Regarding pre-secondary education, our district is very highly rated and DD2 just graduated from the highest ranked high school in the district last weekend. The teachers were dedicated and involved. The resources available at the school are quite complete. Despite all that her education, had she relied solely on the curriculum and just gone with the flow, would have been pathetic. Luckily she was pretty motivated, had parents who were involved and most of her friends have similar goals. I don't know the exact numbers when it comes to measuring success with vs. without parental involvement, but in my experience there are very few kids who make it on their own. My own cynical POV is that our schools have become a giant, expensive baby sitting service that we, as a society, expect to take over all parental roles. IMO that is a miserable failure.