Skip to main content

Mobile Navigation

  • National
    • Policy
      • High Expectations
      • Quality Choices
      • Personalized Pathways
    • Research
    • Commentary
      • Gadfly Newsletter
      • Flypaper Blog
    • Events
    • Scholars Program
  • Ohio
    • Policy
      • Priorities
      • Media & Testimony
    • Research
    • Commentary
      • Ohio Education Gadfly Biweekly
      • Ohio Gadfly Daily
  • Charter Authorizing
    • Application
    • Sponsored Schools
    • Resources
  • About
    • Mission
    • Board
    • Staff
    • Career
Home
Home
Advancing Educational Excellence

Main Navigation

  • National
  • Ohio
  • Charter Authorizing
  • About

National Menu

  • Topics
    • Accountability & Testing
    • Advanced Education
    • Career & Technical Education
    • Charter Schools
    • Curriculum & Instruction
    • ESSA
    • Evidence-Based Learning
    • Facilities
    • Governance
    • Personalized Learning
    • Private School Choice
    • School Finance
    • Standards
    • Teachers & School Leaders
    • Think Again
  • Research
  • Commentary
    • Gadfly Newsletter
    • Flypaper Blog
    • Gadfly Podcast
  • Events
  • Scholars Program

Barrier to Learning: How the National Education Association Prevents Students and Teachers from Achieving Academic and Professional Excellence

8.4.2004

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation
July 2004

This report is an odd mix of level-headedness and paranoia. The story of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation's legal and PR battles with the NEA and its Washington state affiliate makes for especially interesting reading. The discussion of Senator Kerry's change of heart on "performance pay" for teachers is judicious. Regrettably, the authors' claims often have more passion than proof, such as the undocumented assertion that "the NEA actually has veto power over the direction and goals of the [Democratic] party." (Might be true, but this report offers no evidence.) And while there is much to be learned from the travails of Washington teachers who dare to ask where their union dollars go, the report's black-helicopters tone overshadows some of its serious points. Still, there is useful information to be found by clicking here.

Tags: National Education Association Washington
Fordham Logo

© 2026 The Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Privacy Policy
Usage Agreement

National

P.O. Box 110
Burke, VA 22009

202.223.5452

[email protected]

Ohio

P.O. Box 82291
Columbus, OH 43202

614.223.1580

[email protected]

Sponsorship

130 West Second Street, Suite 410
Dayton, Ohio 45402

937.227.3368

[email protected]