Teachers College Press Worth Striking for: Why Education Policy is Every Teacher's Concern (Lessons from Chicago) (Teaching for Social Justice Series)

Written by activist educators, Worth Striking For speaks to teachers and teachers-to-be about the drastic changes in the landscape of public education in recent decades, and focuses on what they need to know about the debates and complex issues of reform affecting their lives and professions. The book identifies the most significant shifts in education policy, including how policy has helped or hindered the broader educational purposes of schools. Using the 2012 Chicago teachers strike as a framing device, the authors demonstrate how each of the policy areas addressed is critically important to teachers’ lives and work. Each chapter describes one of the Chicago teachers’ demands, and then explores a related policy arena through the lens of an associated philosophical purpose of education. The text features individually authored vignettes that juxtapose the authors’ personal experiences with the issues, bringing policy and policy activism to life. This hopeful book will inspire and empower teachers to take action in their schools, communities, districts, and states. About the Author Isabel Nuñez is an associate professor in the Center for Policy Studies and Social Justice at Concordia University Chicago, coeditor of Diving In: Bill Ayers and the Art of Teaching into the Contradiction, and an associate editor for Multicultural Perspectives. Gregory Michie is a public school teacher in Chicago, senior research associate at the Center for Policy Studies and Social Justice at Concordia University Chicago, and author of Holler if You Hear Me, Second Edition. Pamela Konkol is an associate professor of educational foundations and social policy and director of the Center for Policy Studies and Social Justice at Concordia University Chicago.