This monograph complements volume 36, issue number 4 of ASHE Higher Education Report: "Understanding the New Majority of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty," and focuses on theories applied to study non-tenure-track faculty and philosophical and practical tensions represented in the literature. The chapter "Theories Used to Study and…

This article explores school districts such as New Haven (Connecticut) Public Schools, whose local union is an American Federation of Teachers (AFT) affiliate and where a shared concern for students has trumped the often adversarial union-management relationship. The author discusses what makes the successful contract negotiations headed by David…

A substantial amount of school district policy is set in the collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) negotiated between teachers' unions and districts. Although previous studies have assumed that CBA provisions bargained by unions are a primary mechanism connecting union strength to outcomes for teachers and students, research has not yet…

Generation Y public school teachers--those born between 1977 and 1995-- who have been serving students for nearly a decade now, represent an increasingly large proportion of the teaching workforce, and, with concerted support, promise to help bring needed transformation to schools that too often remain stuck in an earlier age. Members of this…

Providence, Rhode Island, is one of those gritty eastern mill towns that wears its centuries-old history on its sleeve. Like many American cities, Providence is home to a struggling public school system with chronically low-performing schools. They include Roger Williams Middle, where last year only 17 percent of eighth-graders scored at or above…

The National Education Association suggested this week that school districts need not use their own money to pay for obligations under the No Child Left Behind Act, in the wake of a federal appeals court ruling that revived the union's lawsuit challenging the law as an unfunded federal mandate. The January 7, 2008 ruling means that "as a…

This article reports that amid tight budgets and shrinking revenue, states are wagering that voters in next month's elections will agree to expand state-sanctioned gambling in exchange for increased school aid. Initiatives on six state ballots Nov. 4 involve gambling revenue intended to raise money for everything from community college funding and…

After years of tense relations between teachers' unions and the growing charter school movement, unions are stepping up their efforts to organize educators at the independent public schools. So far, the results of the increased organizing activity-which stretches from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania to California appear modest. But it remains to be…

Teachers encounter countless obstacles to ensure their needs are met when represented by the traditional union-administration working relationship. Unions hold established opinions and ideas on school policy about matters in the public school arena. The tradition of unions and district officials keeping one another placated in an adversarial…

From 2001 to 2009, about 4.5 million students will report some type of educator misconduct during their K-12 schooling, and as many as 9 out of 10 cases may go unreported (Shakeshaft, 2007). Codes of ethical conduct have decreased misconduct cases within other helping professions. Since there has been an increased awareness of teacher behavior, 25…

Empowering students is partly about fighting for students' formal rights. But is it also about ensuring that these rights are filled with content and interpreted in the best interest of the students. Some student unions fight for better parental leave arrangements for PhD students. Some fight for their right to say what they think. Others strive…

The Quakertown Community School District, or QCSD, is a traditional K-12 public school district in rural southeastern Pennsylvania, located in Bucks County, about an hour north of Philadelphia. QCSD has ten schools, including one high school, and serves approximately 5,500 students, 24 percent of whom are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch…

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…

As digital tools proliferate and improve, solid instruction in the basics will eventually become "flat"--available anywhere globally--and the elements of excellent teaching that are most difficult for technology to replace will increasingly differentiate student outcomes. As a result, teacher effectiveness may matter even more than it…

A combination of destructive trends in higher education--shrinking state budgets, stagnant student aid, the growth of corporate-style management, the overuse and exploitation of contingent faculty, increasing workloads and attacks on academic freedom--is weakening the educational integrity and professionalism of American colleges and universities.…