Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Christian School

Every Christian school will tell you it’s Christ-centered, academically strong, and like a family. Most of them mean it. This page is how you find out what’s actually behind those words — so you can commit with confidence rather than hope.

Before you go

Two habits that make the whole visit worth it.

Ask open questions rather than yes/no ones. “Do you teach a biblical worldview?” gets a yes from every school on earth and tells you nothing. “Show me how a biblical worldview changed something in your eighth-grade science class this year” gets you either a real example or a thoughtful pause. Both are informative.

Notice when a question turns into a value. When something is uncomfortable, it’s natural for a school to reach for what really matters is that we love these kids. They probably do love them. It’s still not the answer to what you asked. Keep a quiet list of the questions that got a feeling instead of an answer — that list is your real report, and it’s rarely long.

1. Doctrine — ask this first

For an Apostolic family this is the most important section, and it’s the one parents most often skip because it feels impolite. Ask anyway. You’re considering giving this school six hours a day of your child’s mind, and good schools expect the question.

“What does your school teach about salvation?” Not the church down the street — this school, to my child, in chapel and in Bible class.

“What is taught about baptism? About the Godhead? About receiving the Holy Ghost?” Most Christian schools are broadly evangelical, and their teaching on these points will differ from Apostolic doctrine — sometimes substantially, and usually sincerely. A difference isn’t automatically disqualifying. Not knowing about it until fourth grade is the part that hurts.

“What happens when my child says something in Bible class that the teacher disagrees with?” This one tells you about the culture. A settled school will say something like we’d handle it respectfully and let you know. That’s the answer you want, and it tells you how a nine-year-old will be treated for repeating what they learned at home.

“May I see your statement of faith — and the Bible curriculum you actually use?” Ask for the documents. Schools that are confident in their materials are glad to show them.

“Are teachers required to affirm the statement of faith?” And is that checked, or is it a form?

Listen for: a specific, comfortable answer, and no defensiveness when you mention you believe differently. Worth a second look: “We don’t get into doctrine, we just teach the Bible.” Everyone teaches an interpretation — that’s not a criticism, it’s simply how teaching works. A school that hasn’t noticed its own theology can’t tell you what your child will be taught, and that’s the thing you came to find out.

2. Academics — the part faith doesn’t excuse

Doctrine and academics are separate questions, and a school can be strong on one and thin on the other. If the academics are weak, your child ends up under-served in school and still needing the discipleship at home — at full price. Both are worth checking.

• “Are your teachers certified? How many are teaching outside their subject?”
• “What’s your teacher turnover over the last three years?” (Quietly the most useful question here. Teachers vote with their feet, and a stable faculty is a very good sign.)
• “What standardized testing do you do, and may I see the school-wide results?”
• “Are you accredited? By whom?” (Then look up the accreditor — they vary a great deal in how much they actually require.)
• “What advanced courses ran last year?” (Catalogs list more than schools always offer, and that’s usually about enrollment rather than anything worrying.)
• “Where did last year’s graduating class go?”
• “What’s the class size — and what does it look like when a teacher is out?”

Listen for: numbers, offered readily. Worth a second look: “We focus on the whole child, not test scores.” That’s a good philosophy — and you’d still like to see the scores. A school doing well on both will happily show you.

3. Faith integration — the heart of what you’re buying

This is the actual product. A school with a strong secular curriculum and a devotional at the start of homeroom is offering something real, but it isn’t integration — and integration is what the tuition is for.

“Give me a specific example of how a biblical worldview changed something you taught in history this year.” Ask for the example, not the philosophy.

“How do you teach origins? What do students actually read?”

“What happens in literature class with a book that has content some families object to? Do you skip it, teach it, or teach through it?” (There’s no single right answer here. There’s a right kind of answer: one they’ve clearly thought about.)

“Is Bible a graded course with a real curriculum?”

Listen for: a teacher who has an example ready, because they actually did it in October. Worth a second look: if the answer is chapel, a verse of the week, and a mission trip. Those are genuinely good things — they’re just activities rather than integration. (See: How Christian Schools Integrate Faith Into Every Subject.)

4. The other children

Tuition selects for the parents’ convictions. It can’t select for hearts — so it’s worth asking.

• “What are the expectations for students outside of school?”
• “What’s your phone policy, and how does it work in practice?”
• “How do you handle bullying? Can you tell me about a real situation from last year?”
• “How many families are here mainly for the faith, and how many mainly for the academics?” (A candid school will say “both, and it’s a real tension for us.” That’s a good answer, not a bad one.)

Worth a second look: “We don’t really have problems like that here.” Every school with children in it has some. A school that can tell you about a hard situation and how they handled it is showing you something more valuable than a clean record.

5. Discipline and authority

• “Walk me through what happens the third time a child is disrespectful to a teacher.”
• “Has a student ever been asked to leave? What happened?”
• “What’s the difference here between discipline and punishment?”
• “How do you keep discipline consistent across families?” (Every school with human beings in it feels this pressure. One that can talk about it openly is managing it.)

Listen for: consistent, calm, documented, parents involved early.

6. The money

• “What’s the full annual cost — tuition, fees, books, uniforms, technology, trips, fundraising?” (Ask for the all-in number. The brochure figure rarely includes everything.)
• “How much has tuition risen each of the last five years?” (This can be a thirteen-year commitment — worth compounding out.)
• “How is the school doing financially?”
• “What happens if we have a hard month?”

Listen for: a clear all-in number and no pressure to decide today. A school confident in its value doesn’t need to rush you into a thirteen-year decision, and the good ones don’t.

7. Special needs and the child who doesn’t fit

Ask even if it doesn’t apply today. Children change, and this question tends to become relevant later.

• “What do you have for a child who’s behind in reading?”
• “Can you serve an IEP or a 504?”
• “If my child struggles, do you work with us, or is there a point where it isn’t a fit?”
• “How do you handle a gifted child who’s bored?”

Listen for: honesty about limits. “We can’t serve that well, and here’s what we’d suggest instead” is one of the best answers you can get — it’s a school that knows itself and won’t take your money for something it can’t do. Worth a second look: “We work with every child.” Very few small schools can, and it’s kinder to everyone to know the boundaries up front.

8. How they work with parents

• “Tell me about a time a parent disagreed with the school. What happened?”
• “When something goes wrong, do I hear it from you or from my child?”
• “What’s expected of parents? Hours, fundraising, committees?”

Listen for: a school that treats a questioning parent as a partner. You’re looking for people you can work with for over a decade, and how they handle a hard question today is a fair preview of how they’ll handle one in eight years.

What to do besides ask

The tour is the least informative part of the day. These are the rest of it.

Ask to sit in on a class. A real one. Most schools are glad to arrange it.

Talk to parents they didn’t select for you. The parking lot at pickup. Families in your own church who send their children there. Ask one question: “What do you wish you’d known?”

Talk to a family who left. The most useful conversation available, and the one a school can’t arrange for you. Worth finding.

Watch the hallway between classes. How students treat each other when no one’s presenting tells you a great deal.

Look at the teachers. Not the administrator — the teachers. People who are glad to be there look like it.

Take these with you

Print them. Ask them out loud. Write the answers down while you’re there.

• What is taught about salvation, baptism, the Godhead, the Holy Ghost?
• May I see the statement of faith and the Bible curriculum?
• What happens if my child disagrees in Bible class?
• Are teachers certified? How many teach outside their subject?
• Teacher turnover, last three years?
• Test results — may I see them?
• Accredited by whom?
• One specific example of biblical worldview changing a history or science lesson this year?
• Phone policy, and is it enforced?
• A real bullying incident and what happened?
• The third-offense discipline process?
• Full annual cost, all in?
• Tuition increase each of the last five years?
• Can you serve a child who’s behind? An IEP?
• A time a parent disagreed — what happened?
• May I observe a class?
• (Off-site) One family who left — what happened?

The one to end on

If you ask nothing else, ask this:

“What is this school not good at?”

A strong school will answer it. They’ll tell you the science lab is dated, or that losing a math teacher last spring hurt, or that special needs is where they’re thinnest. A school that knows its own weaknesses is a school being run by people who are paying attention — and that’s exactly who you want teaching your child.

If a school can’t name a single weakness, it isn’t necessarily hiding something. But it’s the one answer worth sitting with.

“The simple believes every word, But the prudent considers well his steps.”

Proverbs 14:15

Considering well your steps isn’t a lack of faith — it’s the instruction. Ask the questions warmly, write the answers down, and then commit with your eyes open. That’s not suspicion. That’s how you find a school you can trust for thirteen years.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.