Purpose: Efforts to compare schools nationally tend to focus on educational outcomes (e.g., test scores), yet such an approach assumes that schools are homogeneous with regard to their overall purpose. In fact, few studies have attempted to systematically compare schools with regard to their primary aims or mission. The present study attempts to fill this gap by exploring the utility of school mission statements as a data source for comparing and systematically reflecting on the core purposes of schools nationwide. Research Design: A mixed-methods research design was implemented. In Study 1, true random samples of 50 high schools were selected from each of 10 geographically and politically diverse states, yielding a total of 421 mission statements that were ultimately coded and quantitatively compared. In Study 2, structured interviews were conducted with principals from diverse high schools to evaluate their perspectives on the usefulness of school mission statements. Findings: Results indicate that mission statements can be reliably coded quantitatively and that schools vary systematically and sensibly with regard to both the number and types of themes incorporated into their mission statements. Furthermore, consistent with prior research, the qualitative results showed that principals generally regard mission statements as an important tool for shaping practice and communicating core values. Conclusions: School mission statements are a valuable source of data that can be quantified for educational researchers and administrators interested in reflecting on school purpose, comparing schools with regard to their core mission, and monitoring changes in school purpose over time.

This study compares teaching and learning activities in 4th and 5th grade classrooms that were permanently equipped with one laptop for each student and classrooms that share a cart of laptops that create a 1:1 laptop environment on a temporary basis. The study originated from a question posed to us by Andover Public Schools (MA): “How does teaching and learning differ when upper elementary students (4th and 5th graders) are provided with their own laptop computers?” In response to this question, we undertook an intensive two month study that employed a mixed methodology that included student surveys, student drawings, teacher interviews, and 56 structured classroom observations. The findings summarized in this article provide evidence of several differences in teaching and learning activities between the two settings. Classrooms that were fully equipped with 1:1 laptops showed more technology use across the curriculum, more use of technology at home for academic purposes, less large group instruction, and nearly universal use of technology for writing.

Over the past decade, investment in technology for schools has increased at a dramatic rate. Although policy makers are eager to understand the ways in which technology use in schools is affecting student learning, we believe that a critical preliminary step toward assessing the impacts of technology on teaching and learning requires the examination of the varied uses of technology in schools as well as the contexts that are likely to affect the use of technology in the classroom as a teaching and learning tool. Previous research examining technology use has focused on teacher characteristics and has neglected to explore the potentially alterable, organizational characteristics that may be affecting the adoption and use of technology in the classroom. In light of this argument and using survey data collected from 1490 elementary classroom teachers in 96 schools in 22 Massachusetts districts, this research examines how technology is being used by elementary school teachers, and examines the school and district organizational characteristics that are associated with increased use of technology as a teaching and learning tool. In addition to examining technology-use as a multi-faceted construct, using multilevel regression techniques this study provides evidence that schools’ organizational characteristics are associated with teachers’ use of technology in the classroom. Organizational characteristics such as districts’ and schools’ leadership practices and emphasis on technology, the type and amount of technology-related professional development available to teachers, as well as the amount of technology-related restrictive policies in place were found to be associated with the four measures of teachers’ use of technology examined in this study. Individual teacher characteristics such as constructivist beliefs, higher confidence using technology and positive beliefs about the efficacy of technology were each found to be associated with increased use of technology in the classroom.

In this article, Walt Haney, Michael Russell, and Damian Bebell summarize a decade of work using student drawings as a way to both document and change education and schooling. After a brief summary of more than one hundred years of literature on children's drawings, the authors point out that drawings have been little recognized as a medium of educational research in recent decades. Next they explain how the work reported here has evolved, recounting how they have used student drawings as a way to document educational phenomena. They then present reliability and validity evidence to support such use on a macro level. The authors go on to relate examples at the micro level of how drawings have been used to inform and change education and learning. Finally, they argue that student drawings, though only one form of inquiry, help illustrate the fundamental point that, if educational reforms are to succeed, we must treat teachers and students not just as the objects, but also as the agents, of reform and improvement.

As access to computer-based technology in schools and classrooms increases, greater emphasis has been placed on preparing teachers to use technology for instructional purposes. Survey data collected from 2,894 teachers in 22 Massachusetts districts were analyzed to examine the extent to which technology is used in and out of the classroom for instructional purposes. In addition to defining six specific categories of instructional use of technology, this study provides evidence that teachers generally use technology more for preparation and communication than for delivering instruction or assigning learning activities that require the use of technology. Important differences, however, were found among teachers who were new to the field compared with their more experienced colleagues. Although new teachers reported higher levels of comfort with technology and use it more for preparation, more experienced teachers report using technology more often in the classroom when delivering instruction or having students engage in learning activities.