Teacher unions and student achievement

Abstract

The relationship between teacher unionization and student achievement is an important consideration in the overall debate about the nation's education system. Past studies have shown mixed results as to whether unionization has a positive or negative effect on student achievement. I examine this question using test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress and data from the Schools and Staffing Survey and find that unions seem to have a negative and statistically significant effect on student achievement. While this effect is small for slight changes in unionization, a large shift leads to visibly negative results.