In reviewing recent and ongoing research on teacher collective bargaining, this article explores patterns of bargaining in public education and the effects of bargaining on educational policy and the allocation of resources. The author summarizes Douglas Mitchell and Charles Kerchner's concept of the "generations" of bargaining--from meeting and conferring to good-faith bargaining to negotiated policy--and then discusses current issues being studied by other researchers. Among these issues are conflict over the scope of bargaining, perceived lack of administrative power, uniformity of contract enforcement, allocation of teacher time and other resources, and services to the handicapped. The research studies covered uniformly indicate that collective bargaining has had and is having a significant effect on public schools, often in unintended ways. Both administrators and teachers (management and unions) can benefit from the research, this paper maintains, as they seek to make more effective use of collective bargaining to improve public education. (Author)