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Language: English
Beyond Compensation: Empowering Teachers’ Unions to Think Beyond Bread-and-Butter Issues is an incredibly important book that explores the value of union representation of teachers on the front lines of public education. After the 2018 Supreme Court ruling on Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), educators and other union members wondered why they should belong to a union. This book provides an answer and demonstrates that the role of teachers’ unions goes far beyond bread-and-butter issues as shown in the myriad priorities they are involved in. Teachers’ unions today are requesting additional funding for education to improve outcomes for all students—including those who are disadvantaged, as well as racial and ethnic and sexual-minority students and English-language learners. The goal of teachers’ unions is not simply to represent the rights of their members, but rather to improve education on the whole. They are seeking smaller class sizes, safer schools, and the addition of nurses and counselors, issues that go beyond increased pay for teachers. The book explores in detail the role of one teachers’ union, the Washington Teachers’ Union and its parent organization, the American Federation of Teachers, and their priorities as a roadmap for how other teachers’ unions might pursue these goals and the hazards they might face. The author discusses major educational issues such as teacher evaluation, merit pay for teachers, standardized testing, and community schools and warns about the dangers of vouchers and charter schools.
Beyond Compensation is a volume in The Badass Teachers Association Education Series. The series serves to contribute to educators’ and educational leaders’ understandings of the need for teacher education, activism, and leadership in these areas. It will provide a place for future and current educators to learn more about these issues and how they can build their classrooms and communities into the spaces all students deserve. The series consists of print books and e-books for current educators, pre-service teachers, parents, and others in the greater community.
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. We Care
Chapter 2. Developing Effective Teachers
Chapter 3. I Found My Voice
Chapter 4. We Can Do Better
Chapter 5. I Love My Job
Chapter 6. The Power of Negotiations
Chapter 7. Political Influence
Chapter 8. The Power of Protests and Resistance
Chapter 9. Challenging Times
Chapter 10. The Road Ahead
About the Author
Index
“Beyond Compensation: Empowering Teachers’ Unions to Think Beyond Bread-and-Butter Issues, chronicles two decades of work by Terence Ngwa and the Washington Teachers Union to improve education for DC’s children while also advocating for the teachers who are his union’s members. Grounded in such union initiatives as community schools, annual “Shared Vision Conferences,” and DC Council hearings, such a chronicle means running into the ever-complicated world of Washington, DC education: mayoral control; ever-changing mayoral-appointed Chancellors, starting with Michelle Rhee; and the huge charter school sector, imposed on DC by Newt Gingrich’s Congress. The book’s story belies the stereotype of teacher unions as just self-interested.”
Ruth Wattenberg, Former President, DC State Board of Education
“Dr. Ngwa’s latest book, Beyond Compensation: Empowering Teachers’ Unions to Think Beyond Bread-and-Butter Issues, is essential reading for anyone interested in making sure that American schools provide excellent educational opportunities to all students.”
Larry Rubin, former speechwriter, US Department of Education
“In clearly delineated chapters, Terence Ngwa, in Beyond Compensation: Empowering Teachers’ Unions to Think Beyond Bread-and-Butter Issues, offers clear thinking on how we can improve our school system. His research is experience-based and pragmatic, based on both his classroom and union experience. He offers the steps unions should take to enhance the education of all our students.”
Alice Heiserman, former teacher, President, WriteBooksRight
“Dr. Ngwa’s Beyond Compensation: Empowering Teachers’ Unions to Think Beyond Bread-and-Butter Issues is a powerful and timely examination of teachers’ unions as champions of social justice, educational equity, and democratic values. Ngwa dismantles the narrative that unions merely protect self-interest and offers a well-researched perspective that positions them as vital advocates for students, families, and communities—particularly those historically marginalized by our education system. At a moment when public education faces unprecedented threats, Dr. Ngwa reminds us of the importance of educators’ unions in the coalition fighting for equity and justice in our schools.”
kecia hayes, PhD – American University