What’s in your mission statement?

Mission statements are ubiquitous in every part of the education world — from elementary and secondary schools to the charter sector, higher education, teacher preparation programs, and on and on. Whatever kind of institution they work in, faculty and staff know the drill: They are supposed to articulate a shared vision of successful teaching and learning, put it on the letterhead, and use it to guide everyday practice. But is that really what happens?

A few years ago, when time came to update the mission statement in the teacher education program where I worked, I took the opportunity to interview more than 200 of our former students about their views of our existing statement of purpose. The results were surprising, even alarming.

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