The original vision of a charter school called for heavy doses of professional teacher contribution throughout all aspects of curriculum and administration. Unfortunately, that is not how charter schools have evolved. Until now. The Minnesota Guild of Public Charter Schools is the first union-sponsored entity created for the sole purpose of…

For more than a generation, education leaders have advocated for policies at federal, state, and district levels to support the spread of teacher leadership. And yet, teacher leadership has not taken hold in either a strategic or systemic way. Why? Perhaps, as Atul Gawande said of the medical industry, while good ideas abound, not all of them…

The problems of public education are not that America's classrooms are filled with too many bad teachers or too few smart ones. Instead, policy makers are paying too little attention to mobilizing the many experts teaching today who could lead in powerful ways. Enter the teacherpreneur, who teaches students for a career and has "the…

This article describes a teacher-led school "Mathematics and Science Leadership Academy" (MSLA) that is part of the Denver Public Schools. At MSLA, teachers collaborate to make authentic and substantive decisions about how the school operates and seek to meet each student's needs. At teacher-led schools, teachers hire their own…

Experience with performance pay projects across the United States has demonstrated that, if performance pay programs are to be successful, teachers must be involved in their design. In addition, the district and the union must agree on the purpose of the program, it needs needs to be based on consensually agreed, credible measures that determine…

In the future, teachers will become "teacherpreneurs," that is, teachers who develop their pedagogical talent, "sell" their expertise, and find innovative solutions to challenges facing their students. Unions will become professional guilds, and teachers will use new technologies to meet all their students' needs.

This is the latest in a series of polls sponsored by Phi Delta Kappa International with the Gallup organization. Some important findings of this year's poll include: About half of us believe teacher unions are hurting public education, but we're more likely to support teacher union leaders than governors in disputes over teacher collective…

In this article, the authors talk about National Education Association (NEA) leadership's decision to side with corporate reformers rather than with teachers. While the authors agree with the NEA leadership in its argument that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act "is not working" and is "an unfounded, unfair, and unattainable…

"Tough Liberal," a book penned by the author of this article, traces the life of Albert Shanker (1928-1997) chronologically from birth to death. Shanker was the longtime head of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in New York City (1964-1986) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) nationally (1974-1997). "Tough Liberal" recounts the…

A complex federal law that has been on the books since 1965--upon which are based numerous beneficial programs that provide funding to the nation's education system through a range of complex mechanisms--cannot easily be cast aside as the Educator Roundtable recommends. This article discusses the decision by the National Education Association…

The National Education Association (NEA) agrees that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is flawed but believes it can be salvaged. The association believes that several substantive changes that overhaul the statute would produce a far better result. The NEA is not alone in calling for fundamental changes in the law. A coalition of more than 129…

According to this author, "unchecked capitalism is destroying the nation's public schools, and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is the final nail in their coffin." He argues that, marching under the banner of "accountability," right-wing, pro-business forces are willfully undermining the democratic right of all children to a free,…

The author gives a brief account of the American Federation of Teachers annual convention. (IRT)

Bobby Ann Starnes, the author of this article, grew up with portraits of two important people displayed prominently in her home, Jesus, and John L. Lewis. Lewis, a giant among American leaders in the first half of the twentieth century, sent hundreds of organizers to help create some of the nation's leading labor unions, including the United…