This study investigates the underlying motivations and organizational dynamics that led teachers to form labor unions in three New York school districts during the 1960s and 1970s. Dorothy Kerr Jessup utilizes sociological research methods, specifically interviews conducted in 1969 and 1971, to analyze the transition of teacher associations into formal labor unions. The work argues that the primary drivers for this shift were not purely economic, but rather a response to systemic issues such as bureaucratic expansion and administrative interference.

Experts recognize this work as a significant historical case study for understanding the professionalization and labor mobilization of educators in the mid-twentieth century. Readers often note the academic density of the prose and the value of the primary source interview data provided by the author.