What percent of the student body comes into the school via the feeder elementary, versus kids getting in by lottery? If the ratio of feeder to lottery kids is high, that could be a concern. (A relative sent her daughter to a "gifted" magnet where a large proportion of the kids were not gifted and it was not a good idea - some magnets are created by taking a failing/bad or low enrollment school with the idea to increase the number of good students attending).
You may be able to compare test scores on a site such as
www.schooldigger.com to see whether students do well in all areas. (disclaimer being it's just sol scores so doesn't show depth or the variety of experiences offered at a school, but does give one way to compare schools). Looking at the percent of kids that passed each individual test with advanced rather than just proficient sometimes can show what percent of the class is ahead of average.
Polly
