Market Pressure and Arizona Public School Leaders: “That Package is Like a Brand New Cadillac!”

Year 2018, , 284 - 309, 15.12.2018

Amanda U. Potterton

https://doi.org/10.30828/real/2018.2.7

Cited By: 5

Abstract

In the United States, long-standing school choice policies
and practices in Arizona have developed into a market-based system of schooling
for many residents in the state, especially in the larger cities.  In this study, I analyze qualitative data
gathered from school leaders and parents in one Arizona district public school
who discussed marketing pressures and various notions of accountability and
whose perceptions related to rapidly growing school choice reforms and
increasing testing demands.  I also
describe the ways in which many members of the school team (e.g., school
administrators, teachers, staff) were affected by ever-increasing competitive
expectations.  By examining market
pressures experienced by parents and other stakeholders, we can understand
better some consequences of expanding school choice policies and programs on
those experiencing educational reforms in local settings.

Keywords

Charter Schools, Educational Policy, Educational Reform, Markets, School Choice

References

• Ball, S. J., Bowe, R., & Gewirtz, S. (1996). School choice, social class and distinction: The realization of social advantage in education. Journal of Education Policy, 11(1), 89-112. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0268093960110105 Bloom, M. (2013, March 25). Ohio charter school serves as safe place for gay students. State Impact Ohio. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20130429135934/http://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio/2013/03/25/ohio-charter-school-arts-and-college-preparatory-academy-serves-as-safe-place-for-gay-students/ Creswell, J. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Department for Education. (2017). Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2017 (Publication No. SFR 28/2017). London, England: Department for Education. Retrieved from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/650547/SFR28_2017_Main_Text.pdf DiMartino, C., & Jessen, S. B. (2018). Selling school: The marketing of public education. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Eckes, S. (2015). Haven charter schools: Separate by design and legally questionable. Equity & Excellence in Education, 48(1), 49-70. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10665684.2015.991159 Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I., & Shaw, L. L. (2011). Writing ethnographic fieldnotes. (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Fox, R. A., & Buchanan, N. K. (Eds.) (2014). Proud to be different: Ethnocentric niche charter schools in America. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Garcia, D. R. (2010). School enrollment: Choosing to stay. Policy Points, 2(4), 1-3. Garn, G., & Cobb, C. D. (2001). A framework for understanding charter school accountability. Education and Urban Society, 33(2), 113-128. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0013124501332002 Garn, G., & Cobb, C. (2008, March). School choice and accountability. Tempe, AZ: Education Policy Research Unit, Arizona State University. Hirschman, A. O. (1970). Exit, voice, and loyalty: Responses to decline in firms, organizations, and states. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Holme, J. J., Carkhum, R., & Rangel, V. S. (2013). High pressure reform: Examining urban schools’ response to multiple school choice policies. The Urban Review, 45(2), 167-196. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11256-012-0216-3 Jabbar, H. (2015a, March). How do school leaders respond to competition? [Policy brief]. New Orleans, LA: Education Research Alliance. Retrieved from https://educationresearchalliancenola.org/files/publications/ERA-Policy-Brief-How-Do-School-Leaders-Respond-To-Competition.pdf Jabbar, H. (2015b). “Every kid is money” Market-like competition and school leader strategies in New Orleans. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 37(4), 638-659. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0162373715577447 Jabbar, H. (2016). Between structure and agency: Contextualizing school leaders’ strategic responses to market pressures. American Journal of Education, 122(3), 399-431. Retrieved from https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/685850 Jennings, J. L. (2010). School choice or schools’ choice? Managing in an era of accountability. Sociology of Education, 83(3), 227-247. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0038040710375688 Jessen, S. B., & DiMartino, C. (2018, March 2). The inherent conflict of branding and rational choice (Commentary). Teachers College Record. Lubienski, C. (2007). Marketing schools: Consumer goods and competitive incentives for consumer information. Education and Urban Society, 40(1), 118-141. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013124507303994 Lubienski, C., Linick, M., & York, J. G. (2012). School marketing in the United States: Demographic representations and dilemmas for educational leaders. In I. Oplatka & J. Hemsley-Brown (Eds.), The management and leadership of educational marketing: Research, practice and applications (pp. 109-135). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group. Retrieved from https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/S1479-3660%282012%290000015007 Miles, M. B., Huberman, M. A., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook. Los Angeles, CA: Sage. Olson Beal, H. K., & Beal, B. D. (2016). Assessing the impact of school-based marketing efforts: A case study of a foreign language immersion program in a school-choice environment. Peabody Journal of Education, 91(1), 81-99. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0161956X.2016.1119591?journalCode=hpje20 Oplatka, I., & Hemsley-Brown, J. (2012). The research on school marketing: Current issues and future directions – an updated version. In I. Oplatka & J. Hemsley-Brown (Eds.), The management and leadership of educational marketing: Research, practice and applications (pp. 3-35). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group. Potterton, A. U. (2013, November 1). A citizen’s response to the president’s charter school education proclamation: With a profile of two “highly performing” charter school organizations in Arizona. Teachers College Record. Retrieved from http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=17309 Potterton, A. U. (2017). Arizona's mature education market: How school and community stakeholders make meaning of school choice policies (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (Accession No. 10274427). Potterton, A. U. (2018). Different choices: A public school community’s responses to school choice reforms. The Qualitative Report, 23(8), 1908-1931. Retrieved from https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol23/iss8/9/ Potterton, A. U. (in press). Leaders’ experiences in Arizona’s mature education market. Journal of Educational Administration. Powell, K., & Laczko-Kerr, I. (2017, November 2). Are district attendance zones obsolete?[Web blog post]. Center for Student Achievement. Retrieved from http://centerforstudentachievement.org/are-district-attendance-zones-obsolete/ Powers, J. M. (2009). Charter schools: From reform imagery to reform reality. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Powers, J. M., Topper, A. M., & Potterton, A. U. (in press). Interdistrict mobility and charter schools in Arizona: Understanding the dynamics of public school choice. Journal of Public Management & Social Policy, 25(3). Robinson, G. (2015, April 30). Power to the people: Urban families and the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship [Blog book review]. Education Next. Retrieved from https://www.educationnext.org/power-to-the-people-the-school-choice-journey-review-stewart-wolf/ Stewart, T., & Wolf, P. (2014). The school choice journey: School vouchers and the empowerment of urban families. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Wilkins, A. (2016). Modernising school governance: Corporate planning and expert handling in state education. London, UK: Routledge. Wilson, T. S. (2016). Contesting the public school: Reconsidering charter schools as counterpublics. American Educational Research Journal, 53(4), 919-952. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0002831216658972 Wilson, T., & Carlsen, R. L. (2016). School marketing as a sorting mechanism: A critical discourse analysis of charter school websites. Peabody Journal of Education, 91(1), 24-46. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0161956X.2016.1119564