We hear it all the time: teachers feel disrespected by principals; principals feel disrespected by superintendents;

superintendents feel dissed by local school boards; school boards feel discounted by the feds; early child-

hood educators feel dismissed by the rest of the education community; and parents feel marginalized by all levels of professional educators. - Why do so many educators feel disrespected? What can be done about it? We start with principals and teachers.

Gail Connelly is Executive Director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP). Kathleen Hoffman is Teacher & Spokesperson for the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Stephen Sawchuk is an assistant editor for Education Week. He is the senior writer of Joining Forces, a recent special report on the topic of labor-management collaboration.