In school districts across the United States, it has become increasingly difficult to recruit and retain STEM teachers. This is due, in part, to the limited number of candidates in teacher preparation school compared to other disciplines, as well as greater opportunities for STEM teachers in other employment sectors when compared to teachers in…

Though there is a plethora of articles written over the past years on the ordeal adjunct professors go through while teaching in universities and community colleges, very little has been done to salvage the situation. The work adjunct professors do has been oversimplified while institutions that utilize their services save a lot. This article will…

There is considerable speculation and some empirical evidence that teacher collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) in urban school districts are more restrictive to district administrators than CBAs in other districts. We build on prior work by comparing urban with nonurban CBAs in three states--California, Michigan, and Washington--and, for a set…

In November 2022, Florida governor Ronald DeSantis, won reelection by a decisive margin and the Republican party gained supermajorities in both houses of the state legislature. During the governor's first term and after reelection, the Florida House and Senate passed legislation and the DeSantis administration took executive actions that further…

For 50 years, American education policy has often danced to the tune of labor realities. "Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association" is a case that awaits hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court that could dramatically change this picture. The case, if decided for the plaintiffs, could end the practice of "agency" fees--money…

National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) are intended to promote stronger linkages between education institutions and the labour market. This paper examines how industrial relations institutions mediate the relationship between formal qualifications, job classifications and pay outcomes in Australian manufacturing. In Australia a tribunal sets…

For nearly two decades teachers unions and charter schools have defined the major points of conflict over school reform, forming an "us vs. them" narrative that pits one against the other. By design, charter schools are free from many state and district regulations--including collective bargaining agreements. And when students enroll in…

While it is generally assumed that the aim of teacher evaluation is to "formatively" support teachers' professional development, research finds that teacher evaluation practices are predominantly "summative". This paper describes a Norwegian governmental policy experiment aiming to overcome this fallacy through a bargaining…

Much literature focusing on the academy is concerned with the spread of neo-liberalism into the university sector. We argue that universities in Canada are operating in an era of "accountability governance," with ideologies, discourses, and practices centred on quality, accountability, and efficiency. We explore the interplay between…

This twelfth edition of "Measuring up to the Model: A Ranking of State Charter School Laws" evaluates each state's public charter school law against the 21 essential components of a strong charter school law. These 21 components are drawn from the National Alliance's "A New Model Law for Supporting the Growth of High-Quality Public…

In this article, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Lorretta Johnson reflects on her early work as a paraprofessional at Liberty Elementary School (Baltimore, Maryland) and what sparked her union activism nearly 50 years ago in 1966. It was that year that she and her colleagues joined the Baltimore Teachers Union…

We examine more than 1,000 collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) in place across California, Michigan, and Washington. We investigate the prevalence of a set of 43 key provisions between and within these states, providing the first comprehensive comparison of CBA terms using data drawn from economically and demographically different districts,…

This report describes the results of research into New Jersey public school teacher compensation. The research was initiated in response to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's attacks on New Jersey teachers' unions and his allegations that New Jersey public school teachers are overpaid. This analysis seeks to answer three questions about teacher…

This article categorizes institutions under both the 2015 Carnegie Basic Classification system and the mission-driven classification system, and further analyzes both by the presence of a collective bargaining agreement. The goal of this article was to use the presentation of data on revenue, employment numbers, salary outlays, and the presence or…

We extend the work of Cowen and Fowles by examining contracts in Kentucky school districts with collective bargaining. Using document analysis, we sought to answer the following research question: Do key provisions of teacher contracts change over time? We also examine the most recently negotiated contract in Louisville schools (2013-2018). We…