Understanding Charter School Leaders' Perceptions of Competition in Arizona

Area of Science:

• Education Policy
• Organizational Behavior
• Public Administration

Background:

• School choice policies aim to foster competition and improve educational practices.
• Understanding competition dynamics within public education, particularly charter schools, remains limited.
• This study investigates how charter school leaders perceive and react to competitive pressures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine how charter school leaders form perceptions of competition.
• To identify the factors influencing the labeling of schools as competitors.
• To analyze the actions charter school leaders take in response to perceived competition.

Main Methods:

• Utilized survey data from Arizona charter school leaders.
• Incorporated Arizona Department of Education and Common Core of Data.
• Employed fixed effects and logistic regression models to analyze competition factors and responses.

Main Results:

• Charter school leaders perceive competition, with perceptions varying by urbanicity.
• School proximity influences competitor labeling, but not "top competitor" status.
• Student demographics, not outcomes, are associated with perceived competition.
• Responses to competition primarily involved changes in outreach and advertising, not curriculum or instruction.
• Competitive responses correlated with school quality and perceived competition levels.

Conclusions:

• Charter school leaders actively perceive and respond to competitive environments.
• Responses often prioritize marketing over instructional improvements.
• This research offers insights into local market conditions affecting charter schools, a novel contribution to the literature.