> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.the-citation.us/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What makes a school "good?" - URL: https://www.the-citation.us/what-makes-a-school-good/ - Published: 2026-10-15T10:05:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-15T17:03:40.000Z - Description: The first full Edition of The Citation asks what parents can learn about a school beyond ratings and test scores. - Author: JPB Gerald - Tags: The Brief, Edition 1, Brief, edition 01 *This edition’s topics include: The impact of school schedules and policies, language policing, emotion-language, the children’s books chosen for schools, among others.* There’s been a bit of a hot-take kerfuffle in the past few weeks over something written by author and scholar Nikole Hannah-Jones. When you originate [the 1619 Project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5F1619%5FProject?ref=the-citation.us), you are going to be a perpetual lightning-rod no matter what you do. So after nearly a decade of being a target of outrage, when Hannah-Jones wrote [about her and her husband’s decisions for her daughter’s schooling](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/magazine/choosing-a-school-for-my-daughter-in-a-segregated-city.html?ref=the-citation.us) – and admitted possible mistakes – she became a human-shaped bullseye for these same people. The libertarian [Reason](https://reason.com/2026/09/23/nikole-hannah-jones-experiment-accidentally-undercuts-her-case-against-school-choice/?ref=the-citation.us) and the… libertarian [Cato Institute](https://www.cato.org/blog/what-does-nikole-hannah-jones-mea-culpa-say-about-importance-school-choice?ref=the-citation.us) used her article as a means to make their case for school choice. The conservative [National Review](https://www.nationalreview.com/2026/09/what-nikole-hannah-jones-doesnt-say/?ref=the-citation.us) got in on the fun too. As I read her article myself, “school choice” didn’t really factor into my reaction. I admit, however, that I did wonder if she had sacrificed certain potential benefits for her child to make a political point. As a Black man who mostly attended private schools and is now the father of two Black boys , I’ve debated things like this since even before the older one was born. I believe in public schools as a concept and certainly believe they, and their teachers, are not given the support required to thrive. **But, if, like Hannah-Jones, you see your own child coming home upset and see their skills stagnating, how much do your beliefs matter in comparison?** At the same time, as her article makes clear, simply placing your (Black) child in a supposedly “better” school doesn’t immediately resolve issues, and being “the only” is an isolating experience I certainly had that I very much don’t want my sons to experience. So what do you do? When you think of moving to a certain location, you probably look up the local school district, on a site like [Niche](https://www.niche.com/?ref=the-citation.us) or [GreatSchools](https://www.greatschools.org/?ref=the-citation.us). But very few parents are teachers. And very few teachers have the time to consume scholarship. There is a mountain of education research being published, and plenty of it can help us answer what it even means to be a “good” school. That’s what I’m going to try to address in this, the first full edition of The Citation. So what does the research say? **Onto Edition 01: What makes a school “good?”** **Snapshot:** [Have We Learned Anything?](https://www.the-citation.us/have-we-learned-anything/) (Dr. Clara Vaz Bauler) **Snapshot:** [The Sound of Misbehaviour](https://www.the-citation.us/the-sound-of-misbehaviour/) (Dr. Ian Cushing) **Snapshot:** [Supporting Children’s Emotions and Relationships](https://www.the-citation.us/supporting-childrens-emotions-and-relationships/) (Dr. Elizabeth K. King) **Snapshot:** [Strangeness in the Looking Glass](https://www.the-citation.us/strangeness-in-the-looking-glass/) (Dr. Maria Rosa Brea-Spahn and colleagues) **The Classic:** [Conclusion: What Does a Certificate Tell Us About Teacher Effectiveness?](https://www.the-citation.us/conclusion-what-does-a-certificate-tell-us-about-teacher-effectiveness/) You’ve read the Brief. Now dive into the research. Upgrade to read the full Edition and get human-written, scholar-reviewed context delivered twice a month. [Get full access.](#/portal/signup)