This essay presents an overview of the past 25 years of collective bargaining in American public education. Drawing distinctions between compensation and noncompensation issues, the essay addresses the issue of striking a balance between the interests of organized teachers and the educational interests of their communities, and it incorporates previous research in describing the spread of teacher organization/school board collective bargaining and its impact on teachers and school districts for policy and nonpolicy issues. The first chapter deals entirely with compensation bargaining. The second chapter discusses bargaining over hours and conditions of employment, and includes sections on grievance procedures, time, minimum fairness, and status quo. The third chapter, on educational policy bargaining, analyzes research on the issue and reviews topics of curriculum, student placement, teacher assignment, evaluation, and staff development. The fourth and fifth chapters discuss implementation of contract provisions and the impact of collective bargaining on teachers and school districts for policy and nonpolicy issues. The conclusion speculates on the impacts of bargaining on school district governance, organization, and administration; on education programs; and on teachers. Five pages of references are appended. (IW)