Strengthening Partnerships - How Communication and Collaboration Contribute to School Improvement

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious

Strengthening Partnerships argues that sustained collaboration between teachers’ unions and school administrators drives real improvements in teaching and learning. It presents a counterstory to education reforms centered on charter schools, vouchers, and high-stakes testing, claiming these approaches misdirect school improvement. The article highlights a systems perspective on how schools are organized and decisions are made, emphasizing employee voice, team-based problem solving, and democratic participation that increases commitment and effective implementation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Strengthening Partnerships

Collaboration as a Counterstory to Market and Testing Reforms

Systems Perspective and School Organization

Employee Participation, Productivity of Democracy, and Shared Decision-Making

Industrial Democracy, Globalization, and Learning Representative Systems

Strengthening Partnerships How Communication and Collaboration Contribute to School Improvement ILLUSTRAT IONS BY SERGE BLOCH By Saul A. Rubinstein F or most of the past decade, I have studied union-management e􀀝ortsto improve public education. In this time, I have witnessed extraordinary examples of teachers, union leaders, and administrators who are working together to improve teaching and learning. 􀀞ese examples provide a counterstory to the policies that seek to reform education through the use of markets—specifically, charter schools and vouchers—or through the use of high-stakes testing as a way to evaluate teachers and improve instruction. Reforms based on market forces and testing take school improvement in the wrong direction, yet these ideas have dominated the policy debate over improving public education. In this debate, teachers and their unions have often been characterized Saul A. Rubinstein is a professor in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University and the director of its Program on Collaborative School Reform. His research has focused on labor-management e􀀞orts to transform industrial relations, work systems, and performance in a wide variety of industries. 􀀝is article is adapted from two reports by Rubinstein and John McCarthy, written for the Center for American Progress: Reforming Public School Systems through Sustained UnionManagement Collaboration (2011), and Teacher Unions and Management Partnerships: How Working Together Improves Student Learning (forthcoming). as the problem, not part of the solution. What is missing in all the discussion is a systems perspective on improving public schools that examines the way schools are organized, the way decisions are made, and the way teaching and learning are improved. Before starting my career in academia, I spent nearly 10 years as a consultant to unions and management that were trying to improve their quality and productivity performance in the face of increasing global competition. While unions and management have con􀀜icting interests around certain elements in the employment relationship—for example, the division of pro􀀛ts—they also certainly have common interests in making the organization as strong as possible with high-quality products and services. So working together around those common interests made sense. I was also interested in the “productivity of democracy,” the idea that more democratic organizations, ones that value employees’voice and o􀀝er them more decision-making opportunities, can be more productive. When employees are allowed to contribute meaningfully to solving problems and making decisions, better solutions are found, and those solutions are implemented moree􀀝ectively because people are more committed to solutions they have a handin developing. This approach toward improving productivity and quality included developing systems of extensive employee participation. It involved creating more-collaborative team-based organizations that could plan, identify, and solve problems; make decisions; and 22 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2013–2014 implement solutions. I’ve been fortunate to work with unions and management in a variety of industries undergoing these extensive changes due to globalization, including auto, steel, electronics, telecommunication, aerospace, pharmaceutical, and paper-making—and now education.1 My 􀀛rst experience extending this participative approach to public schools dates back to 1988 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where I saw the potential of collaborative arrangements.2 􀀞rough those years consulting, I learned that collaboration between labor and management around common interests such as quality can be a tremendous competitive advantage. I also saw how unions as democratic institutions can mobilize a workforce in ways that management cannot achieve on its own. Union leaders who are elected by members have a level of greater trust that management on its own cannot generate.

FAQs

Why does the article criticize market-based and high-stakes testing reforms?

It argues that reforms driven by market forces and testing move school improvement in the wrong direction, while the policy debate often characterizes teachers and unions as the problem rather than part of the solution.

What systems perspective does the author say is missing?

The author emphasizes examining how schools are organized, how decisions are made, and how teaching and learning are improved through coordinated systems rather than isolated interventions.

How does employee voice and collaboration contribute to better outcomes?

The article links meaningful employee participation to finding better solutions and implementing them more effectively because people are more committed to approaches they helped develop.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious