In the era of No Child Left Behind, principals are increasingly held accountable for student performance. But are teacher labor agreements giving them enough flexibility to manage effectively? This study answers this question and others. It examines how much flexibility school leaders enjoy on key dimensions of management in America's fifty…

The employment experience of participants in the Empire State Scholarship/Fellowship program are discussed. It was found that many individuals certified to teach science have encountered difficulty in obtaining employment and that the concern about the quantity of science teachers needed in the 1990s is perhaps unwarranted. (KR)

Much good work has recently been done on the socioeconomic history of teaching in the United States, particularly in relation to the "feminization" of the profession that occurred over the course of the nineteenth century. This article brings together evidence from disparate local sources in both North Carolina and New York to explore…

Current methods of funding teachers' retirement systems, which base pensions on final salaries, are inequitable because they are not related to school districts' ability to pay and because they require some teachers to subsidize others. A five-state survey shows it is common for pensions to be funded by school districts and teachers, sometimes…

Teacher retention rates in New York from 1974 though 1984 were studied in 57 school districts that used alternative practices of internal salary distribution. These districts were categorized by relative attractiveness of salaries offered entry-level, midcareer, and senior teachers. Data revealed positive correlations between district retention…

This document attempts to deal with certain legal issues which the author feels are basic to understanding the function of government in the professional licensing or certification of educators. It is the basic argument of this paper that the right and responsibility of the state to certify teachers is a legitimate, moral, and rational use of the…

This document begins with a brief historical survey of the practice of teacher certification in the United States. PBTE (Performance-Based Teacher Education) as a device in teacher certification, particularly in New York, is also considered as well as inservice evaluation as practiced in New York State. The conclusions that emerge from these…

This paper reports a survey of the attitudes of school personnel toward teacher unions and draws some implications concerning the dynamics of labor relations in school systems. Teachers, principals, superintendents, and school board members responded to questions on what areas unions should be involved in, degree of satisfaction with the local,…

Research findings from a study of collective bargaining in New York and Michigan school districts indicate that collective bargaining does have a significant impact on the allocation of resources in ways that affect student learning. These findings support hypotheses based on the theory that collective bargaining will make a difference in resource…

Systemwide bargaining in higher education in four states (Florida, Minnesota, New York, Illinois) was studied to determine whether institutions were affected in the manner predicted by previous literature, whether the amounts of influence, or power, of various institutional decision-makers were affected, and whether the viewpoints of respondents…

Conceptualizing militant behavior as a strategic choice involving collective action and occurring within a specific organizational context, this paper examines the impact of various organizational factors on elementary and secondary school teachers' willingness to engage in militant behavior. Teachers in 83 New York districts were surveyed as to…

Emphasizing a distinction between interpersonal versus intergroup behavior, this paper investigates the impact of interpersonal and intergroup characteristics on the individual's decision to rely on collective action. Four dimensions of interpersonal versus intergroup behavior--social mobility versus social change, personal deprivation versus…

Drawing on survey data from 83 New York school districts and case studies of 6 districts, the project reported here explores several aspects of schools and districts as organizations. The conceptual framework guiding the study emphasizes that educational organizations are not governed either by their structure or by the reactions of individuals,…