Bargaining for Success: Examining the Relationship Between Teacher Unions and Student Achievement

Abstract

While many previous studies have identified a positive relationship between teachers unions and student achievement on standardized tests, little research to date has explored the channels through which unions might actually affect achievement. Utilizing multilevel random intercept models, we examine the effects of two categories of items commonly negotiated in teacher contracts-"industrial union" items and "professional union" items-on individual student math scores. Further, we assess the ability of these two clusters of variables to explain the positive union effect found in previous research. The results confirm that teachers unions are positively associated with student achievement and suggest that the industrial model explains moderately more of the union effect than the professional model; however, only the combination of both models is capable of reducing the union effect to nonsignificance. These findings are also confirmed in a supplemental analysis utilizing instrumental variables to account for the possibility of endogeneity. Finally, a decomposition of the union effect suggests that teachers unions are most beneficial to middleand high-achieving students. We conclude that through industrial and professional bargaining, teachers are able to secure higher salaries, credentialing, and greater autonomy which lead to improved student achievement.

The Effects of Teachers’ Unions on the Gender Pay Gap among U.S. Public School Teachers

“…Highly unionized districts face a lower gender pay gap and less teacher attrition, and to the extent that low teacher turnover is associated with better student outcomes, districts with strong unions are more likely to produce better educational outcomes. This is consistent with studies that show a positive impact of unions on students’ standardized test scores, among other measures of student performance (Han and Maloney 2019; Lindy 2011; Matsudaira and Patterson 2017; Vachon and Ma 2015).…”

The Myth of Unions’ Overprotection of Bad Teachers: Evidence from the District–Teacher Matched Data on Teacher Turnover

“…Freeman and Medoff (1979) presented that unions may increase productivity by reducing (voluntary) worker turnover and improving communication between workers and management. Vachon and Ma (2015) argued that, through unions, teachers are able to secure higher pay, better credentials, and greater autonomy, which lead to improved student achievement. Consistent with their views, numerous studies found that unions improve students’ standardized test scores.…”

Teacher Unionization and Student Academic Performance: Looking beyond Collective Bargaining

“…Proposed mechanisms promoting a positive impact of teachers’ unions on student outcomes include attracting and retaining higher quality teachers and improving communication between teachers and district management around matters related to instruction. In addition to attracting and retaining better teachers, unions may improve teacher performance by raising morale and professional commitment through better working conditions and higher compensation (Freeman and Medoff 1979; Lindy 2011; Vachon and Ma 2015). However, teachers’ unions may limit the ability of administrators to assign teachers to classrooms and schools in the most efficient way, require the retention of ineffective teachers, and inflate educational costs, harming student performance (Hoxby 1996).…”

“…For instance, Lindy (2011) examines the impact of changes in collective bargaining law in New Mexico (from a “duty to bargain,” to no bargaining requirement, and back again). Many researchers employ more local indicators of union influence—usually the presence of a CB contract (Eberts and Stone 1987; Matsudaira and Patterson 2017; Milkman 1997; Register and Grimes 1991; Vachon and Ma 2015). Others have used continuous measures of union strength, depending on union membership or union dues collected (Carini, Powell, and Steelman 2000; Lott and Kenny 2013).…”