Unions and Public Schools: The Effect of Collective Bargaining on American Education.

This book presents an assessment of collective bargaining in education. During the 1970's, while student enrollment declined, organizations representing public school teachers grew. Both the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers more than doubled their membership. Teacher contracts have expanded to include areas traditionally considered administrative. The authors discuss the effect of teacher collective bargaining on student achievement and explore the link between collective bargaining and teachers and administrators. They also explore the nature of labor contracts, job packages, the strength of teacher unions, and union and nonunion wage differences, attitudinal differences of union and nonunion teachers, and the behavioral characteristics of collective bargaining. The effects of contract provisions on resource allocation and educational policy practice are examined. The authors attempt to measure the impact of collective bargaining on the level and costs of student achievement; they conclude that collective bargaining does affect the way schools are run in the United States. Union teachers receive higher salaries, teach smaller classes, and spend slightly less time instructing students and more time in class preparation. (MD)