The effects of teachers unions on American education

The article summarizes and attempts to reconcile the empirical research on the actual impact of teachers unions on American education. Teacher unions consistently oppose pay based on teacher performance or aptitude. The author compares data which demonstrate that public school teachers are paid subs...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Cato journal 2010-01, Vol.30 (1), p.155-170
Main Author: Coulson, Andrew J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
American federation of teachers
Analysis
Bildung
Campaign contributions
Campaign funds
Charter schools
Collective Bargaining
Compensation plans
Education
Education policy
Education systems
Educational Policy
Empirical Methods
Federal aid to education
Gewerkschaft
Labor force
Labor unions
Labour relations
Lehrer
National education association
Political activity
Political aspects
Political fund raising
Political parties
Politicians
Private schools
Private sector
Public Schools
Public sector
School districts
School employees
Teachers
Trade unions
U.S.A
Union membership
Unionization
Unions
United States of America
USA
Wages
Wages & salaries
Wages and salaries
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Description
Summary:The article summarizes and attempts to reconcile the empirical research on the actual impact of teachers unions on American education. Teacher unions consistently oppose pay based on teacher performance or aptitude. The author compares data which demonstrate that public school teachers are paid substantially better than private school teachers. The bulk of the wage premium enjoyed by the former group cannot be credited to collective bargaining. Rather, unions tend to compress teacher wages. The article explains how unions, including the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), have entrenched their positions through large 'soft' and 'hard' money donations to American politicians which do relatively little to advance the compensation of union members. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:0273-3072
1943-3468