Local Public School Marketing

One Washington DC elementary school did something highly unusual for a public school--it had a marketing campaign. In a city where one quarter of all public school children attend charter schools, a significant population of private schools and a thriving Catholic school segment, enrollment in the city's traditional public schools has been declining for years. But Strong John Thomson Elementary experienced a 20% increase in enrollment from last year to this year. As the Washington Post reports:

It helps that Thomson has some assets to boast that most city schools don't: a renovated building completed in January with a gymnasium and two indoor playgrounds, Chinese language classes and a school culture that emphasizes such values as tolerance and personal responsibility.

But Thomson is different in another way. The school's principal and parents formed a marketing committee to aggressively recruit students. The team worked feverishly this spring, sending out fliers to Chinese nonprofit and business organizations, posting glowing messages on e-mail discussion groups and holding several open houses. All the promotion was done in three languages: English, Spanish and Chinese.

"We really made a conscious effort," said Principal Gladys Camp, who saw enrollment grow from 287 students to about 345 this year. "We wanted to make sure that our enrollment didn't drop."

A public school did a little marketing to increase enrollment. Sounds an awful lot like good old fashioned service competition, which is further backed up here:

In the numbers game of student enrollment, where teachers are assigned to schools or cut from them based largely on the number of students, the Thomson team decided to compete for students who might otherwise choose to attend schools outside the traditional system.

In doing so, the school took a page from its charter and private school counterparts, an approach endorsed by Superintendent Clifford B. Janey, who admits that the competitive landscape has pushed the traditional system to do things differently.

"It's increasingly important for principals to see how they can effectively reach out to other markets," Janey said.

Despite the apparent success of Thomson Elementary, public faith in the DC school system continues to decline, it is expected that traditional public schools will have fewer students than last year, while charter enrollment is expected to grow again.

To be sure, this kind of marketing effort may work well for DC public schools since the city is geographically compact and boasts a pretty decent public transit system to bolster the school transportation system. But DC public schools are starting to wake up to the need to act like they are in an actual educational market. While getting students in the door of traditional schools is a good first step, it is a baby step compared to what needs to be done.

While the marketing effort paid off in getting students in the door, the key will be how well the school manages the actual teaching of students and how those students will do on tests. If the school, despite its marketing effort, fails to deliver education, look for enrollment to drop as students and parents find other options.

Some other work that needs to be done would be to give principals more control over their budgets, more control over the hiring and firing of teachers and more resources to help get parents involved. However, it appears that Thomson Elementary has the first two ingredients to success, a strong and active principal and a good word of mouth in the community. Here's hoping they deliver on their promise.