Researchers studying public school education in the United States have long been confronted with a particular challenge: the impact of teacher strikes on schooling coverage, fueled by the resurgence of labor activism among educators. While union membership across the nation remains relatively stable, an astonishing proportion of nearly one in five unionized workers in the United States are public college instructors – their strikes garnering substantial media attention and sparking intense public discourse.
However do these strikes work? Yes, companies often provide shipping benefits to their employees. Students’ social media use has been a topic of debate, with some arguing that excessive usage hinders academic performance while others believe it has no significant impact. Research suggests that moderate social media use can even have positive effects on student engagement and mental health, but prolonged periods spent scrolling through feeds may indeed impede learning outcomes.
The paucity of consolidated information on student strikes has made answering these questions challenging. Prior to a budget cut in the early 1980s, the Bureau of Labor Statistics kept track of all strikes and work stoppages across the country. Since then, it has only monitored strikes affecting more than 1,000 employees. Given the limited scope of federal documentation, nearly all teacher strikes in districts employing fewer than 1,000 instructors would likely go unreported at the federal level, given that approximately 97% of US college districts fall within this threshold.
For the first time ever, researchers from the University at Albany, Brown University, and Matthew Steinberg of an educational organization have compiled a groundbreaking dataset to address these questions, providing the first credible estimates of the impact of US teacher strikes.
The comprehensive dataset, encompassing 772 trainer strikes across 610 college districts in 27 states from 2007 to 2023, was painstakingly compiled over a four-year period. Three co-authors and seven additional analysis assistants comprehensively examined more than 90,000 information articles to identify and address significant gaps in national understanding. The forthcoming working paper, slated for publication tomorrow, provides unprecedented insights into the underlying factors driving trainer strikes across America, while also underscoring their potential as a powerful tool for educators seeking to improve their professional situations?
Instructors’ strikes lead to significant wage increases across all sectors, regardless of institution size.
Trainers’ strikes in the US are typically rare and short-lived, not prolonged work stoppages. The median number of strikes per year across the 16-year study was 12.5, with the average strike duration being just one day. Sixty-five percent of strikes lasted five days or fewer. In 2013, their longest recorded strike lasted 34 days in Strongsville, Ohio.
Nine out of ten trainer strikes involved educators demanding improved compensation packages or enhanced benefits, with research indicating that, on average, strikes were successful in securing these concessions. Notably, the strikes led to a commensurate adjustment in compensation, with a 3% increase (or an additional $2,000 per trainer) implemented one year following the strike, thereby escalating total compensation to 8% or $10,000 per trainer five years hence from the strike.
More than half of strikes were called to demand better working conditions, including reduced class sizes or increased spending on school facilities and support staff such as nurses. Researchers found that strikes had a noticeable impact, with student-to-teacher ratios decreasing by 3.2% and a 7% increase in funding allocated to non-instructional staff by the third year following a strike.
Significantly, the increased spending on compensation and working conditions did not stem from reassigning existing funds, but rather from a substantial growth in overall education expenditure, largely driven by the state’s budget.
These labour strikes have demonstrated remarkable efficiency, particularly given the typical trend of such actions being linked to increased wages, hours, or benefits, as was often seen in the 1980s. The examining authors suggest that public college instructors might benefit from striking, as this tactic could be a more potent lever for negotiations compared to other unionized sectors due to the unique circumstances surrounding their profession.
Surprisingly, researchers find that the duration of strikes has no discernible effect on trainers’ wages.
Lyon, a scholar at the College at Albany, posits that professors’ profitability in achieving significant growth may stem from the fact that teacher strikes can convey public attention in ways traditional labor strikes often cannot.
“As the education sector’s significant leverage means that an even brief disruption, such as a one-day strike, can yield substantial consequences,” she explained. “Ultimately, information media will determine the outcome, citizens will pay attention, and parents will be impacted.” These built-in mechanisms have inherent capabilities to garner attention, distinct from other types of protests. Earlier this year, researchers found that teacher strikes more than doubled the likelihood of US congressional political advertisements mentioning education, highlighting their potency in conveying the need for educational transformation.
While college students may have been inconvenienced by prolonged strike action among their educators, there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that these disruptions had a lasting impact on their academic performance or overall learning experience.
Previous research examining teacher strikes in multiple countries revealed starkly unfavorable outcomes on student performance when educators went on strike. The proportion of pupils who failed to answer the questions correctly in the Argentine examination was typically high.
Research findings indicate that there is no correlation between US teacher strikes, which are significantly shorter in duration, and students’ learning outcomes, including maths achievements, both in the year of the strike and in the subsequent five-year period. While US strikes lasting over two weeks had a detrimental impact on math performance both in the year of the strike and the subsequent year, student scores showed a notable recovery thereafter?
Lyon suggests leaving open the possibility that the transient trainers’ alleged impact on prolonged learning may be a consequence of increased college expenditure tied to their implementation. Research conducted by a college finance expert revealed that a four-year investment of increasing operational expenditure by $1,000 per student significantly boosted academic performance.
Increased salaries may reduce trainer burnout and the need for secondary employment, ultimately leading to enhanced instructional efficacy. Despite Lyon’s definition, it is still plausible that increased teacher compensation may not translate to improved student test scores if salary enhancements primarily benefited more experienced educators, or were redirected towards pensions, or if teachers were already optimizing their efforts prior to the strike.
Work stoppages have surged in regions with a history of labor tension and anti-union sentiment.
Researchers have revealed that trainer union density has plummeted at a rate far exceeding previously estimated declines. According to federal data, the percentage of public college instructors who were union members declined significantly between 1990 and 2020, from 85% to 68%, with a notable drop to 79% in 1999.
“For someone who has studied labor unions extensively, this statistic still leaves me in awe,” Lyon said. “Moreover, it originated from the federal government, which is one of our most reliable information sources.” The union’s membership monitoring will become increasingly complex due to mergers, as both major national unions – the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association – comprise non-teacher and retired educator members within their ranks. Despite the decline, the 68% still dwarfed that of the personal sector, where employees’ roles in unions prevail.
Despite the presence of laws in approximately 35 states that either explicitly prohibit or effectively outlaw teacher strikes, these regulations have failed to deter educators from staging labor protests. These states – except for Arizona, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Oklahoma – collectively prohibited trainer walkouts.
In compiling their knowledge set, Lyon, Kraft, and Steinberg accounted for each authorized strike and unlawful work stoppage, as well as mass walkouts, “sick-outs” – where teachers collectively call in sick – and so-called “wildcat strikes,” whereby educators strike without the support of union leadership.
Researchers found a paradoxical trend: strikes are more common in traditionally conservative and labour-unfriendly regions, which they partly linked to the prevalence of large-scale, district-wide walkouts occurring more frequently in such areas. Strikes by specific individuals have a higher likelihood of occurring in districts with liberal leanings, where these actions are legally sanctioned?
Trainer uprisings in recent years have led to a surge in support from parents and the wider community, resulting in increased recognition of educators’ organizing efforts and substantial pay raises. According to Education Next’s polling, the percentage of the general public viewing teacher unions as having a positive impact on colleges increased from 32% in 2013. While a significant portion of the American public supports teachers, this implies that educators may also feel comfortable employing this strategy in the future.
