The way to assess collective bargaining is not to ask whether it works to bring labor peace. It is to ask whether it promotes the interests of children in a quality education.

The massive teacher strike in Chicago offers a high-profile test for the nation's teacher unions, which have seen their political influence threatened as a growing reform movement seeks to expand charter schools, get private companies involved with failing schools and link teacher evaluations to student test scores.

Jeanne Allen, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Education Reform, said recall policies do not encourage improvement or change within school districts but rather a status quo that has never led to improvement in educating children.

The term “Blob” cropped up years ago when reformers began trying to work with the education establishment and ran smack into the more than 200 groups, associations, federations, alliances, departments, offices, administrations, councils, boards, commissions, panels, organizations, herds, flocks and coveys, which collectively make up the education industrial complex.

Windy City teachers are striking, but the average teacher salary in Chicago is $71,000 and teacher evaluations and seniority policies aren't near as tough as they could be.

The alleged willingness of the unions to engage in conversations about teacher quality and to call for an end to failing schools has all been interpreted as a sign that they have turned the corner. Some of us have remained unconvinced, recognizing that many often confuse action with rhetoric. The Chicago teacher’s strike of 2012…

A video produced by the Moving Picture Institute in partnership with Reason TV explains why the current K-12 education system is designed to produce more money for unions and more donations for politicians, and thus isn't designed to produce better schools.

According to the Education Intelligence Agency, National Education Association members aren't too fired up about the upcoming presidential election.

With membership down and expected to keep declining, we're keeping up to speed with what's being said at the National Education Association's annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

The recent strike authorization vote shows the Chicago teachers union is serious about maintaining the status quo in the face of proposed reforms that Mayor Emanuel has backed.