teacher organizations

1. Teacher
Organizations
By: Antonia Martinez, &
Edna Salazar

2. Major Teacher Organization
National Organizations for Teachers
Local Organizations for Teachers and Collective Negotiations
Specialized Organizations for Teachers
Teachers’ Organizations and Public Policy Issues

3. National Organizations for Teachers
Two major national organizations for teacher, the National Education Association
(NEA), and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
NEA is the largest employee union in the United States.
Membership of NEA includes not only classroom teachers, but also councelors,
librarians, administrators, and support personnel. Membership is about 3.2
million of NEA and AFT is about 1.5 million.
Both organizations conduct annual state and national organizational
development. Both also conduct research to identify and promote promising
practices.

4. Local Organizations for Teachers and
Collective Negotiations
These provide many benefits, including the opportunity to interact with peers in
professional and social activities.
Both NEA and AFT encourage teachers to negotiate salaries and working
conditions with local school boards.
The most commonly negotiated items include salary and benefits, reductions in
force, leaves, tenure, performance evaluations, seniority, class size, hours of
work, and grievance procedures.
The result has been an increase in the control and input teachers have over issues
related to their salaries and conditions of employment.

5. Specialized Organizations for Teachers
These organizations play an important role in keeping members up to date on
developments in their areas, as well as in providing professional development
for members.
Specialized organizations do assume an advocacy role for changes in state or
federal legislation related to their teaching area.
Specialized Organizations for school district central office personnel and building
principals include the American Association of School Administrators, the
National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the National
Association of Elementary School Principals. Bother NASSP and AASA have
recently initiated assessment programs to improve the professional knowledge
and skills of administrators.

6. Teachers Organizations and Public Policy
Issues
In 2000 the AFT and NEA formed the NEAFT partnership. It is governed by a joint
council with members from both organizations.
The council has the authority to make decisions and to advance goals that are in
conformity with the policies and directives of each organization’s governing
body.
Both NEA and AFT independently and together seek to advance the welfare of
members and the condition of education by actively lobbying state and federal
legislators and policy makers as well as education officials at the federal, state,
and local levels.