Liberals would have you believe that strong teacher unions equate with strong schools and solid results, but a new study found the exact opposite.
Of the states included in the study, blue states with the strongest teacher unions also happened to have the lowest reading scores.
Conversely, red states cited in the study, which give less attention to teacher unions, score much higher.
FOX News reports:
Powerful teachers’ unions share striking link with states struggling to teach kids to read
States with stronger teachers’ unions tend to have weaker literacy performance and have adopted fewer of the policies credited with improving reading outcomes, according to a new analysis from a center-left think tank.
Eight of the 10 states to score among the worst in the Progressive Policy Institute’s (PPI) assessment of early-literacy policies were home to powerful teachers’ unions. Among the top 60% of states in terms of early-literacy policy scores, only four had strong teachers’ unions.
Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Indiana, all Republican-leaning states with weak unions, were among the states with the best literacy outcomes. Maine, New York, Illinois, Hawaii, Washington and Rhode Island, blue states, were among the worst.
The pattern isn’t universal. Maryland, a blue state with a strong teachers’ union, has posted strong reading results, while South Dakota, a red state with a weaker union, has struggled. The differences suggest union strength and party control alone don’t explain states’ reading performance.
It’s kind of amazing, isn’t it?
Hellbound and Down 