Although teacher unions promote private means of resolving labor conflicts instead of using public courts, they are engaged in a war on privatization, especially contracting out. It is surprising that the media and higher education take seriously the contention that unions do not negatively affect educational achievement. Advocates of "the…

The U.S. is facing a serious shortage of math and science teachers. Worse news is that we are not now training enough new teachers to remedy the problem. Solutions may include differential pay, inservice staff development, school-industry cooperation, improved work environments, and computer-assisted instruction. (Author/JM)

Outlines five areas--salaries, discipline, class size, student/teacher match, and professionalism--in which a "revolution" must take place if the educational reform movement is to be successful. (MD)

Reviews the positions of the National Education Association on merit pay and on establishment of independent teacher certification boards and explains how those positions contrast with Myron Lieberman's proposal (EA 519 376) for the creation of national educational specialty boards to recognize outstanding teaching. (PGD)

Whining about not being treated as professionals buys teachers little respect. Teaching is hard work, but confers some plush benefits, while discouraging voluntary self-improvement efforts. The notion that pay should be commensurate with work is a noble delusion. Nannies and mothers are also underpaid. (MLH)

In this era of high-stakes accountability, it is important to take steps to increase student achievement and to reduce the achievement gap between rich and poor students. The education profession now recognizes that teacher quality is the most important school-related factor affecting student achievement. Thus, it is necessary to take steps to…

Reviews the history of the two teachers' unions, presenting the differences and rivalry between the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Details their differing responses to the current "excellence" movement. (MD)

Suggests some monetary and nonmonetary incentives to keep good teachers in hard-to-staff, inner-city schools. (Author/WD)

A former English teacher who lectures part-time at several colleges (with miserable pay and no benefits, seniority, or security) was determined to free herself from teaching. In recovery, she has plunged into lucrative business writing and editing, has weaned herself from faculty meetings and "excessive" caring, and is now a high-paid corporate…

Centralized collective bargaining has increased teachers' salaries and provided better working conditions and benefits in Quebec. But it has also spawned a number of troublesome consequences that promote conflict. (Author)

In the proposed Master Teacher Program, training, experience, and performance determine pay. Four career stages are set up for teachers: apprentice, professional, senior, and master. An estimated 87 percent of all Tennessee teachers would be eligible for pay incentives ranging from $1,000 to $7,000 a year. (PB)

Today's shortage of talented teachers--possibly a cyclical phenomenon--results largely from low teacher salaries, many survey indicate; moreover, a computer simulation confirms, recent institutional decisions aggravate the problem. Consequently, reforms that focus exclusively on teacher training practices and/or certification must ultimately fail.…

A professional economist criticizes Gerald Bracey's view that the condition of public education has little to do with the state of the nation's economy. Most studies indicate that education contributes to growing productivity, higher wages, and a sound economy. Education can serve the nation's economic needs without sacrificing education's other…

As states modify their school finance systems in pursuit of equity, play a larger role in setting the level of teacher salaries, and link school finance and improvement, state control of schools is growing. However, state support of schools will decrease as property taxes increase. (DCS)

Argues that standards-based education reform has shifted the focus of school finance from equity to adequacy. Requires an explicit connection between the funding provided to schools and the results produced in terms of student learning. (Contains 19 references.) (MLF)