On 26 September 2001, the Chino Valley School District, which is approximately 30 miles east of Los Angeles, signed a negotiated agreement with the duly authorized union representing the certified employees, the Associated Chino Teachers (ACT). The agreement provided that every member of the represented unit would become either a member of the ACT…

For at least two and a half decades, political leaders and opinion makers have been telling teachers and union leaders that it is high time to move away from the single salary schedule. For a long time, it was easy for teachers and union leaders to dismiss those calls for change. Recently, with more voices joining the choir calling for change, it…

After the turbulent labor history of America in the early to mid twentieth century, there has been a general decline of unions. Nevertheless, many graduate school teaching assistants are unionizing in attempts to gain better pay and benefits and remove themselves from an "Ivory Sweatshop." This article discusses a history of unions…

This paper examines the controversies over the Women's Committee of the Korean Teachers Union (KTU) or "Chunkyojo"--in particular, the implementation of the quota policy which requires that 50% of the union's representative body be composed of women. Initially, this policy led to concerns that the KTU's militancy may be weakened.…

Education policy in Niger is made up of all the tendencies and decisions, which over time have determined the development of Niger's education sector and its components. In this article, the author discusses the implementation stages of education policy, that is: (1) Adoption of the General Policy Act; and (2) Planning of the implementation of the…

With the recent splintering of the AFL-CIO and the widespread reluctance of higher education institutions to initiate aggressive anti-union campaigns, colleges and universities could begin to see an increase in union organizing efforts. In this article, two labor and employment law attorneys offer advice on how to prevent an organizing campaign on…

This article describes when teachers in Detroit, Michigan and Gary, Indiana went on strike in September 2006, which have resulted in the closure or relocation of 35 schools to other campuses since the end of the 2004-05 school year. The 2006-07 school year has brought with it a fresh wave of labor unrest, as teachers in districts large and small…

In this article, the author reports how Denver voters consider the most radical merit-pay proposal for teachers. Through the merit-pay system, Denver teachers would receive no pay increases without a corresponding increase in their classroom performance. Although the idea was shelved at the time, the teachers' union leadership concluded that they…

There are two striking aspects of the recovery from the Great Depression in the United States: the recovery was very weak, and real wages in several sectors rose significantly above trend. These data contrast sharply with neoclassical theory, which predicts a strong recovery with low real wages. We evaluate the contribution to the persistence of…

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) Fixing D.C.'s Schools: How a 38-Year-Old Rookie…

This report presents the results of a survey of 1,010 K-12 public school teachers about their views on the teaching profession, teachers unions, and various reforms aimed at improving teacher quality. It reveals the challenges teachers see in their profession, including weak evaluation processes and a rigid tenure pay system; how teachers feel…

Paying teachers varying amounts on the basis of how well their students perform is an idea that has been winning increasing support, both in the United States and abroad, and many school systems have adopted some version of it. Proponents claim that linking teacher pay to student performance is a powerful way to encourage talented and highly…

In this paper, we go beyond what have been described as "mechanistic" accounts of e-learning to explore the complexity of relationships between people and technology as encountered in cases of networked learning. We introduce from the social informatics literature the concept of sociotechnical interaction networks which focus on the…

This report presents information on faculty contracts and bargaining agents in public and private institutions of higher education. It begins with a listing of higher education institutions, by state, indicating the bargaining agent representing the regular college faculty, the unit size, date of current agent election, date of initial contract,…

This newsletter theme issue focuses on unionization of graduate student assistants at institutions of higher education. The first article, "Graduate Assistants and Unionization" by Frank R. Annunziato, points out that more than 21,000 graduate student assistants at public sector colleges/universities are represented by unions in eight…