The article reviews the distinctive components of school reputation and exposes various determinants that shape this reputation among parents. Some 21 Israeli parents participated in semi-structured interviews during 2009-2010 in which they were asked about their interpretations of school reputation and its determinants. Research data demonstrates that school reputation is the sum of parents' perceptions towards six aspects of school and schooling; academic achievement, quality of the students, special attention to students, school violence and discipline, degree of satisfaction with the school, and quality of the teaching staff. The study also pointed to the influence of personal experiences, school marketing, and dissemination of information, rumours, and publicity on parents' construction of the reputation of their child's school. The authors recommend that school principals strive to identify parents' values towards what a 'proper' school should be, and use this information to devise a programme to improve their school's reputation through marketing, public relations, and controlled word-of-mouth communication. Keywords: academic achievement, scholl choice