Marketing, Information, and Parental Choice: A Comparative Case Study of Third-Party, Federally Funded Out-of-School-Time Services

Abstract

Information and promotional marketing play central but complex roles in market-based educational programs. This in-depth qualitative study examines these complexities using the case of Supplemental Educational Services, a parental choice program providing federally funded tutoring to low-income students in K–12 public schools. Examining the creation, dissemination, and use of information and promotional marketing is necessary in order to understand how aspects of market theory play out in reality. This kind of inquiry is especially important given that the theory of consumer action behind market-based programs is that parents¹

Throughout this paper, “parent” refers to parents and guardians. We use the term parent for simplicity, but the concept of parental choice, as well as the sample of participants in our study, includes nonparent guardians as well.

will make the best decisions for their children's education, if they have sufficient information on which to base those decisions. Our data and analysis suggest three findings: first, public management of provider marketing can ensure that consumers receive marketing materials legally and appropriately; it can also help to level the playing field among providers with different marketing resources. Second, promotional materials infrequently focus on specific academic components. Third, districts are largely underutilizing their options in terms of sharing information on provider quality with parents. Together, these findings suggest that moderate regulation of marketing and an increased focus on provider academic quality are likely to improve consumer access to useful data.

Notes

Throughout this paper, “parent” refers to parents and guardians. We use the term parent for simplicity, but the concept of parental choice, as well as the sample of participants in our study, includes nonparent guardians as well.

These theoretical assumptions stem from the strategic decision making models in game theory (e.g., Kreps, 1990)

Market share is defined as the percentage of a market or industry controlled by a particular firm; in the specific case of educational services, it refers to either the proportion of customers served or the proportion of a particular firm's sales compared to all firms’ sales in that market.

The authors recognize that education markets have been shown to be problematic for a variety of reasons (e.g., Bulkley & Burch, 2011; Burch, 2009; Cucchiara, Gold, & Simon, 2011); however, this discussion is beyond the scope of this study and literature review. The authors believe that the current study further contributes to this larger research base on problems with education markets.

An additional strand of research on parents’ demand for schools focuses on the role of neighborhood and peer effects (e.g., Dougherty et al., 2009). However, because the focus of this study is out-of-school-time programming, this strand is not as relevant as the role of program quality, and thus we do not examine this literature here.

The federal government has approved waivers for the SES provision in many states as of 2012 as part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Although two of our three cases received waivers in the final year of data collection (2012–13), both of these districts continued to offer programs similar to SES while transitioning into the new policy context set in motion by the waiver.

Many scholars have critically examined the stated goals as well as the perhaps hidden purpose(s) of No Child Left Behind; however, these examinations are outside the scope of this study. For the purposes of this study, we assume that the SES provision is included for two purposes: To help low-performing schools raise the achievement levels of their low-income students, and to expand market-oriented educational options in the public school system.

Additional reports and analysis from the larger study of SES can be found at http://www.sesiq2.wcer.uw.org

Although this example discusses the potential of policy changes in favor of sharing more information, later interview data from this district showed that these changes did not come to fruition in implementation.