Discusses Catholic teacher unions and salary disputes, comparing their union issues with those of public schools. The strategy of the National Association of Catholic School Teachers is not geared toward school choice, instead emphasizing pressure on diocesan authorities to pay teachers in accordance with Catholic doctrines of social justice. The…

Discusses the significant contributions to American education of the late Albert Shanker, the president of the American Federation of Teachers from 1974-1997. (PKP)

A five-step method for evaluating proposed policies for educational reform is suggested and explicated in this booklet. The five steps are as follows: (1) to identify the problems toward which reforms are directed, (2) to identify the policies designed to address each problem, (3) to identify assumptions about the problems and the proposed…

How can we fix America's floundering public schools? The conventional wisdom says that schools need a lot more money, that poor and immigrant children cannot do as well as most American kids, that high-stakes tests just produce teaching to the test, and that vouchers do little to help students while undermining our democracy. But what if the…

Federal spending on education has risen steadily over the past three decades to unprecedented levels. However, research indicates that "money neutral" solutions, such as local control and parent choice, are the real keys to educational reform. Educational spending, after correction for inflation, has increased each year since the 1929/30…

In this paper, the authors argue that at a time when disappointing student performance, stark achievement gaps, and an ever-"flattening" world call for retooling American schools for the 21st century, the most daunting impediments to doing so are the teacher collective bargaining agreements that regulate virtually all aspects of school district…

Citing Aristotle, Franklin and Einstein as proponents of a broad, liberal-arts education, Finn and Ravitch promote the need for liberal learning as preparatory to the civic life needed for a well-functioning democracy. Drawing together the work of a number of educators, the editors have organized this volume in two sections. Part I, Liberal…