Teachers unions may be good for student achievement, or at least their absence may have a detrimental effect on a state's educational attainment.
Where I live in Washington State we are once again debating the issue of charter schools. However you feel about charters, the power of a teacher's union is undeniably reduced when bargaining units are limited to teachers at one school. Invariably in this kind of debate, people start throwing around the idea that eliminating the teachers unions would be a worthy goal, in and of itself.
Teachers unions are illegal in five states. Coincidentally, these five states have some of the lowest student achievement in the country. Although many articles have cited this fact, most of the statistics used are outdated or incomplete. To better illustrate the point, here is the most recent and comprehensive data I could find: (after the jump)
Fact: The five states where teachers unions are illegal have some of the worst academic performance in the nation.
2011 SAT Score Rankings:North Carolina - ranked 39th. Combined score: 1473
Texas - ranked 47th. Combined score: 1446
South Carolina - ranked 49th. Combined score: 1436
Georgia - ranked 48th. Combined score: 1445
Virginia - ranked 32nd. Combined score: 1516
Contrast that with Washington:
Washington State - ranked 25th. Combined score: 1560
Source: http://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/...
2010:
http://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/...
They also all score lower on the ACT than Washington State:
http://www.act.org/...
They all have a lower percentage of students achieving a bachelor's degree or higher within 6 years of college entry:
http://dashboard.ed.gov/...
With the exception of VA, all have significantly lower rates of 25-34 year olds who have completed an associates degree or higher:http://dashboard.ed.gov/...
They all score lower than WA on the reading NAEP:http://nces.ed.gov/...
They all score lower on the writing NAEP:
http://nces.ed.gov/...
They all score lower on the science NAEP than Washington, with the exception of VA:
http://nces.ed.gov/...
Although TX and VA scored higher in math last year, Washington outperformed all of them in two out of the last 4 testing years,
2011: http://nces.ed.gov/...
2009: http://nces.ed.gov/...
2007: http://nces.ed.gov/...
2005: http://nces.ed.gov/...