Commonplace and common language: Kentucky's district mission statements

Abstract

PurposeWe sought to identify codes and themes in the mission statements of Kentucky's school districts and examine the relationship between district characteristics and the mission statements.Design/methodology/approachWe undertook a mixed methods design, specifically, a sequential transformative strategy with a theoretical lens overlaying the sequential procedures and guiding the analysis.FindingsAnalysis revealed a range of 1–7 codes per mission statement and a mean of 3.05. Generic student success and individual attention represented the most frequently occurring codes in the mission statements. Chi-square tests of bivariate association yielded no significant differences between districts by locale. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the percentage of students in the district scoring proficient or distinguished in both reading and mathematics was associated significantly (p < 0.05) with the theme of student support.Research limitationsAlthough we cannot establish causation between mission statements content and student outcomes or vice-versa, district mission statement remain a visible and public expression of why an organization exists that should guide actions and decision-making, whether instructional, financial or otherwise.Practical implicationsOur study revealed shared institutional language within mission statements across Kentucky's school district, largely without regard to local context. Our analysis suggests that federal and state policy makers are influencing mission statements more so than those at the local level.Originality/valueOur analysis provides further evidence that suggests that federal and state policy makers are influencing mission statements more so than those at the local level.

A Mission Statement Does Not a Mission Make: A Mixed Methods Investigation in Public Education

“…Mission statements, in one study, showed themes and context driven by state and national policies (Ingle et al, 2020), with the possibility a similar conclusion could be drawn here with topics of lifelong learning, staff quality, and social-emotional learning. Gareis (1996) found citizenship to be most important and academics to be fifth, though the present study and most others found academics at the top.…”

“…Gareis (1996) found citizenship to be most important and academics to be fifth, though the present study and most others found academics at the top. The change could be, as Ingle et al (2020) found, the national push for academic success from No Child Left Behind could have crowded out other themes. Some studies have been difficult to compare, such as Boerema (2006), as the study looked at broad themes of a school's distinctive beliefs and listing of goals and objectives.…”

Moral Distress Amongst District Leaders: Intensity, Dilemmas, and Coping Mechanisms in the Context of Covid-19

“…The context for district leaders’ work also influences how they interpret and enact their ethical position. Mission statements and priorities for Superintendents may be similar in widely varying contexts ( Ingle et al, 2020 ; Bredeson et al, 2011 ) but actual practices vary widely and are attuned to specific community characteristics ( Bredeson et al., 2011 ; Coviello & DeMatthews, 2021 ). Finally, contexts create ethical demands: Alsbury & Whitaker (2007) found that superintendents viewed accountability, democratic community, and social justice as competing goals in their setting, which required them to use their knowledge of and relationships within their district context to weave them together in their practice.…”

More than Meets the Eye? Using Text Analytic Techniques to Unpack School Mission Statements

“…Subsequent studies have set on similar paths though with varying geographical scope and units of analysis. Schafft and Biddle (2013) focused on school districts in Pennsylvania; Ingle et al (2020) focused on school districts in Kentucky; and Slate et al (2008) focused on schools in Texas.…”

“…Charter schools are public schools that have been exempted from certain state and local regulations and which as such can pursue distinct educational objectives (National Charter School Resource Center [NCSRC], 2023). In addition, previous studies have often used mixed methods designs, with the initial stage consisting of qualitative coding for the occurrence of a theme and the later stage consisting of quantitative analyses of bivariate association or logistic regression (Ingle et al, 2020;Schafft & Biddle, 2013;Stemler et al, 2011). This kind of coding captures only the presence (''1'' yes or ''0'' no) of a theme, as opposed to its prevalence within a statement, and is limited by the coders' ability to read through a bounded number of documents.…”