Good Schools/ Bad?Conflicting Ratings Leave Parents Baffled

Good Schools or Bad? Conflicting Ratings Leave Parents Baffled

By SAM DILLON

Published: September 5, 2004

DARIEN, Ill.- Students are returning to classes across the nation amid a cacophony of contradictory messages about the quality of their education, as thousands of schools with vaunted reputations have been rated in recent weeks as low-performing under a federal law.

School ratings issued under the terms of the president's No Child Left Behind law have clashed with school report card systems administered by some states, leaving parents unsure which level of government to believe or whether to transfer their children, an option offered by the law.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/education/05school.html?th


Good school, failing school. You can't tell without a score card. As if the problems with public education was not bad enough on a local level. The federal government has stepped in and muddied the water even more. I have often wondered what makes a good school good and a failing one fail. Is it the building, books, teachers, administration, the student population or the parents. Where do you believe the greatest fault lies?
What should the federal government be doing and not be doing?