This study examines school leaders' implementation of collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) negotiated between teachers' unions and school district administration. Using interviews with school leaders and drawing on a structure-agency perspective, the research highlights the interplay between school leader decision-making, union power, and…

Facing the persistent challenge of educator turnover in U.S. public school systems, the Kansas Teacher Retention Initiative (KTRI) has been relaunched to delve into the current state of the Kansas educator experience. Building on insights from the inaugural 2021 KTRI study launched in the summer of 2021 in response to a growing teacher shortage,…

The main purpose of this study is to find the attributes of corporations that prevent hiring of highly educated female new graduates, who hold bachelor's or master's degrees. Our results show that the percentages of new graduates who majored in the field of humanities and of female employees positively correlate with the percentage of female new…

In this article, I examine the relationship between unionism and academic freedom as revealed by 50 years of reports by the American Association of University Professors' Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure. Written following investigations of significant and/or intractable situations, the reports demonstrate the complex interactions…

This research project investigates librarians' attitudes toward unions and collective bargaining through data collected from a nationwide survey of 359 academic librarians in the United States. We found that academic librarians have a generally positive view of unions and collective bargaining agreements, a notable result in a national political…

Public education, from pre-K through higher education, and labor unions, particularly those representing public sector workers, are today under attack from those who question the very need to have such basic institutions. "United University Professions" is a history of United University Professions (UUP), which grew from humble…

In this paper, we examine the process of decomposition as well as the struggle for recomposition of academic labor, which we understand as a contradictory positionality within so-called "gig academy." Ours is a rhetorical intervention to, first of all, explicitly connect contemporary working conditions in academia to the general process…

Academic freedom is a fundamental concept that exists to ensure that institutions of higher education function for the public good and that colleges are constructed on the foundations of genuine trust. For over a century, members of The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) have been agile guardians, careful stewards, and erudite…

A growing educator shortage is having significant impacts in schools and communities throughout the United States. In response to this growing concern, the Kansas Teacher Retention Initiative was launched in the summer of 2021, with a focus on measuring, understanding, interpreting, and disseminating data-driven insights regarding the driving…

Do Americans hold a consistent set of opinions about their public schools and how to improve them? From 2013 to 2018, over 5,000 unique respondents participated in more than one consecutive iteration of the annual, nationally representative "Education Next" poll, offering an opportunity to examine individual-level attitude stability on…

Guided by Honig and Hatch's (2004) conceptualization of bridging and buffering, we undertook an analysis of reduction in force (RIF) provisions from 546 Ohio teacher collective bargaining agreements. We asked the following question: Are the most disadvantaged school districts providing greater protections to tenured teachers when making RIF…

In recent years, a new breed of political organizations has had remarkable influence in American educational policymaking. Proponents of neoliberal reform, these groups have been labeled as Education Reform Advocacy Organizations, or ERAOs. I situate these organizations within the larger network of Intermediary Organizations (IOs). To understand…

This report builds on work of the Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success, initiated in 2012, that has documented changes in the academic profession and its implications for higher education. While the Delphi Project has aimed to address specific issues--for example, by conducting and disseminating research on how faculty…

The unionization of instructional workers is a central feature of U.S. higher education, with more than a quarter of those teaching college classes covered by collectively bargained contracts. Though dated, the best existing numbers indicate that more than 430,000 faculty members, graduate students, and related personnel are in bargaining units;…

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…