Code	Code Description	Definition/Examples
DESCRIPTORS: Used for categorizing whole sources, applied to whole transcript
GENDER	Respondent Gender	e.g., Male, Female
YEARS OF EXP	Respondent Years of Experience in Education	e.g., 8
GRADE LEVEL	Grades Served at School	Elementary Middle High K–12 K–8 Other (specify)
SCHOOL TYPE	Standalone CMO—affiliated with charter network
ALTERNATIVE	Yes No	Is school an alternative school/second-chance school/credit-recovery school
COMPETITION FOR STUDENTS
PERC-COMP	Definition of competition provided directly, or meaning/significance of competition suggested. Understanding of competition What do they think they are competing for? (better bottom line, better outcomes/performance, mission) Why a school is a competitor Or lack thereof	Ex. “you’ve got to sell your school” Social inclusion and social justice aims “collide” with market values Ex. “Because we are next door to them, we compete for the same students.” Ex. We don’t have to compete Ex. Competition is there, but it isn’t a primary concern; educating students to the best of our ability is.” Ex. “Ultimately, we are a business. We have to attract students to make money.”
COMP-LOSS	Enrollment loss, and anything related to it	Mention of enrollment loss
COMP-GAIN	Enrollment gain, and anything related to it	Mention of enrollment gain, Ex. We received new students and it made us have to add new intervention programs
COMP-TYPE	Type of school (direct-run, private, CMO charter, standalone charter, particular mission/focus) that poses competition	Mention of any type of school that poses a threat (other school parents choose, offers more services, has more resources) Ex. “Some parents go across town to send their kids to X public school” Ex. “think about all those kids that go to private school that could be going to our school” Ex. We only compete with other college-prep schools Ex. Our students would really only consider other alternative schools and there aren’t any in the area.
COMP-GRADE	Mention of grade level as it relates to competitors or enrollment issues	Ex. “We only compete in Kindergarten”
COMP-CIRCUITS	Competition occurring in circuits or networks of competitors based on market hierarchy	Ex. “First, you’ve got the top tier—that’s your KIPPs, your Lushers, your high-performing charters ...”
COMP-GEOG	Geographic dimensions of competition or enrollment	Ex. They are close by, so a lot of parents consider them
PRACTICES TO COMPETE FOR STUDENTS: Identified by principals as part of working in competitive enviornment
PRACT-ACAD	Academic strategies Better educational practices, curriculum, test scores in response to competition or demand	New academic programs, new curriculum, test scores increase
PRACT-NONE	No identified strategies Incapable of effective response due to weak leadership Waiting for other schools to close, enrollment to increase	Aspects of school enrollment not being addressed, waiting for enrollment to increase in other ways (passively)
PRACT-EC	Extracurricular Extracurricular activities adopted in response to competitiomn	After school programs, sports, etc.
PRACT-MKT	Marketing	Type of information presented in marketing materials. Source of funding for marketing Materials, flyers, billboards, etc.
PRACT-CLIM	School climate or culture Behavioral strategies, discipline changes in response to competition Community engagement, parent engagement in responses to competition	Efforts to improve school climate, safety, trust. e.g., “we have a strict environment” Creating spaces for parent engagement, responding to parent demands
PRACT-OPER	Operational responses in response to competition Business Operations: funding, budgeting, purchasing Increased efficiency Cuts to expenses (not necessarily resulting in efficiency) Transportation issues, bus passes, carpools, lunch programs School facilities/buildings	Evidence of efforts to increase efficient use of resources. (Less resources, same outcome.) Leveraging grants, cutting back nonessentials, finding ways to do more with less. Just cutting expenses.
PRACT-INFO	“Watch” other actors, not consumers Information on competitors	“We see that other schools are using X compensation scheme.” Ex. “I didn’t know so many schools existed.” Ex. “We keep track of where students go—I can show you the spreadsheet.”
PRACT-NICHE	Try to contain or control competition or uncertainty Niche schools (view themselves as distinct from others) Schools use same policies, practices—reduces competition Strategy to compete by recruiting or retaining specific populations of students that they target (e.g., homeless, ELL)	“Our school is the only X type of school.” “All schools now have the same behavioral policies”
PRACT-RECRUIT	Practices related to recruitment of students Descriptions of admissions process Recruiting students from other schools serving same grades Alliances with feeder schools Differentiate between marketing and recruitment.	e.g., Some of our parents are getting calls saying that the school has an open slot. e.g., open houses, parent nights e.g., work with elementary schools to recruit students “We have a strong clientele from our feeder schools”
PRACT-SCREEN/SELECT	Manipulation of student body, prescreening, counseling out behaviors	e.g., “We might take more students after Oct. 1 if they are really good students.” e.g., Telling parents they aren’t a good fit e.g., indicate in any way that they are an exclusive school- only for some families (but not a niche)
PRACT-OTHER	Other practices not listed above or where you aren’t sure they count	e.g., ““I try to get all my staff to see we are competing for students, I have PD sessions about this every semester – we need to compete, we need to work harder to compete!”
POLICY & REG: Districts, Policy, and Regulation
PERC_STATE_REG	Role of government (state, federal, local policies/regulations/department of education/politics) Mention of accountability Regulations, policies that affect school governance/choice architecture (school finance, student assignment, transport, vouchers)	There’s a new voucher program that is taking away students. The state gives us less funding per student.
CMO-REG	CMO or charter board regulations, policies that affect school governance/choice. Diff types of CMO intervention Evidence of CMO/district support to school (or lack of support).	e.g., CMO policy on marketing, assignment Our central office handles all the marketing
INTERMED-REG	Regulatory role of other intermediary orgs in the area, beyond the charter school or CMO or charter school board Other organizations/nonprofits that support the charter school	e.g., ACSA helps us with X each year
PERC_OTHER REL TO STUDENT COMPETITION	Perception
PERC-PARENT	Principal’s view of parents, students, and community in general Principal’s views of parents’, students’, and community’s perception of the school Principals’ views of what matters to parents/families (may include student if in HS)	“These parents are not educated” (deficit views) Role of parent/community perceptions of school as unsafe or underperforming. (history of school as under-performing). Ex. “Parents don’t think they can get a quality education here.” Lack of reputation or name in the community
PERC-SYSTEM	Their perceptions of how schools should work Actors’ perceptions, beliefs, and understandings of markets in ed generally or of school choice, or ideology (broad views that can drive their actions, i.e., curricular approach, professional development philosophy)	“We have school choice so that every parent can select the best school.” This is broader than just perceptions of competition “We don’t change our curriculum to compete for students; we do it because that’s what schools do” “We’re a public school, we’re open to everyone.”
TEACHERS	Anything to do with teachers (i.e., what teachers are best for this school), Human Capital, Teacher recruitment, retention	Any issues related to staff, teachers’ working conditions, hiring, firing, pay, “productivity,” retention, e.g., “masters degree”
COMP-TEACHERS	Evidence of competition for teachers/perspectives on competition for teachers. Explicit reference to competition, or response to our question about competition for teachers	Any issues specifically related to competing for teachers with other schools. (May be some overlap with “Teachers” category)
COLLABORATION	Evidence of cooperation or collaboration between schools	Ex. We send kids to the other schools in our network if we don’t have space. We host professional development seminars with another charter school in the area.