Building a Framework for Partnerships Between Unions and Organized Parents and Communities

• In Event: Joining Forces: The Potential of Union-Community Organization Collaborations

Abstract

This mixed-methods presentation will draw on the research literature and the field experiences of a school-reform intermediary to begin to develop a framework for understanding union-organizing group collaboration, primarily from the perspective of community organizing. We will describe how parent and community groups use community organizing methodology to build power and hold public school systems accountable for equitable results (Gold, et al, 2002; Warren, 2005). In addition to developing indigenous leadership and building a broad base that can be mobilized for collective action, alliances with other constituencies are an important source of power, information and resources for organizing groups (Mediratta, et al, 2009). As the field of education organizing has grown over the past two decades, it has been characterized by an emphasis on collaboration with educators, particularly as campaigns evolve from concrete issues such as facilities and overcrowding to more complex, long-term issues including teacher training and retention, curricular reforms, and school discipline (Warren, 2011). Still, collaborations between organized parents and teachers unions have received little attention in the research literature.


Through a new national program of work, the presenters are helping facilitate new relationships between teachers union locals and community organizing groups with a track record of successful education campaigns. During 2010-11, we have interviewed approximately 45 local and national union leaders and 20 organizers to explore the potential for collaboration, and we are currently working with locals and organizing groups in nearly 10 cities. This presentation will combine a review of education organizing theory, the literature on teacher organizing, and the few documented cases of successful partnerships (Center for Community Change, 2003; Grantmakers for Education, 2005; McAlister, Mediratta & Shah, 2011) with an analysis of these ongoing technical assistance efforts to characterize the incentives for joint work and the contexts that facilitate it.

We will describe the ways in which teachers and parents perceive each other's interests and power. We will explore how the leadership development and political education processes that are central to community organizing empower parent leaders to collaborate with professional educators as co-constructers of teaching and learning reforms, and examine how the various approaches to leader development and organizing methodologies of locals shape members' responses to organized parents.

Authors

• Eric Zachary, Annenberg Institute for School Reform

• Sara McAlister, Annenberg Institute for School Reform