Re‐branding urban schools: urban revitalization, social status, and marketing public schools to the upper middle class

This article examines an effort to use urban schools to promote the revitalization of a large northeastern city in the United States. In order to attract and retain professional families to a regenerated central city, downtown schools are re‐branded and promoted to such families as suitable for their children. The article draws on interviews and observation in a particular downtown elementary school to examine the experiences of different groups of parents in this new educational market. The data reveal how middle‐ and upper‐class parents are treated as sought‐after customers who gain and retain positions of influence over the direction of the school once their children are admitted. However, the same processes marginalize low‐income and minority parents. The article concludes that while the goals of the policy may be ostensibly worthy, one of its consequences is to reinscribe existing status positions and inequalities.