Hot off the Brookings Institution
press is Terry Moe's magnum opus on teacher unions. Magnum, indeed (at 500-plus
pages), it's deeply informative, profoundly insightful, fundamentally
depressing, and yet ultimately somewhat hopeful about an educational future
that unions won't be able to block—though they'll try hard—due to the combined
forces of technology and changing politics. Insights along the way—and there
are many—include the gaps between teachers and their union leaders, the false
promise of “reform unionism,” the strength of union influence even where
there's no collective bargaining, the many faces of Randi Weingarten, and the
mixed bag that is Race to the Top. This is a book you'll want for your shelf
and, one hopes, a book you’ll actually read and savor and learn from.
Terry M. Moe, “Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America’s Public Schools,” (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institute Press, March 2011).
