The Factors of School Choice for the Junior High School Parents

[[abstract]]The purpose of this study was to survey the factors which affect parents’ school choice for public junior high schools and the differences among several background variables in Sin-Jhuang District at Taipei County; thus, the study provides related recommendations. In order to achieve the goal, the researcher developed a sample questionnaire called “The Factors of School Choice for the Junior High School Parents in Sin-Jhuang District at Taipei County.” The objects of the study, parents of 7th grade students, were chosen from 12 public junior high schools in Sin-Jhuang District. A total of 945 surveys were distributed. There were 753 valid data with 79.7% of responding rate. The statistical methods selected to analyze the data in this study were descriptive statistics, independent T-test, and one-way ANOVA. The study found that the parents for choosing junior high schools in Sin-Jhuang District at Taipei County consider 8 different orientations. The most important is the school’s goal for students’ education. It follows by the level of professionalism of faculty, the performance of students, the convenience of school environment, equipment and environment of the school, the educational materials, student’s own preferences, and the public relations. Parents pay more attention for the following 5 factors. It begins with the attitude of faculties toward education, the level of campus safety, the manners of the students, the focus of school’s goal in students’ behaviors, and the performance of the faculties. In addition, due to various backgrounds, the study also showed difference from the surveys. Female parents have higher preference than the male parents in the convenience of the environment, the focus of educational materials, and the public relations. Moreover, parents who finished high school have higher preference than those finished junior high school and college in the convenience of the environment. Furthermore, parents finished high school pay more attention toward the public relation of the schools than those finished junior high school and vocational school. In addition, parents working in military, government or school pay less attention to the school’s goal for students’ education than those who own business or other occupations. Lastly, the convenience of getting to school is more important to parents who have children attending school within their districts than those parents whose children are from out of districts. Some recommendations are provided for education administrative authorities, schools, and faculties based on the information found in the study. First of all, the researcher suggests that the education administrative authorities pay more attention to the development of professional evaluation of faculties and to empower school principals for developing better education. For schools, student’s manners in everyday life and the reputation should be the focuses. Having a high safety schools leads to students’ positive learning. Developing unique characteristic of the school attracts more students within the district to attend. For faculties, they should maintain positive relationship with the parents, continue to learn knowledge in teaching fields, increase the quality of teaching, and helping students on the right track.