{"id":{"repo_id":"buffalo","oai_identifier":"oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/78648"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/buffalo/oai:ubir.buffalo.edu:10477/78648","repository":{"repo_id":"buffalo","name":"Buffalo","base_url":"https://ubir.buffalo.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Analyzing the Restrictiveness of Teacher Collective Bargaining Agreements in Low-Performing and High-Performing School Districts in New York State","abstract":"Ed.D.","abstract_html":"Ed.D.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Brown, Darren"],"institution":"State University of New York at Buffalo","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Jacobson, Stephen","Educational Leadership and Policy"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-10-26T02:57:28Z","date_published":"2018-10-26T02:57:28Z","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:14Z","subjects":["educational administration"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78648","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Jacobson, Stephen","Educational Leadership and Policy"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Brown, Darren"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2018-10-26T02:57:28Z","2018","2018-08-12 17:18:26"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["State University of New York at Buffalo"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Text","Dissertation"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["educational administration"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78648"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Ed.D.","AbstractTeacher Unions are an education staple in school buildings and districts in New York State. They have been in existence nationwide since 1857, when the National Education Association (NEA) was founded. Today the NEA boasts a membership of almost 3 million teachers, and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), established in 1916, has an estimated membership of 2 million teachers. New York State has a history of strong teacher unions and the resulting collective bargaining agreements that are negotiated with the school district administration. New York State is home to some of the highest performing schools in the Nation, and also some of the lowest performing. Why such a discrepancy in school-wide student performance in the same state? Some education reformers point toward unions and the restrictive collective bargaining agreements that they strike with school systems as impediments to educational reform and improvement (Goldhaber, 2006). The questions that guided this study are: (1) Are teacher collective bargaining agreements in New York State restrictive? (2) Is there a difference in the restrictiveness of collective bargaining agreements in high-performing and low-performing school districts? This study utilized Qualitative Document Analysis (QDA) as the research method for analyzing the contents of 12 collective bargaining agreements. The collective bargaining agreements were selected based on graduation rate; six of the highest and six of the lowest performing school districts in New York State, based on their graduation rates. The findings of this study indicate that the collective bargaining agreements range in restrictiveness from 'Somewhat Flexible' to 'Highly Restrictive.' The results also show that there is very little difference in the level of restrictiveness in high-performing and low-performing school districts. The categories that were examined in each group (compensation, personnel policies, and work rules) proved that some districts have a higher level of restrictiveness, however, this did not lend to an overall increased level of restrictiveness in either Group One - high performing districts or Group Two - low performing districts, as compared to each other.After examining the high-performing and low-performing districts and realizing that districts that have higher graduation rates also have restrictive collective bargaining agreements - on the same level and frequency of the low-performing districts - the researcher realized that other external factors; district wealth, student demographics - percentage of students living in poverty, percentage of English Language Learners, and Special Education students in the school have more influence on the schools' performance than the teachers' collective bargaining agreements. This provides school district administrators with knowledge of where to spend their energy… not on fighting teacher unions or the collective bargaining agreements they have agreed to."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Analyzing the Restrictiveness of Teacher Collective Bargaining Agreements in Low-Performing and High-Performing School Districts in New York State"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Jacobson, Stephen","Educational Leadership and Policy"],"dc:creator":["Brown, Darren"],"dc:date":["2018-10-26T02:57:28Z","2018","2018-08-12 17:18:26"],"dc:description":["Ed.D.","AbstractTeacher Unions are an education staple in school buildings and districts in New York State. They have been in existence nationwide since 1857, when the National Education Association (NEA) was founded. Today the NEA boasts a membership of almost 3 million teachers, and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), established in 1916, has an estimated membership of 2 million teachers. New York State has a history of strong teacher unions and the resulting collective bargaining agreements that are negotiated with the school district administration. New York State is home to some of the highest performing schools in the Nation, and also some of the lowest performing. Why such a discrepancy in school-wide student performance in the same state? Some education reformers point toward unions and the restrictive collective bargaining agreements that they strike with school systems as impediments to educational reform and improvement (Goldhaber, 2006). The questions that guided this study are: (1) Are teacher collective bargaining agreements in New York State restrictive? (2) Is there a difference in the restrictiveness of collective bargaining agreements in high-performing and low-performing school districts? This study utilized Qualitative Document Analysis (QDA) as the research method for analyzing the contents of 12 collective bargaining agreements. The collective bargaining agreements were selected based on graduation rate; six of the highest and six of the lowest performing school districts in New York State, based on their graduation rates. The findings of this study indicate that the collective bargaining agreements range in restrictiveness from 'Somewhat Flexible' to 'Highly Restrictive.' The results also show that there is very little difference in the level of restrictiveness in high-performing and low-performing school districts. The categories that were examined in each group (compensation, personnel policies, and work rules) proved that some districts have a higher level of restrictiveness, however, this did not lend to an overall increased level of restrictiveness in either Group One - high performing districts or Group Two - low performing districts, as compared to each other.After examining the high-performing and low-performing districts and realizing that districts that have higher graduation rates also have restrictive collective bargaining agreements - on the same level and frequency of the low-performing districts - the researcher realized that other external factors; district wealth, student demographics - percentage of students living in poverty, percentage of English Language Learners, and Special Education students in the school have more influence on the schools' performance than the teachers' collective bargaining agreements. This provides school district administrators with knowledge of where to spend their energy… not on fighting teacher unions or the collective bargaining agreements they have agreed to."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78648"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["State University of New York at Buffalo"],"dc:rights":["Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.","Copyright retained by author."],"dc:subject":["educational administration"],"dc:title":["Analyzing the Restrictiveness of Teacher Collective Bargaining Agreements in Low-Performing and High-Performing School Districts in New York State"],"dc:type":["Text","Dissertation"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:05:14Z"}