Analyzing Marketing Behaviors of Popular Schools in Competitive Markets

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Marketing and Branding in Public Education

Abstract

Marketing, promoting schools’ programs in order to attract parents and students, becomes increasingly important in competitive education markets (Author A & Author B, 2014; Lubienski, 2007). As families can choose which schools their children attend rather than enrolling their children in assigned schools, school leaders are being called on to take up the role of effectively advertising their activities as well as offering quality services. Such marketing efforts may result in creating schools that have more applicants than offered seats in combination of limited seats at schools and parents’ preferences for certain educational environments. While a number of studies have identified differences between popular schools and less-preferred schools, and researchers have addressed concerns over marketing as a sorting tool (Engberg, Epple, Imbrogno, Sieg, & Zimmer, 2014; Tough & Brooks, 2007; Tuttle, Gleason, & Clark, 2012), little attention has been paid to marketing strategies of oversubscribed schools which can contribute to attracting more applicants. In this study, I examine what marketing strategies and resources are utilized by traditional public schools in an attempt to compete for students and to adopt market-based practices. In addition, I explore if there are similarities and dissimilarities in school advertisements between oversubscribed schools and undersubscribed schools.

Washington, DC, which has offered diverse school options including numerous charter schools and the Opportunity Scholarship as a form of educational vouchers, allows families to apply for other public schools out of their school boundaries. Focusing on the My School DC Lottery, this study investigates a range of marketing artifacts, such as school websites, handbooks, brochures, flyers, posters and newsletters, distributed to and accessible by families in the District of Columbia Public Schools. I pay special attention to 83 elementary schools, which can be regarded as a very first school choice experience, and 16 high schools serving grade 9 through 12. An application-to-capacity ratio is obtained from the data set of the My School DC Lottery for the 2017-18 school year seats, and the materials are coded by ATLAS.ti.

Whereas several elementary schools in DCPS fail to reach capacity, all 16 high schools have a surplus of applications. Three traditional high schools present higher application-to-capacity ratios than six selective high schools in DCPS, which admit students based on certain criteria such as GPA and essay. My preliminary findings demonstrate that the wide variation in degrees of oversubscription among schools involves different promotion strategies and marketing efforts. I find that highly oversubscribed schools in DCPS are more likely to communicate with families in varying manners in order to highlight their performance and achievement. Given that location strategy has in general played a central role in school marketing (e.g. Phillippo & Griffin, 2016; Author C, 2017), it is obvious that some DCPS schools with more applicants than their seats take advantage of their geographic locations. Nevertheless, the findings of this study have implications for school responses to competitive markets by showing differentiated patterns in marketing practices.

Author

• Jin Lee, University of Louisiana at Lafayette