"[The papers in this book] ask whether unions affect educational productivity, most notably in terms of an impact on student achievement. They analyze how teachers union function as professional organizations concerned with the occupation of teaching, as institutional actors defending interests within a bureaucratic system of education, and as political actors wielding influence on legislation and elections. Taken as a whole, these varying perspectives do not provide readers with a simple answer to the question of whether unions help or hurt educational reform. But the book does illustrate the many dimensions of the teachers unions' role in American education..." -- p.2

Reform bargaining and its promise for school improvement / Susan Moore Johnson and Susan M. Kardos -- Collective bargaining and public schools / Joe A. Stone -- Gaining control of professional licensing and advancement / Dale Ballou and Michael Podgursky -- Collective bargaining in Milwaukee Public Schools / Howard L. Fuller, George A. Mitchell, and Michael E. Hartmann -- The NEA and school choice / James G. Cibulka -- Teachers unions in hard times / William Lowe Boyd, David N. Plank, and Gary Sykes -- Teachers unions and educational research and development / Maris A. Vinovskis -- An international perspective on teachers unions / Bruce S. Cooper -- Organizing around quality : the frontiers of teacher unionism / Charles Taylor Kerchner and Julia E. Koppich.