AFT Educational Issues Department Records

Accession Number: 
LR002618
Extent: 
154.5 linear feet (4 MB, 153 SB)

The American Federation of Teachers is a labor union representing primary and secondary school teachers, paraprofessionals, higher education faculty and professional staff, and nurses and other health care professionals. The AFT Educational Issues Department, originally the Task Force on Educational Issues, is the research and development arm of the union. The department tracks education policies from local, state and national bodies, conducts research and analysis on those policies, produces briefs and reports, conducts workshops, and assists local AFT affiliates on educational issues. A major initiative of the department is the Education Research & Dissemination program (ER&D). The program began in 1981 with a grant from the National Institute of Education. It is focused on professional development through the collection of a body of research on education issues and translation of that material to classroom applications. Teachers are able to access research and apply new techniques in their classrooms. The ER&D program explores topics such as instruction methods, critical thinking, behavior management, and student motivation. Projects include the Visiting Practitioner program and Thinking Mathematics. The Educational Issues Department also organizes the bi-annual QuEST (Quality Educational Standards in Teaching) Conference.

The AFT Education Issues Department Records contain correspondence and chronological files, meeting minutes, reports, manuscripts and drafts, annotated articles, reports, conference packets, press releases, newsletters, fliers, photographs, negatives, and VHS and audiocassette tapes. The records contain communications with and publications from many education-related organizations as well as granting institutions.

Date: 
1934-2003, bulk 1979-2002
Attachment(click to download)
LR002618.pdfLR002618_guide.pdf303.28 KB