Educational Policy Trust Agreements: Connecting Labor Relations and School Reform. A Report on Year Two of the Trust Agreement Project.

Since 1987, 12 California school districts and their teachers' unions have experimented with a new form of labor accord called an Educational Policy Trust Agreement. The project helps teachers, as represented by their unions, and school management to reach agreements on issues that are not included within the scope of traditional collective bargaining. Agreements cover topics such as teacher evaluation, staff development, site-based management, and curriculum development. The pilot trust agreement study tests the proposition that labor relations and school reform can be linked effectively. The initial results are encouraging. Trust agreements involve long-term, comprehensive changes in the school district decision-making process and facilitate collective responsibility for educational processes and outcomes. Appendices contain explanations and proposals of eight trust agreement projects. (LMI)