The Prestige of the High School as Viewed by Parents

Rather than being an inherent attribute of the school, prestige is conceived as attribute conferred upon the school by the public. The present research sought to explore the factors that contribute to the prestige of high schools, in the view ofparents. Data were obtained from 465 parents of 9th and 11th graders attending 18 state-secular junior and senior high schools. Educational attainment was found to be the prime correlate of school prestigefollowed by—in descending order—the qualiy of teachers, students, parents, school policies, climate, management, and physical facilities. Although factors intrinsic to education proper were found to be the prime source of attribution ofprestige to schools, certain parents subgroups were identifiedfor whom prestige was related primarily to extrinsic features. A ‘halo effect’ was indicated demonstrating the reliance of prestige attribution on stereotyped perception. The findings of this pilot study are discussed and suggestions for further research are outlined.