GOOD NEWS FOR WORKERS!

NEA Today, Sep 2005

HIP-HIP-HOORAY

ON THIS LABOR DAY, LET'S GIVE THREE CHEERS for workers and a rousing hip, hip, hooray for unions. They do make a difference-where it counts-in the classroom.

As if you needed proof... In states where most teachers are represented by unions, high-school students score about 50 points higher on the SAT, according to the Harvard Educational Review, and fourth-graders perform better on reading tests, the Institute for Wisconsin's Future found.

Maybe it's because unions boost salaries and fight for class-size limits and planning time. Or maybe it's because they provide dignity and security to professionals. Whatever the reason, unions represent a "research-based" approach to increasing student achievement-so let's see that in the No Child Left Behind law!