The history of the University of Vermont faculty's efforts to unionize since 1976 is chronicled, including faculty relations with the university administration, national and state labor relations boards, and the state legislature over union issues in general and a specific conflict over disclosure of faculty salaries. (MSE)

Discusses the formation of a teachers' movement in Malta. Describes organizational goals such as developing participatory democracies in school communities, working as pressure groups to influence educational policy making, and linking humanistic perspectives with a critical theory of schooling. Suggests that change occurs through dramatizing…

Discusses the National Council for History Education (NCHE). Urges that increased instructional time is indispensable to learning history. Discusses analytical, chronological narrative with frequent pauses for studies in depth, the relationship between fact and concept, the interdependence of history, the humanities, and social science. Identifies…

Discusses new teacher unionism, exploring the impact of significant forces of change on U.S. education in programs, structure, and functions of teacher unions; examines Kerchner and Mitchell's "The Changing Idea of a Teachers' Union" and notes the importance of political and historical context. (SM)

At the American Federation of Teachers' 1991 conference, members stated that private school choice threatened public education and claimed a need for national standards and national tests. Other demands included comprehensive programs for school dropouts and a labor market policy that emphasizes the link between school and work. (MLF)

Peer review is one alternative for improving teacher evaluation and educational outcomes, offering teacher unions an expanded role in assuring teaching quality. It raises many issues for teachers and unions which need resolution if this shift in the authority relationship among teachers and between teachers and administrators is to be widely…

Intellectual property questions, as they concern college faculty, are composed of many issues and have substantial and far-reaching implications for the work of faculty and students and for administrative decision making. Both faculty and the American Association of University Professors must become involved to guard against incursions of academic…

This document contains resolution text adopted by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in July 2006 regarding English language learners (ELLs). A Question & Answer section follows the resolution, addressing the following issues: (1) How the AFT is helping educators who work with ELLs; (2) Latest research on effective literacy practices for…

This paper provides a new outlook on the charter school policy environment, however, by re-examining more closely the layers of legal provisions in states' charter laws. Consistent with the first wave of charter school literature which found charter school politics to be complicated and often working at cross-purposes, the authors provide evidence…

This is the second annual report from the National Charter School Research Project (NCSRP) at the University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education. Like last year's debut edition of Hopes, Fears, & Reality, the 2006 volume explores some of the most current and controversial issues facing the charter school movement. This…

This study assessed policy actors' influence on state reading policy and compared the structure of reading policy networks across eight states. Data for the study came from structured interviews and archival documents and were analyzed using social network analysis methods. This study found that state reading policy networks were heterogeneous in…

The privatization of schools and school services is strenuously opposed by trade unions representing school district employees. This paper examines the opposing arguments advanced by the National Education Association and finds that the objections involve two distinct points: (1) the economic role of profit; and (2) idealism in the schools. The…

Limited professional focus appears to impair teacher unions' external influence and internal communication. Inquiry and research may be used as a strategy to improve professional focus thereby increasing teacher unions' influence within the profession and helping them effectively address structural change issues. By shifting to the inquiry mode,…

An interview on peace education with Tom Roderick (interviewer: Ate Bjerstedt) of Educators for Social Responsibility is presented in this document. Educators for Social Responsibility is a national teachers' organization in the United States that offers programs and curricula that are intended to help young people become engaged in the world. The…

Even where collective bargaining is well established, teachers have almost no voice in educational decisionmaking. This is likely to remain a source of teacher frustration until the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers merge into a united organization that effectively represents teachers on a national level. (JG)