This study explores how teachers' unions are responding to the growing policy of dual enrollment (DE). I reviewed all available collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) of public schools in Ohio, using qualitative content analysis to look for ways that CBAs are addressing DE policy. Analysis revealed four themes. The first theme suggests that…

For both proponents and critics alike, among the most salient features of charter schooling today is their freedom from collective bargaining agreements that shape staffing and work rules and limit school administrators' discretion. This is changing in some states where a small but growing number of charter schools are unionized. How collective…

Charter schools and inter-district public school choice are a growing part of the public school system. Theoretically, competition for students might lead to competition for effective and diverse teaching faculties. This study assesses how competition from school choice relates to the distribution of teacher characteristics across school contexts,…

Teachers are one of the most important inputs in the production of student achievement, and their impact persists throughout adulthood. Attracting and retaining high-quality teachers to the profession is thus a policy issue of highest importance. More attractive compensation packages are often proposed as a possible tool to achieve this goal. In…

This report presents selected findings from the Public School District Data File of the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. School districts associated with public schools and library…

A small number of studies have examined the importance of collective bargaining agreements in the context of teacher quality, school finance, or student outcomes. Although the evidence for a bargaining effect on most measures is mixed, the preponderance has suggested that bargaining increases expenditures on teacher compensation. In this article,…

In "Collective Bargaining in Education and Pay for Performance"--a paper presented at the National Center on Performance Incentives research to policy conference in February--Jane Hannaway and Andrew J. Rotherham examine the interplay between the emerging policy focus on teacher pay for performance and the response of teacher unions.…

This article presents a principal-agent model in the context of public schools to help explain the use of merit pay for teachers. The model considers how both the nature of teaching and the political costs of union resistance affect school district merit pay decisions. Our results support the idea that merit pay is more likely in environments…

With the possible exception of No Child Left Behind, no federal law has posed a greater compliance challenge to public school districts in the past ten years than the Fair Labor Standards Act. Unfamiliarity with the Act and its application in the school environment has resulted in millions of dollars in payment of settlements to school district…

This report presents selected findings from the school district data file of the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public, private, and Bureau of Indian Education-funded (BIE) K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The public school sample…

This reference document supports the leadership of locals and state federations in collective bargaining, in designing salary comparisons, and in developing policy. Data are drawn from several sources to more fully describe the American Federation of Teachers' (AFT) largest locals and to describe the nation's largest school districts. Section 1…

When people talk about school district efficiency, their first thoughts are about financial management. Are districts balancing their budgets, paying bills on time, and maximizing their revenues? This report takes a closer look at financial management in California school districts. The report is a summary of the 2006 research study, "School…

This study examined and described patterns of discussion and determined the difference, if any, that existed among school corporations with respect to implementation of Public Law 217 in Indiana which provided legal sanction for collective bargaining between teachers and school employers. (MM)

This study examines state-to-state variations in the legality of bargaining over class size in public schools, to determine, first, whether these variations in the legal scope of bargaining bear any relationship to actual class sizes and, second, whether these variations are indirectly associated with teachers' salaries. (Author/CT)

The intent of this investigation was to determine if and to what extent collective bargaining has influenced attainment of salary and economic benefits such as teacher salary, insurance premiums, and sick leave. (MM)