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NEA Communications 202-822-7200

October 9, 1998

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Teachers and other public education employees began the new school year armed with more than lesson plans. In school districts from coast to coast, National Education Association (NEA) members went back to work under contracts and agreements emphasizing school quality.

These innovative partnerships for school quality are a new feature of the National Education Association's website, at http://www.nea.org/newunion.

"Organized teachers and other school employees are embarking on a bold new course," says NEA President Bob Chase, "taking a greater responsibility for school quality. Our affiliates are negotiating contracts that emphasize a spirit of trust and cooperation, while protecting employee rights. Today's teachers want a greater role in shaping and improving public education, and they're using collective bargaining to achieve that goal."

In recent years, school quality has been bargained through contract provisions for shared decision making between teachers and administrators, small class sizes, support for National Board certification of teachers, peer assistance and review, and meaningful professional development.

The first new unionism profiles on NEA's website include:

• San Diego, Calif. - Where teachers have won contract language to jointly identify low-performing schools and decide how best to improve them.

• Bellevue, Wash. - Where an agreement between the school district and the local education association has created a new peer assistance and review program to help new teachers refine their skills and help those who are struggling improve.

• Omaha, Neb. - Where the local education association, the school district, and the community have collaborated to put students first, with shared decision making about school needs and development of a peer support program.

• Edmonds, Wash. - Where collaboration on issues of mutual interest and concern sparked an unprecedented trust agreement between the school district and the Edmonds Education Association. The agreement makes education employees partners in decision making, including how best to raise student achievement scores.

Since his groundbreaking speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., almost two years ago, Bob Chase has championed the cause of "new unionism," which he characterizes as moving from conflict to cooperation with management, as well as using advocacy tools to improve teaching and learning for students. Chase notes that even in states with laws narrowly defining what can be negotiated in a contract, local education associations are working to forge collaborative relationships with administrators and advance reform.

"The NEA will never abandon its support for decent wages and working conditions for our members," says Chase, because "after all, these important battles won us the ground from which to move forward. But collective bargaining as collaborative negotiation aimed at improving school quality is the way of the future. Our members must become full partners in organizing their schools for excellence, and collective bargaining offers a valuable framework for school managers and employees to come together to advance education reform."

The "new unionism" web area (on the NEA website) will profile different state and local education associations every few weeks, providing an overview of the trend toward union-led efforts between education employees, management, and the community to boost school quality.