Collective Bargaining in Education

Collective bargaining shapes the way public schools are organized, financed, staffed, and operated. Understanding collective bargaining in education and its impact on the day-to-day life of schools is critical to designing and implementing reforms that will successfully raise student achievement. But when it comes to public discussion of school reform, teachers unions are the proverbial elephant in the room.

Despite the tremendous influence of teachers unions, there has not been a significant research-based book examining the role of collective bargaining in education in more than two decades. As a result, there is little basis for a constructive, empirically grounded dialogue about the role of teachers unions in education today.

Edited by Education Sector's Andrew J. Rotherham, and Jane Hannaway of the Urban Institute, Collective Bargaining in Education is a timely and comprehensive volume that offers a thorough and nuanced analysis of the available research and varied perspectives on its implications. It will spur and strengthen public debate over the role of teachers unions in education reform for years to come.

Contributors include: Leo Casey, Morgaen L. Donaldson, Henry S. Farber, Dan Goldhaber, Frederick M. Hess, Paul T. Hill, Susan Moore Johnson, Richard D. Kahlenberg, Andrew P. Kelly, Julia E. Koppich, Paul Manna, and Terry M. Moe.

Reviews
"It is unfathomable that, in light of recent efforts to close the student achievement gap, the body of research examining the impact of collective bargaining by teachers on public education is so scant. What are the facts and how do we find them? Hannaway and Rotherham rightly raise the issue and put forth real alternatives."
—Andrew L. Stern, President, Service Employees International Union

"School districts and unions are among the most conservative institutions left in our country. Their reluctance to budge from the status quo and their fierce resistance to competition adversely impact student achievement, teacher quality, and fiscal equity. Hannaway and Rotherham confront the 800-pound obstacle to renewing public education and set the stage for a vigorous debate that is long overdue."
—Alan Bersin, California Secretary of Education

"Jane Hannaway and Andrew Rotherham have turned a searchlight on an important and neglected subject. Collective Bargaining in Education assembles experts who often have strongly contrasting views but whose knowledge and perspectives are invaluable. This is a must-read for anyone concerned about reforming public education."
—William L. Taylor, Chairman, Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights

"We have waited decades for such a comprehensive overview of collective bargaining and teachers unions. A fascinating mixture of solid empirical studies and balanced, informed debate."
—Mike Kirst, Professor of Education and Business Administration, Stanford University

"This volume moves teacher collective bargaining from the sidelines to the center of the policy debate over public education. Its contributors fill the spectrum from those who want to weaken or eliminate union power to those who want to strengthen and reform it. As the editors note, the book started with a conversation; it will stimulate many more."
—Charles Taylor Kerchner, Hollis P. Allen Professor of Education, Claremont Graduate University

Order Collective Bargaining in Education from Harvard University Press.