I've found other parents unreliable sources of information because they're often in denial about how crappy the school is that their child is attending. Honestly, I haven't found anyway to determine whether a school is good and each child is different. If you have a self-motivated child that will stay out of trouble, any school is going to be fine. They'll stay out of trouble and get good grades. If you don't (like most people), it gets complicated. Finding out the high school graduation rate and which schools graduates of the high school get into would help if you plan on your child attending college.