Presto, Change-o

Bashing teachers' unions never goes out of style. But when the complaints started flying thick and fast at a Los Angeles meeting in January, the malcontents weren't business leaders or politicians. Rather, they were union leaders themselves.

They complained about their groups' layered bureaucracies, disengaged members, and overworked staffs and officers. And that was just for starters. Such candor—and the opportunity to exchange ideas about possible remedies—is a hallmark of a four-year-old network of union of affiliates, known as TURN, for Teacher Union Reform Network of NEA and AFT Locals.

Along with the big name, the network has a big goal: restructuring unions so they can promote changes that will lead to improved student achievement. Launched by Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester Teachers Association, an American Federation of Teachers affiliate in New York state, and the late Helen Bernstein, then president of United Teachers Los Angeles, TURN now includes 24 local unions. These are roughly divided between affiliates of the two national teachers' unions: the AFT and the National Education Association. Members of the network, which includes both elected union officers and top employees, say it provides a rare opportunity to step back from their day-to-day world to trade information and learn from one another's experiences and mistakes. But whether the self- described "TURNsters" can move beyond intellectual support to serve as catalysts for union change remains to be seen. There's tension between those members who want to make their work concrete and those who want to use the network...