Since 1997, Education Week’s annual Technology Counts has tracked the evolution of digital technology and learning in the nation’s schools. For the 2016 edition of the report, the Education Week Research Center created a brand new way of examining teachers’ views on educational technology. Based on exclusive results from an original national survey of about 700 teachers, the Education Week Tech Confidence Index takes the pulse of America’s educators and gauges their level of confidence in educational technology in K-12 schools, both now and in the future.

As a follow-up to that analysis, the Education Week Research Center is now delving more deeply into the technology perceptions and practices of two particular groups of teachers: those with the most confidence in educational technology, and those with the least. The highly confident ed-tech “Bulls” score in the top 20 percent of respondents on the Confidence Index. Their less confident “Bear” counterparts score in the bottom 20 percent on the Index.

By exploring a broader set of survey results, this report also sheds light on the characteristics and behaviors of Bulls and Bears. Among the central conclusions to emerge from our comparison of these distinctive groups: A teacher’s overall level of confidence in educational technology translates into a distinct set of behaviors, perceptions, and choices in the classroom.

Shedding light on the perceptions and behaviors of these prototypical teachers may help us better understand the ways in which technology is used (or not used) in American schools.