Recent Comments
Tag Archives: teachers’ unions
The Age of Janus and the Challenge to Teachers’ Unions
The ground has shifted under us, my friends of the public school landscape. The age of Janus is upon us. Continue reading
Posted in Schools and Politics
Tagged agency fees, conservatism, ESSA, First Amendment, free speech, income inequality, Janus, right to work, strikes, teachers' unions
Leave a comment
The Battle on the Horizon: An Assault on Teachers’ Unions
In a replay of past legal challenges to private sector unions’ ability to organize workers, conservative donors and foundations line up to challenge public sector unions, which eventually may put teachers’ salaries and their collective political clout in harm’s way. Continue reading
I Am A Teachers’ Union Man (With An Asterisk)
Against a decline of unions in general, scant evidence exists for charges from free market types that teachers unions are a chief hindrance to school reform. But there is room for teachers’ unions to be more effective school change agents. Continue reading
Let Us Not Be Blamed: A Meditation on the State of Teacher Unionism, Corporate America, and Poverty
Summary: Unions are targeted by corporate based reformers as the bad guy, and do need to take better charge of the debate, but the real culprit at base is the political failure to impact poverty. Maureen (we shall call her) … Continue reading
Charter Schools: Russakov’s The Prize, and Lessons from Newark
Summary: Dale Russakov’s tale of the assault by reformers on Newark Schools is a saga of conflict, righteous myopia, entrenched interests, unintended consequences, upheaval in neighborhoods, grudging progress, and a rending of social fabric; yet in the end no easy … Continue reading
Schools and Politics: Seattle Teachers Strike and Aim to Be Players
Summary: The Seattle Teachers’ strike has ended with advances in salary and working conditions, but also in agreements that address quality of schooling for kids, such as disproportionate discipline for kids of color and, in general, suspension as a tool … Continue reading
Posted in Schools and Politics
Tagged at risk students, Dale Russakoff, disproportionate discipline, education and politics, empowering teachers, low-income students, parent support, school funding, school reform, Seattle Teachers strike, teacher morale, teacher pay, teachers' unions, Testing
Leave a comment
Charter Schools and the Selling of Short Term Teachers
Summary: How is it that young charter teachers achieve results comparable to their more experienced traditional public school brethren, and why do so many in both camps leave teaching so prematurely? Whether or not any charter iteration creates a … Continue reading
School Reform and the Greening of Teachers’ Unions
Summary: Announcement that the National Education Association will engage dissident teachers in dialogue is a welcome step toward improving teachers’ union real involvement in school change. The apparent dearth of reform themes emanating from the union side in bargaining talks … Continue reading
School Reform and Politics: Teach for America and Its Political Identity
Summary: Has Teach for America been hijacked by conservative and market ideology? Teach for America has become a political lightning rod in the struggle over reform in American education. The organization was originally conceived as an avenue through which to … Continue reading
School Reform and Politics: The Inflammatory and the Misperception Across the School Reform Divide
Summary: An op ed piece from the Washington Policy Center is examined for its “non-partisan” view on the Washington Education Association and school reform in Washington State. School reform is a highly complex enterprise, with streaming from the surrounding culture … Continue reading
schooldog 