The paper presents the partial results of research that aims to build tools to evaluate educational policy. One dimension of the assessment of educational policy refers to the material conditions of the school, taking as a source the contextual questionnaire of the National System of Basic Education (Saeb), 2003. From these conditions it creates an index to evaluate the school with respect to such resources. In analyzing the public schools of the state of Paraná, it becomes evident that they have good conditions, in general, but with a strong difference between those located in urban and rural areas. Deriving from the index combined with the results pertaining to student proficiency, a tendency has been identified that indicates that student proficiencies are greater in schools that offer favorable material and structural conditions.