National Teachers’ Unions and the Struggle Over School Reform

Introduction

Over the past four decades observers and stakeholders in public education have engaged in a continuing discussion about what is needed to arrest what is perceived to be a decline in public school systems and what is required to serve the needs of disadvantaged children.

On many issues of policy the record of national teachers' unions has been clear. They have a long and honorable history of supporting an end to discrimination in education, they have argued for an end to segregation, for measures to provide equal treatment for women and girls and for assistance to students with disabilities.

But in one major area - public school reform - the record of unions is far less clear. At times, union leaders have treated the measures advocated by others to close the gaps between disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers as inimical to the interests of teachers.

And at times, the union opposition to reform has become vehement. A few years ago, the National Education Association (NEA) advised its local affiliates to negotiate the following language into new teacher contracts: "Without the agreement of the [NEA], the Employer shall take no action to comply with [NCLB]...that has an adverse impact on any bargaining member."

Whether intended or not, the statement is startling in its potential reach. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is a federal grant-in-aid law designed to improve education for disadvantaged children. If school districts or their employees "take no action to comply with NCLB" they are violating the law.

Of course, teachers' union leaders are not all of one mind on questions of reform. At the regional and local levels, some union officials have been ready to entertain proposals to base teacher pay in part on performance, a position the national unions oppose.

And of course, unions are not alone in their positions against specific reform measures. School boards, administrators, academics and others have been overtly critical of some reform proposals. But teachers and their representatives occupy a unique position. Without their acceptance of policy change, it's unlikely to occur.

Thus, the positions taken by national leaders can have a major impact on the future of reform.

In this study, the Commission seeks to set forth a full and fair explication of the words and actions of national unions over the last several years.

Our report examines and analyzes:

1. Key provisions of the law and implementing regulations and guidance. We summarize the major NCLB provisions (in current law and regulations) and leading proposals (for reauthorization) that potentially have the greatest impact on teachers' employment and working conditions. These provisions include:
· assessment (particularly the inclusion and accommodation of English Language Learners and students with disabilities);
· teacher quality, equitable distribution of teachers and other resources among schools and school districts;
· identification of schools in need of improvement and corrective action; and
· remedies (e.g., choice, Supplemental Education Services (tutoring), restructuring (e.g., closure, charter conversion).

2. Public positions and statements. The report identifies specific positions taken by both unions(which may differ in some cases), with regard to passage of
the Improving America's Schools Act in 1994; passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001; their public positions and statements on the Act since
2001; and, finally, current federal policy proposals to amend the law (including their own).

The clash between national teachers' unions and school reformers often occurs along the following lines:
1) establishing valid and reliable accountability and assessment systems;
2) "professionalization of the profession," i.e., improvement of teacher knowledge, skills, and experience, along with reform of the compensation system to establish differentials in pay based on responsibilities and performance; and
3) equalization in the distribution of qualified teachers.

While teachers' unions are legitimately concerned with securing fair and unbiased treatment at the hands of management, these concerns have often been translated into fierce opposition to reforms designed to hold schools and their faculties accountable for how their students perform.

This resistance has posed a barrier to improving educational opportunity for the most disadvantaged students and closing the performance gap between them and their more advantaged peers. It has also led to calcified systems in which talented people are deterred from applying or staying as teachers because they believe their skills will not berecognized or rewarded.

VIEW THE ENTIRE REPORT

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