The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has lost several of its most prominent leaders over the past decade. It has struggled with scandals at major locals. An internal survey showed low morale among its own employees. The union itself insists it is still very much on the path blazed by Albert Shanker, the AFT's late, legendary president, under whom it forged a happy marriage between its labor agenda and education reform. In a political arena that has, for over a decade, been dominated by Republicans and the mandates of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, change has been inevitable for the nation's second-largest teachers' union which, like other labor groups, tends to heavily back, and be backed by, Democrats. Despite the setbacks and concerns over leadership--or perhaps because of them--the union appears to have embarked on a vigorous exercise to reposition itself within the Shanker halo.