the four-year total dollar figure on renewable scholarships). It is easy to manipulate this statistic. Also, ignore any GPA-based statistic. Schools have complete control over grade point averages. They choose the grade scale, class weighting and set guidelines for how teachers mark at the school. As such, these statistics are meaningless.2. What is culture of the school? Ask school leadership to describe the current culture of the school, how they would like to improve it and what they are doing to achieve that result. What does the school truly value? Ask teachers, parents, and students the same questions. In asking questions of various stakeholders, you’re looking for alignment amongst the groups.Does the institution encourage students to challenge themselves academically? Weighting grades for AP/IB and honors class is one way to achieve this objective. Is it cool to be smart there or is it cool to be cool? At quality colleges, students who achieve academically are highly respected. You’re looking for a similar culture in a high school. Ask how the school celebrates academic achievement relative to achievement in other areas, like sports for example.For a broader perspective, ask to see a school’s accreditation research survey results (required every 7-10 years) or the results of any other stakeholder satisfaction research that they may conduct. Hint: many high-performing organizations conduct customer satisfaction research on a regular interval as they are committed to continuous improvement.3. To what universities do students apply and gain acceptance? Are students from the school (in meaningful numbers) accepted to a variety of quality colleges, including highly selective universities, geographically diverse schools and respected honors programs at state schools? Don’t be swayed that one student was admitted to Harvard or MIT last year. Look at several years of data. If your child has a very strong interest in a particular college, find out what the school’s track record is with that college. If a school sends students to a broad collection of schools, it is fair to assume that the school is serious about finding schools that are a good match for their students.4. In what ways do the teachers engage with students? Most schools talk a big game in terms of teacher “engagement” but not all deliver on it. What is the student/faculty ratio at the school? What are average class sizes? Are teachers regularly available before school and during meaningful timeframes during the day? If a teacher is teaching classes during every class period, student/teacher interactions are much more challenging.Are they disengaged “sages on stages” who don’t work to connect with students, or are they passionate about teaching and function as coaches and mentors to facilitate learning? Ask students how often in the last week they have gone to see a teacher to collaborate or ask questions. Is there an advising program, and how does it work? Are there informal interactions between students and teachers on a regular basis (i.e. student vs. faculty contests) to build relationships? Are the teachers regularly present at student events?Top schools work to facilitate student-teacher relationships. Don’t forget that teachers will write your student’s critically important letters of recommendation for college applications. Truly engaged teachers write powerful, compelling letters as they have deep relationships with students.5. Is the school strongly committed to purposeful innovation? Tradition is important in most private schools, but implementing new teaching approaches is critical to providing the best possible education. Both are not only possible, but are highly desired in a strong educational environment. Work to understand how the school integrates technology into learning. If students have PC’s, tablets, etc., drill down to see if the technology is simply “window dressing” or if students are utilizing the technology in class to manage their schedules and workloads, to do their homework, etc. Ask teachers how technology has changed their role in the classroom and impacted how they teach. Ask that question of parents and students, not school administration. Ask faculty how comfortable they are with technology, how they utilize it in their classes and what kind of professional development is available for faculty to keep them current in technology. If technology is utilized, is there an adequate tech support system in place?Also look more broadly at innovation, querying school leadership on how they are trying to innovate. Many top schools have programs in place to attempt to develop important soft skills like curiosity, teamwork, resilience and effort.6. How strong and stable is the leadership of the school? Leadership matters. Meet the headmaster or principal, the head of the high school and the administrator responsible for your student’s grade level. Ask them what their priorities are for the students and the school and what they are doing to achieve them. Again, you’re looking for quality answers and alignment. You are looking for an effective team of educators. Ask parents at the school how well they know these people, what they like most and least about each and why, how high their level of trust is with school leadership and what opportunities they have to interact with them. Most principals and headmasters can be charming and articulate. You want a headmaster or principal who can actually execute on the vision they so eloquently discuss. Alignment (or lack thereof) will tell you a lot.Find out how, and how frequently, school leadership communicates with parents and students and get samples of the communication. Parent communications will be loaded with information about the school beyond what is in the marketing materials. School newspapers are too. They can often be found online on a school’s website. Find out what opportunities exist for parental involvement. This one is a fine line as transparency to parents is a very positive sign, but you also don’t want parents dealing with everyday school functions. Finally, find out if there is rampant turnover in administration and/or faculty.Sometimes change is necessary and people do retire, but try to understand how long key leadership and faculty have been in their positions. If a school has high turnover, be concerned.7. How committed is the school to your child’s holistic development? Does the school have strong programs in the arts, athletics, and a very broad range of well developed, active clubs? School-related activities are not only an important part of a student’s development, but they can also be a significant factor in admissions at selective colleges. On the athletic front, does the school sacrifice academic quality to recruit athletic superstars? This may not seem like a major issue and the school’s trophy case may look great, but it could have a major impact on the environment in which your student will learn and negatively impact school culture. It could also significantly impact your student’s ability to play a role on school teams.8. Is the school truly committed to diversity? Today’s students will be entering an incredibly diverse world as adults. Exposure to diverse backgrounds and opinions will be a critical success factor in their future. What is the ethnic mix of the school? And, importantly, are students of color truly integrated into the school community?Try also to understand the socio-economic diversity at the school. Students are a great resource for answers on this one. You’ll learn a lot by asking a student a simple question like, “how good a job does the school do in terms of diversity?” Where there is diversity of all types, there is learning for your students and preparation for life in our global society.9. Is there a positive energy among the students? Are students at a given school excited about learning? Are students having fun? Motivated, happy students typically work hardest and perform best. If you talk to students at different schools and ask them what they like best about their school and take note of the energy with which they answer, you’ll sense the different energy levels.If a school hits the mark on many of the items above (strong leadership, teacher engagement, innovation, student development opportunities, etc), the result will be happy students who trust school leadership, are comfortable being themselves in their school environment, feel ownership of their education, challenge themselves to achieve at a high level in and out of the classroom and have a strong desire to do the best they possibly can for their teachers. They’ll exhibit creativity, teamwork, and ethics, etc. and show resilience when things don’t go right. They’ll sit at the dinner table and talk energetically about the interesting things they learned in history class that day.Finally, as you go through the high school selection process, always remember that you are a customer. For most families, pursuing a private school education is the second largest financial investment you’ll make in your child. It’s your job to ask questions – to dig deep to find a place that will nurture your student’s development. Quality schools will be delighted that you’re trying to get beyond the shiny marketing brochures to truly understand schools you are considering. It is very unlikely that you’ll get every one of these questions answered, but the more questions you ask, the better a given school will look relative to their competition.Sending your student to a great private high school can be a life-changing decision for your student, setting him or her on a positive trajectory not only for college, but for life. Become an educated parent by getting answers to the questions above, make an informed school choice with your student and you’ll be delighted with the rich returns you’ll receive on this great investment in your child’s future.