Our nation is at a crossroads. The fight to reclaim our country and restore democracy must come from the bottom up and must be rooted at the local level. Those who teach, now more than ever, represent the crucial linchpin in this struggle. In his book "Teacher Strike!: Public Education and the Making of a New American Political Order,"…

Besieged by state proposals to eviscerate collective bargaining, eliminate teacher tenure, and make it harder to collect dues, teachers' unions are fighting back. Lawsuits supported by local union affiliates have for now blocked anti-union legislation in Alabama and Wisconsin. E-mail "blasts," phone banks, and rallies are also among the…

Massive protests have been the norm in Wisconsin, since Gov. Scott Walker unveiled a plan to strip many collective bargaining rights from teachers and most other public employees. GOP elected officials are pursuing similar measures in Ohio and other states. But in the DeForest district, like some others around the state, collective bargaining,…

Teachers' unions around the country have shifted into high gear in the countdown to the presidential election next week, and nowhere is the fervor more evident than in the battleground states. In Florida, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, affiliates of the National Education Association and the…

"Education Matters" is the monthly newsletter of the Association of American Educators (AAE), an organization dedicated to advancing the American teaching profession through personal growth, professional development, teacher advocacy and protection. This issue of the newsletter includes: (1) Agents of Change: Why So Many Teachers Are…

Though the advent of collective bargaining represents a significant development in the history of American education, most research and commentary about public schools focuses on other matters. It is a curious omission, especially after nearly five decades of extraordinary union growth. As the authors assessed its impact for this essay, they…

Until public policy is modified, the only rational substitute for the right of strike/lockout is arbitration on a final offer basis. (Author/IRT)

Findings suggest that not only has the use of factfinding declined within the teacher sector of public employee bargaining, but that the decline is likely to continue. Increased teacher militancy reflects the times. (Author/MW)

The purpose of this bulletin is to describe the current status of proposals for formalizing negotiation procedures between teachers and their boards of education, indicating some potential trends. The entire issue of collective negotiation by teachers remains of relatively recent origin in terms of interest on a national scale, and the directions…

BY THE END OF 1966, OVER 1500 WRITTEN AGREEMENTS HAD BEEN REACHED IN THE UNITED STATES PROVIDING FOR DECISION-MAKING BY TEACHERS THROUGH PROFESSIONAL NEGOTIATION. PRIMARY ISSUES INCLUDED THE IMPORTANCE OF STATE LEGISLATION, THE ROLE OF THE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT IN THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS, THE EXCLUSIVE NEGOTIATION RIGHTS BY ONE PROFESSIONAL…

This paper deals with the inservice education of teachers by first defining the concept and presenting a brief history of inservice education. The prospects for change in inservice education are traced. Wisconsin documents relevant to inservice education are summarized, including the law, the administrative code, a task force report, and a…

This paper discusses the development of teacher professionalism over the years, focusing on four phases of the changing nature of teachers' professionalism: the pre-professional age (before the 1960s), the age of the autonomous professionals (beginning in the 1960s), the age of the collegial professional beginning in the mid-1980s), and the fourth…

The recent increase in the number of teacher strikes following an impasse or stalemate in contract negotiations has led to a reevaluation of the role of State Educational Agencies (SEA) in such situations, in Wisconsin and elsewhere. The paper summarizes statutory framework governing the role of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI)…

Individual members of state legislatures wield the greatest influence in state level policy formation. This was one of the findings of a study that identified the power and influence context of state-level policymaking. Data were gathered from six states (Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Illinois) using an instrument…

The current status of state policy on minimum competency testing in Wisconsin, and the political process that produced that policy, are explored in this report. The document presents the preliminary findings of research conducted for a doctoral dissertation. The research methodology, mentioned only briefly, involved participant observation,…