School Choice and the Branding of Milwaukee Private Schools

Objective. Brands communicate information to consumers about a good or service. As school-choice policies become more widespread and more parents are faced with the task of choosing a school for their child, schools may be branding themselves to differentiate themselves from other schools. This article seeks to determine whether schools possess name brands that influence the choices of parents. Methods. We use multinomial logit to model the relationship between the educational preferences and the selection of schools for 2,600 parents participating in a large, urban private school voucher program. Results. We find that parental choices are systematic. Parents who value particular school characteristics tend to choose schools with brands that espouse those characteristics. Conclusion. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that schools carry brands that communicate information to parents who then use the brands to help them select schools for their children.