Research provides an undeniable connection between teacher quality and student outcomes. This quantitative study investigated reasons that principals recommend non-renewal of a teacher's contract and the barriers that challenge their ability to address ineffective teachers. Data were gathered using a survey that was completed by over 3,200…

A central goal of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is to protect academic freedom, tenure, and due process by assisting faculty governance bodies and AAUP chapters in their efforts to incorporate AAUP-recommended policies in faculty handbooks and collective bargaining agreements. This report provides a statistical analysis…

For both proponents and critics alike, among the most salient features of charter schooling today is their freedom from collective bargaining agreements that shape staffing and work rules and limit school administrators' discretion. This is changing in some states where a small but growing number of charter schools are unionized. How collective…

In 2012, families in California filed a lawsuit alleging that five state statutes governing teacher tenure, dismissal, and seniority together violate the state constitution's requirements for equal protection. Central to the case were competing narratives about the relationship between these statutes, the work of teachers, and the achievement of…

Collective bargaining and faculty governance are sometimes perceived to be in conflict. Faculty members will debate about whether a specific issue--for example, program consolidations or early college/dual enrollment (where high school students earn college credits taking high school classes taught by high school teachers)--falls under governance…

Background/Context: Recent political efforts to minimize the influence of teacher unions have called new attention to collective bargaining in American education. Such attention has only heightened a longstanding controversy within the realms of both research and practice. A renewed scholarly literature has systematically considered the…

Tough economic times mean tight school district budgets, possibly for years to come. Education is a labor-intensive industry, and because most districts devote well over half of all spending to teacher compensation, budget cuts have already led to the most substantial teacher layoffs in recent memory. Although the 2010 federal Education Jobs and…

This quantitative study investigated reasons that school principals recommend non-renewal of probationary teachers' contracts. Principal survey results from three regions of the US (Midwest, Rocky Mountains, & Southeast) were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U statistical procedures, while significance was tested applying a…

This quantitative study investigated reasons that school principals recommend non-renewal of probationary teachers' contracts. Principals in the Southeast and Midwest completed an emailed survey. The ordinal nature of the data gathered dictated that comparisons be made between groups using the Mann Whitney U. The study investigated the barriers…

This article takes advantage of a unique policy change to examine how principals make decisions regarding teacher dismissal. In 2004, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and Chicago Teachers Union signed a new collective bargaining agreement that gave principals the flexibility to dismiss probationary teachers for any reason and without the…

This report presents selected findings from the Public School District Data File of the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. School districts associated with public schools and library…

This third edition expands coverage on such topics as the law and students with disabilities, confidentiality, sexual harassment, student searches and tuition vouchers. It also includes some new topics such as bullying, copyright law, and the law and the internet. Both public and nonpublic school educators are aware that courts, over the last…

Discusses the role of teacher tenure laws in teacher dismissals. (IRT)

Reviews the legal issues and implications of the Wisconsin Supreme Court's recent decision in Hortonville Education Association v. Hortonville Joint School District and discusses the possible impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to review the Hortonville case. (JG)

Presents the AAUP's unresolved cases involving departures from the standards of the association. Institutions included are: Biscayne, Campbell, Dillard, Missouri Western, Monmouth, and Quincy Colleges, State Community College of East St. Louis, and Michigan Technological University. (PG)