OPINION:
If teachers unions are more interested in the rights of their members than in the learning of students, as Dick Armey maintains, then states where unions are strong should produce weak test scores, and vice versa. But that is not the case (“State-union battles revive school-choice hope,” Commentary, Tuesday).
In Massachusetts and Minnesota, for example, where teachers are heavily unionized, students post the highest scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the nation’s “report card.” In contrast, in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, where virtually no union contracts exist, students have the lowest NAEP scores.
Scapegoating teachers unions detracts attention from the real causes of student underperformance.
WALT GARDNER
Education Week
Los Angeles
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