Marshall University Marshall Digital Scholar Theses, Dissertations and Capstones 2020 Teacher Unrest in West Virginia, 2018-2019 Lindsey D. Reed bailey280@marshall.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://mds.edu/etd Part of the American Politics Commons, Educational Leadership Commons, and the Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons Recommended Citation Reed, Lindsey D., "Teacher Unrest in West Virginia, 2018-2019" (2020). Theses, Dissertations and Capstones.edu/etd/1303 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Marshall Digital Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Marshall Digital Scholar.
For more information, please contact zhangj@marshall.edu, beachgr@marshall. TEACHER UNREST IN WEST VIRGINIA, 2018-2019 A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate College of Marshall University In partial fulfillment of The requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education In Educational Leadership By Lindsey D. Reed Approved by Dr. Barbara Nicholson, Committee Chairperson Dr.
Eugenia Damron Dr. Ron Childress Dr. Edna Meisel Marshall University August 2020 ii © 2020 Lindsey D. Reed ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my daughters, Kathryn and Kamryn.
Never allow someone else to define the limits of your potential. iv ACKNOWLEGMENTS First, I would like to thank my committee chairperson and graduate advisor, Dr. She has been a mentor and source of inspiration throughout my master’s and doctoral work. Nicholson taught me to question the status quo and the narratives weaved throughout society’s establishments, and as hard as that is to teach, it is much harder to learn.
I am truly grateful to be her student and one of her starfish. I owe a special thank you to the English department at Hurricane High School, specifically Jennifer and Ronda. To Jennifer who has not only been a friend and mentor throughout my time at HHS, but someone whom I consider an essential component to my success as an English teacher. To Ronda who always offered a listening ear and an extra pair of editing eyes when needed, thank you for the time spent helping me in my classroom and allowing me to brainstorm with you.
The Hurricane High School English department has always been supportive of all my academic endeavors and has helped me get through some of life’s lowest valleys. Thank you for your friendship and growing me to be the teacher I am today. To my husband, Thomas: since we were fifteen, you have provided a sense of peace during my times of stress, anxiety, and worry. From listening to me stress-cry about taking ACT in high school to reading all my work from the past three years, confirms that you are not only my biggest academic supporter but essential in all aspects of my life.
Thank you for growing up and old with me as we take on all of life’s challenges together. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval of Dissertation…………………………………………………………………………. ii Copyright…………………………………………………………………………………………iii Dedication……………………………………………………………………………………….v List of Tables.x List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………xii Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………….xiii Chapter One: Overview of the Study…………………………………………………………….1 West Virginia’s Militant Strike History………………………………………………….2 The 1912 Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike.2 The Matewan Massacre………………………………………………………….4 The Battle of Blair Mountain…………………………………………………….5 Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster…………………………………………………….6 Energy Politics……………………………………………………………………………8 Summary of Related Literature………………………………………………………….9 Statement of Problem…………………………………………………………………….11 Purpose of the Study…………………………………………………………………….12 Research Questions………………………………………………………………………13 Theoretical Framework………………………………………………………………….15 Definition of Terms………………………………………………………………………16 vi Limitations……………………………………………………………………………….17 Chapter Two: Review of Literature………………….19 Historical Overview of Collective Bargaining………………………………………….19 Collective Bargaining’s Influence on Student Achievement…………………………….20 Influence of Past Collective Bargaining Endeavors on Current Education System…….21 Political and Corporate Power in Education…………………………………………….23 Social Influences and Pressures………………………………………………………….27 Teacher Self-Efficacy……………………………………………………………………28 Shared Leadership…………………………………………………………………….30 West Virginia’s Economic Conditions………………………………………………….31 Overview of West Virginia’s Education Standing………………………………………34 1990 West Virginia Teacher Strike…………………………………………………….35 2018-2019, West Virginia Strike……………………………………………………….37 Strike Mobilization………………………………………………………………38 Temporary Resolution and Ongoing Efforts…………………………………….43 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………44 Chapter Three: Research Methods……………………………………………………………….46 Research Questions………………………………………………………………………46 Research Design………………………………………………………………………….47 Population and Sample………………………………………………………………….48 vii Survey Distribution………………………………………………………………………48 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………….49 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………49 Chapter Four: Presentation and Analysis of Data……………………………………………….51 Population and Sample………………………………………………………………….61 Findings Related to Research Question One…………………………………….61 Findings Related to Research Question Two……………………………………65 Findings Related to Research Question Three………………………………….68 Findings Related to Research Question Four………………………………….74 Findings Related to Research Question Five…………………………………….78 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………84 Chapter Five: Summary, Implications, and Recommendations………………………………….85 Purpose of the Study…………………………………………………………………….86 Survey Response Rate………………………………………………………………….87 Summary of Findings…………………………………………………………………….87 Discussion of Findings………………………………………………………………….97 Implications for Practice…………………………………………………………………98 Recommendations for Further Study…………………………………………………….119 Appendix A: Institutional Review Board Approval Letter…………………………….120 viii Appendix B: Survey invitation and Consent Form…………………………………….122 Appendix D: Survey Instrument: Reed Survey of Teachers’ Strike Perceptions and Motivations…………………………………………………………………………….123 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Strike Participation by Year ………………………………………………………….
Participants’ School Levels. Participants’ Years of Teaching Experience……………………………………. Participants’ School District Type. School District Enrollments………………………………………………….
Teacher Organization Affiliation……………………………………………. 2018 Strike/Job Action Frequency Participation Type…………………………. 2019 Strike/Job Action Frequency Participation Type…. Motivation to Strike…………………………………………………………….
Employment Issues: Mean Responses. Reform Initiatives 2019 Legislative Session……………………………………. Impact of Education Reform Initiatives ……………………………………. Teachers’ Perceptions of Input…………………………………………………….
Perceptions of Educational Change…………………………………………………. Perceptions of Leadership Effectiveness……………………………………………. Satisfaction with Leadership Communication of Teachers’ Concerns………………. Bivariate Correlation: School Location and Rallying at the Capitol in 2019……….
Bivariate Correlation: School Population and Walk-in Participation 2018 and 2019……………………………………………………………………………………………. Bivariate Correlation: School Walk-in Participation in 2018 and School Walk-in Participation in 2019……………………………………………………………………………. Bivariate Correlation: School Population and Picketing Before the Strike in 2019……………………………………………………………………………………………. Bivariate Correlation Between School Level and Picketing During the Strike in 2019…………………………………………………………………………………………….
Bivariate Correlation: Education Association Affiliation and Rallying at the Capitol in 2018……………………………………………………………………………………………. Bivariate Correlation: Education Association Affiliation and Picketing in 2019……………………………………………………………………………………………. Bivariate Correlation Between Education Association Affiliation and Attending Education Association Meetings in 2018 and 2019……………………………………………. Bivariate Correlation: Education Association Affiliation and Attendance at WVDE Public Forums….
84 xi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: A histogram showing the skew of rural responses……………………………………56 xii ABSTRACT In 2018, the United States saw an influx of teacher strikes which were largely propagated by red- state legislation. Then and now, teachers are trying to gain a voice in educational legislation despite corporate and political strongholds on legislators. As a last measure to gain access to the policymaking process, teachers strike. When teachers strike, it becomes a social issue which puts pressure on families, the economy, and legislation.
The purpose of this non-experimental, descriptive study was to examine the perceptions of teachers who participated in the 2018 and 2019 West Virginia teachers’ strikes as they relate to their interactions with the Legislature and their ability to participate in shared leadership in the education reform arena. Using a web-based survey, data showed the primary reasons teachers in the sample felt compelled to strike were due to benefits, professional dignity and respect, and the lack of input into education bills. Data also found that over two-thirds of the sample indicated they felt as though their input was not heard during the legislative sessions. Exploring the extent to which teachers perceive legislative actions as provocation to strike may provide better understanding about what legislative actions spur the most strike motivation.
Identifying the areas where teachers feel included or excluded in educational decision-making as well as the extent legislative practices act as strike motivators, may allow policymakers the insights needed to change their leadership practices to adopt a shared-leadership model between legislators and teachers which would allow teachers to be active, equal, and valued entities in the state’s educational decision-making process. xiii CHAPTER ONE OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY Between the 1960s and 1990s the United States saw a number of teachers’ strikes happening across the nation (e., New York, 1960; Wisconsin, 1974; Chicago 1980-1987; West Virginia, 1990). Most of the strikes had to do with teacher pay, benefits, and working conditions, but since then, teachers’ strikes have been relatively scarce – until recently. In 2018, teachers’ strikes were ignited across the country, catalyzed largely by red-state legislation to impose market-based reforms on public schools while refusing to enact salary increases that would allow teachers’ income to at least keep up with inflation.
One state is considered to have been the motivation and inspiration to have sparked this movement: West Virginia. While West Virginia teachers may have a less than desirable reputation by almost all in-state institutions and policymakers, Fortune Magazine placed West Virginia’s teachers on its 2018 list of “The World’s Greatest Leaders.” Debates continue as to why the state was the first to go on strike. Some attribute West Virginia teachers’ motivation to long periods of working-class defeat (Blanc, 2018), and others claim West Virginia’s weak institutional environment (i. poverty, low working wages, and a troubled economy) may be the cause (Friedman, 2018).
The 2018 strike occurred too recently for a conclusive rationale for the state’s becoming the first among many striking to have emerged, as did a second two-day strike in 2019, but the prevailing consensus – provided by media accounts, professional association press releases, etc. – is that West Virginia’s striking educators in both 2018 and 2019 walked out to protest not only rising health care premiums and insignificant salary increases, but proposed legislation to enact corporate sponsored initiatives as charter schools and educational savings accounts. 1 West Virginia’s Militant Strike History When looking at the 2018-2019 West Virginia teachers’ strikes, it is necessary to understand the relationship between the recent strikes and the history of the labor movement in West Virginia. Since the late 1800s, West Virginia has been a victim of corporations exploiting her citizens in order to extract the state’s abundant natural resources (i., coal, oil, and gas) while offering the lowest possible compensation to workers and successfully lobbying a series of Legislatures over the years to pay minimal taxes to the state and separate landowners’ above- ground properties from the minerals underneath.
The state has been home to some of the most violent militant strikes in the country’s history due to clashes between miners and coal companies (Marcetic, 2018). Historically, West Virginia’s economy has relied on extraction industries, with an almost exclusive emphasis on coal and its related industries. Out-of-state corporations found it easy to control the land and subsequently control their workers through a variety of means (i., paying miners with “scrip”1 rather than money so they were forced to make all purchases at the company store, making them lease tools they needed to mine the coal, essentially requiring they live in company housing, etc. From the miners’ strike at Hawk’s Nest in 1880 to the 2018-2019 teachers’ strikes, West Virginia’s workers have had to struggle for workers’ rights and autonomy (National Coal Heritage Area, 2019).
The 1912 Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike As the coal industry’s production increased in the late 19th century, so did the exploitation of coal miners, subjecting them to unfair pay and horrid working conditions. Mining operations were minimally regulated to ensure maximum coal production, which resulted in more mine- deaths than any other state (West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, 2019b). On 1 a private currency issued by mining companies to their employees. 2 December 6th, 1907, for instance, the Fairmont Coal Company in West Virginia had an explosion which killed 361 West Virginia coal miners, a catastrophe that is categorized as the worst mining disaster in American history.
Such disasters, combined with exploitative wages and living conditions, provoked the development of workers’ unions across the nation. Although those early workers’ unions, specifically the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), had gained both momentum and popularity, successfully organizing in other states in the nation, this did not hold true in West Virginia. Over the course of a decade and several failed attempts to unionize the southern coalfields in West Virginia, the United Mine Workers of America had finally achieved some organizational success but failed to gain any respect in the eyes of several coal companies. These tensions resulted in the 1912 Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike, a strike that spread from Paint Creek to Cabin Creek over wage increases.
When the miners demanded union recognition which would help them gain better working conditions, the coal companies hired hundreds of Baldwin-Felts agents. Baldwin-Felts agents were men who had been recognized and deputized by the local sheriffs as preventative measures to help keep law and order in the communities, but they were also hired as private detectives by coal company owners to violently put an end to any unionizing endeavors.