The purpose of this study was to determine whether, in public education, separate is inherently unequal and concomitantly, whether desegregation confers educational benefits upon all groups of students. The study investigated student achievement in schools which were placed under a court order to desegregate beginning in 1978. A mixed design, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilized to investigate whether significant differences existed among various groups within the fifth-grade cohort of 212 subjects assigned to three desegregated schools. Conducted as an ex post facto investigation, the study utilized reading test scores of 1977, 1981 and 1983 extracted from the district's computerized data base. There are cautions and limitations inherent in any ex post facto research, as well as in reliance upon standardized test results as the solitary measure of student achievement, which should be kept in mind in accepting conclusions of this study. Significant differences were found among (1) racial/ethnic groups, (2) schools, (3) desegregation durations, (4) local and extended neighborhood students (LNS, ENS) and (5) school test profiles. Specific findings are that: (1) Slightly higher gains were recorded for minority students. (2) Phase III students showed significantly higher gains. (3) Highest performance was recorded for Phase I students and was attributed to the benefits of longer desegregation treatment. (4) Overall, LNS performed lower than ENS, yet in Phase III, LNS had nearly twice the gains of ENS. (5) The individual school's test profile showed a decrease during the first years of desegregation, then increased to a level which was comparable or higher than pre-desegregation levels. Keeping the aforementioned cautions in mind, the study concluded that desegregation conferred educational benefits upon all groups of students and continued to support the premise of Brown (1954) that, in public education, separate education is inherently unequal education.

This investigation was concerned with the relationships between the superintendent of schools, the board of education, and the local teachers' professional organization in Tucson School District One for the period 1941-1978. Because it was the largest school district in the state of Arizona, as well as one of the largest in the United States, School District One may be considered a microcosm of many older school districts throughout the country. Many problems encountered by District One for the first time during the late 1960s and 1970s had been experienced by other large school districts in earlier decades. The relationships between the school board, superintendents, and the local teacher organization moved through three distinct phases in the years covered by this study. The first phase was a period of consensus during the years when Robert D. Morrow was superintendent of the school district. The second phase, under the administration of Morrow's successor, Thomas L. Lee, was one of transition. The harmonious relationships between the superintendent, trustees, and teachers' organization began to become strained. The third phase, under Wilbur Lewis, Lee's successor, was characterized by conflict and ended in a teacher strike in 1978. During the years 1941-1978, the superintendents' relationships with both the school board and the teacher association changed from that of close cooperation to one of increasing hostility. Among the school board members themselves, little effective dissent existed prior to 1972. In that year, the first of two major critics of the school trustees was elected to office. When she was joined on the board in 1975 by the second dissenter, the community realized that the era of cooperation and quiet disagreement was at an end. The local teachers' organization, the Tucson Education Association (TEA), began in 1917 as little more than a social and educational arm of the school district. As the teacher groups nationally became more militant in the 1960s, the TEA developed a more aggressive attitude towards educational and professional conditions in Tucson. In 1978, relationships within the school district had deteriorated to such a degree that two of the most dramatic incidents in the school district's history occurred: the teacher strike in October, and the resignation of the superintendent the following December. Years later, the effects of these two events could still be observed.

This research provides a systematic, analytical examination of the evolutionary development of labor relations in a large public school district in the southwestern United States. The Kerchner and Mitchell (1981) generational framework of labor relations has been utilized in this study to evaluate its explanatory power. Research questions included: (1) Does the evolution of labor relations in this district follow the generational patterns specified in the framework developed by Kerchner and Mitchell (1981); and (2) What has been the impact of teacher collective bargaining on governance of this disrict? This work constituted a detailed case study of the school district. Method included analysis of data gathered through board minutes, newspaper and other publications, census data, contract and arbitration history data and semi-structured interviews with persons who played key roles in district labor relations. Findings indicate that generational development in this district has evolved along the lines of the Kerchner and Mitchell framework. The district is idiosyncratic, however, in the nature of coalitions formed, stimuli for change, and the continuing unresolved legal questions regarding collective bargaining in Arizona resulting from a lack of legislative guidance in this area. Generational movement of labor relations in this district is traced through two generational periods and two periods of intergenerational conflict. Findings suggest that relations appear to be suggestive of early third generation as the district enters 1987. With regard to impact, findings of this study generally support those of Kerchner and Mitchell (1981) that: (1) "accidental" policy is made through the bargaining process and contract implementation; (2) collective bargaining, contract making and contract enforcement in this district have enhanced the "laboring" aspect of teacher work; and (3) substantial change has occurred in this district in managerial beliefs and operations as a result of the consensus agreement. Further, findings suggest that although public participation in the district has been episodic, it has greatly influenced generational movement, as has partisan politics. Variance from Kerchner and Mitchell findings and intradistrict variance is also addressed.

This investigation was designed to discover the reported patterns of perceptions and behaviors of building principals involved in the 1978 Tucson Unified School District teacher strike. The theoretical framework developed for this study was based on perceptual psychology and included the following areas: (1) perception; (2) empathy; (3) adequacy/self-concept; (4) relationships; (5) stress; and (6) perceptual framework. An interview schedule was developed, based on the theoretical framework, employing a Likert-type attitudinal scale together with an open-ended comment format. Quantitative data were collected based on the principals' responses to the scale items and qualitative data were collected based on the principals' comments on the scale items. Forty principals who were principals during the strike were interviewed in-depth regarding their perceptions and behaviors on the following aspects of the strike: (1) issues and causes; (2) influences; (3) stress; (4) relationships; (5) post-strike views; and (6) attitudes. All the data were collected during the field interviews. The principal sample was a volunteer sample selected from the total population based on their willingness to participate. Among the findings, the following appeared to be the most significant: (1) salary was perceived as the major strike issue and the way the School Board and District Office handled the issues as the primary cause of the strike; (2) the principals perceived themselves and the Tucson Education Association as having the most influence on the teachers' decisions to strike and the teachers' strike behaviors; (3) the principals reported experiencing the most stress during the strike and the least stress before the strike. As a group, the high school principals experienced the most amount of stress and elementary principals experienced the least amount of stress; (4) a break in relationships with significant others, especially teachers, was a major strike concern of the principals; (5) most of the principals perceived the strike as successful in terms of the teachers achieving their goals but costly in terms of relationships; and (6) the majority of the principals were opposed to the act of striking.

This investigation was designed to study the patterns of perceptions of the central office administrators involved in the 1978 Tucson Unified School District teacher strike. The theoretical framework developed for this study, which was based on perceptual psychology, included the following areas: (1) perception; (2) empathy; (3) adequacy/self-concept; (4) relationships; (5) stress; and (6) perceptual framework. An interview schedule was developed based on the theoretical framework. The schedule utilized a Likert-type attitudinal scale as well as an open-ended comment format. Quantitative data were collected based on the principals' responses to the scale items. Qualitative data were based on comments on each of the scale items. Twenty-one central office administrators who were in those positions at the time of the strike were interviewed in-depth regarding their perceptions on the following aspects of the strike: (1) issues and causes; (2) relationships; (3) stress; (4) post-strike views. All of the data were collected during the field interviews. The central office administrator sample was a volunteer sample selected from the total population based on their willingness to participate. Among the findings, the following appeared to be the most significant: (1) the superintendents and school board were cited most frequently as the major cause of the strike; (2) relationships with any of the significant others were not significantly impacted by the strike; (3) the participants were most stressed during the strike. They indicated the least stress was experienced in the pre-strike period; (4) a break in relationships with significant others, especially teachers, was a major strike concern of the central office administrators; (5) Tucson Education Association was perceived by the majority of the participants to have acted in a responsible manner before and during the strike; (6) the consensus agreement was considered by the majority of the participants to be a fair and equitable resolution to the problem; (7) central office administrators, for the most part, did not perceive the strike as having a negative impact on their effectiveness as central office administrators; and (8) the efforts of the district to effectively meet district educational goals was not negatively impacted by the strike circumstances, according to slightly less than a majority of the participants.

In this study, the investigator sought to ascertain what personal relationships existed within the organizational structure of the Tucson (Arizona) Education Association (TEA), and between these TEA members and the Tucson Unified School District officials before, during, and after the teacher strike of 1978. The investigator reviewed literature in the areas of: (1) labor relations, (2) teacher strike activity, (3) perceptual psychology, (4) relational theory, and (5) organizational theory. On this basis, an interview schedule was constructed to ascertain certain of the personal relationships of selected Tucson Education Association members. Forty members of the Tucson Education Association, selected on the basis of nomination by strike-related TEA leaders, were interviewed utilizing the interview schedule. The data thus collected was collated, analyzed, and presented in the form of: (1) case studies and (2) descriptions of responses grouped by subquestions derived from the statement of the problem. Additional data permitting the construction of a chronology of strike-associated events prior to, during, and after the strike were gathered from local news sources, Tucson Education Association literature, and TEA respondents. The study highlighted the apparent lack of supportive and productive relationships existing between Tucson Education Association respondents and Tucson Unified School District officials before, during, and after the strike. Such human relationships appear, according to this study, to be central to the productivity of a school district's professional staff. From this perception, the investigator suggested that school district management personnel, while concerning themselves with the technical aspects of their organizations, should display an equal concern for the quality of the human relationships within their organizations.

This study examined the perceptions of teachers on the picket line and in the classroom during the 1978 Tucson Unified School District teacher strike and the perceptions and relationships they experienced. Literature from sociology, psychology and education was reviewed to develop the theoretical framework. It is recognized in the literature that theory has utility in designing, shaping and organizing research, giving meaning to data and summarizing and interpreting the findings. The theoretical framework was comprised of two sections: the perceptual and the relational. In the perceptual, self-adequacy, self-concept and threat-anxiety were included. In the relational, communication, shared interests and reference groups were included. An interview schedule of twenty-one items based on the theoretical framework was developed and administered to forty selected school district teachers. The twenty-one questions were derived from the two major sections and the six subsections of the theoretical framework. Some demographic data were also collected. Strikers and non-strikers agreed more than they disagreed. There was general agreement among both strikers and non-strikers that human relationships were handled so ineptly by the superintendent and school board that the teachers perceived themselves to be demeaned and held unworthy.

No description available.

This study focused on a 1978 teacher strike in the Tucson Unified School District, Pima County, Arizona, and was designed to explore patterns of perceptions and behaviors reported by teachers concerning their involvement in the strike. Teacher perceptions and behaviors were examined in terms of: viewpoints concerning the issues and causes of the strike; attitudes toward the act of striking; choice to either strike or not to strike and the differeing factors which may have influenced the strike decison; feelings of stress occasioned before, during, and after the strike; post-strike relationships with significant others in the school system; and feelings regarding the outcomes of the strike. To implement the research study, a questionnaire was developed to explore teacher attitudes, viewpoints, and reported behaviors regarding various aspects of the strike. The questionnaire was distributed by the Tucson Education Association through the Tucson Unified School District mail distribution system to all 2,751 teachers of the school district. A total of 1,728 teachers participated in the study by completing and returning the questionnaire, which represents approximately 63 percent of the population. Data for the study were derived from the questionnaire responses. The demographic data and strike behavior data were crosstabulated and their significance reported in terms of chi-square statistics. The chi-square indicated a significant relationship between teacher strike behavior and the following demographic variables: teaching level, age, sex, teacher tenure, total years teaching, membership in a professional organization, and spouse being a teacher in the district. Data regarding teacher perceptions and behavior were analyzed and summarized on the basis of the perceptual framework constructed for this study, which was drawn from the literature in social and perceptual psychology. Briefly it included the following five categories: Empathy; Acceptance; Stress; Adequacy; and Perceptual Framework. The following perceptions were reported by teachers regarding: Issues and Causes of the Strike: The reported issues of the strike were salary, discipline, fringe benefits, class size, teacher professionalism, and dignity. The teachers reported that the factors generating the strike were not the issues themselves, but rather the way the issues were handled by the school board, superintendent, and central administration. Influences Upon Strike Behavior: The greatest influence reported by teachers regarding their strike decision was the teachers' association, followed by teachers in their own schools, family, teachers outside their schools, the media, and building principal, in that order. Strike Stresses: Ninety percent of all respondents reported experiencing stress during the strike. Stress was greater among elementary teachers, female teachers, and non-striking teachers. Post-Strike Relationships: Teachers reported more harmonious relationships with fellow teachers and students in their schools following the strike. Teachers reported less harmonious relationships with their supervisors. Strike Perceptions: Teachers reported that the strike produced a greater sense of personal dignity for teachers. The recommendations of the study included the following: A school system should develop and maintain a deep philosophical commitment to the worthiness and dignity of all persons. A continuous and effective communication process should be developed whereby school district administrator and teacher representatives can meet and interact in an atmosphere where every person is encouraged to express his viewpoints. Teachers and school district officials should have an adequate set of board-adopted policies providing orderly processes for dealing with disputes and difference between them. The policy that is adopted should result from the widest possible participation of all concerned groups throughout the community and the school district. The school district, including the school board, administrators, and teaching staff should carefully plan and effectively implement a program for continuous improvement of human relationships throughout the district.