Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD), California's thirteenth largest school district, faces a looming deficit and must make significant budget adjustments to avoid state intervention. This case study explores how the district reached this point, how its finances compare with other districts in Sacramento County, and what the…

Teacher union leaders face an apparent paradox between dual interests--teachers' educational interests and self-interests. This case study of a small New York school district demonstrates how union members and leaders constructed the dualities differently and how these constructions influenced their behavior. The paradox-construction perspective…

Although politicians and educational leaders are pressured to devise quick-fix educational reforms, significant change takes time, and reform efforts may not be fully measurable for 10 years or more. Case study of a California school district given 10 uninterrupted years to develop and implement an outcome-based instructional model suggests that…

This article reviews the law of teacher evaluation using recent cases. The purpose is to assist administrators in separating professional lore from legal requirements. Case analysis, with citations, is provided in several topic areas, including procedural default, remediation plans, statutory discrimination, and grievance arbitrability. (Author)

Scholars and practitioners have long criticized teacher evaluation as ineffective. Peer assistance and review (PAR) alters traditional teacher evaluation, as master teachers conduct summative as well as formative assessment of beginning teachers and veteran teachers in need of intervention. Relying on data from a longitudinal case study of one…

This manual presents a collaborative "situational negotiations" approach to collective bargaining. After a brief introduction, part 1 describes the traditional adversarial bargaining model, using a case study from a medium-sized school district in the state of Washington to illustrate how the aftermath of confrontational bargaining is…

A review of the major studies of administrative behavior introduces this consideration of what features of administrative agencies, either in structure or patterns of organization, have been associated with their successful operation. The theories of interorganizational relations reviewed include the political economy approach, the organization…

This study involved the identification of factors associated with major organizational changes in public schools as affected by collective bargaining. The goal was to replicate Whyte's 1951 study of private sector organizational change to determine whether similar patterns existed in public sector organizational behavior. The study used Whyte's…

Adversarial collective bargaining often leads to lingering resentments. Collaborative bargaining, conversely, is a problem-solving approach to contract negotiations based on common interests and mutual respect. Recognizing the interrelationship between trust at schools and trust at the bargaining table, a growing number of school districts are…

This paper reports on part of a longitudinal study of the interaction between labor relations and governance in one suburban school system. It focuses on the all-important relationship between the school board and the superintendent in an Illinois school district. When dissension between these two parties occurs, it is possible for teachers to…

Recent studies at the Center for Educational Policy and Management provide insight into how collective bargaining affects the teaching profession, educational policy, and student achievement. Charles Kerchner's report links a three-stage labor relations model with an analysis of teaching as work. His case studies, besides revealing wide variations…

A study of 10 schools in 3 school districts examined how labor relations affect teachers' work attitudes and behavior, and how labor relations and contract provisions take on practical significance in the school and classroom. A three "generation" model of labor relations development--based on levels of conflict and the legitimacy accorded the…

Conclusions about public school labor relations advanced in this report are based on analysis of data from a two-phase study. The first phase consisted of case studies conducted during entire collective bargaining cycles in eight school districts--four in Illinois and four in California. The second phase of the research expanded the work into 65…