Considering the literature that discusses about the challenges faced by adolescents throughout their school life and the influence of some institutional characteristics facing these adversities, this study seeks to understand which relations public and private school students have with their schools and their schooling process. Therefore, we developed a questionnaire with items that could measure the mobilization of youngsters in relation to the school and for learning, such as their perceptions about school climate, student participation and, finally, their beliefs of academic self-efficacy. The questionnaire was tested and applied to a sample of 224 students of the 9th year of schooling from São Luís (MA) and Rio de Janeiro (RJ) from public and private schools. Subsequently, the instrument was validated from the development of indexes that measured some school aspects from the students point of view. The results indicate that the private school students who participated in this study perceive a more positive school climate in almost all analyzed dimensions and have higher levels of self-efficacy. On the other hand, the public school students feel more motivated to go to school due to the learning process and believe they play a more important role in the school decisions. In conclusion, it is discussed how far these differences in perception can interfere in school trajectory and in personal life of the surveyed students.