This article presents the author's views about the school district deconstruction in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He discusses his 30-year experience as a principal and central office administrator with the School District of Philadelphia and his involvement in the efforts to lead urban school reform in the country. He also describes the reform…

The author reviews four factors that contribute to the reduction of the authority and power of teachers: the Far Right, the Christian Right, the standards movement, and the decline in the use of collective bargaining. As a result of these initiatives, teachers are forced to abandon many progressive educational practices and embrace educational…

This article describes specific areas in education which have been problematic over the last 18 years and discusses ways in which the collective bargaining process was able to cope with them. (Author/EB)

To move education forward, the United States needs teachers willing to challenge traditional teachers' associations. Independent teachers' associations, most of which began in the 1950s, were started primarily in response to compulsory union dues, monopoly bargaining, strikes, and the union's overtly political agenda. They support local control,…

Before any school reforms can be enacted, an atmosphere of collegiality within the profession must be created that integrates both the need of school administrators to coordinate policy and of teachers of exercise individual initiative. Appended are 70 references. (MLF)