Category Archive
New Haven teachers contract heralded as modelNov 12, 2009
Federal education officials and the AFT say that a recently ratified New Haven, Conn., teachers contract can model equitable changes in teacher salary payments, supports and evaluations.
Recession forces newspaper layoffs, closingsNov 12, 2009
The economy has not been kind to newspapers or their employees. The Newspaper Guild, which represents writers and editors at The New York Times and elsewhere, recently accepted a voluntary buyout that would cut 100 jobs in the newspaper and digital newsroom, and eliminate an as-yet-unspecified number of other positions.
Job changing within education one reason teachers leave classroomNov 12, 2009
Studies of teacher retention and resignations usually deal with just two factors: those who remain in full-time classroom teaching versus those who don’t. It’s not all attrition, though. There’s a third factor needing attention: those leaving the classroom for nonteaching professional roles in education.
Worker’s death underscores need for full-time jobs, temp agency oversightNov 12, 2009
In July, a temporary worker in Camden, N.J., slipped and fell into an eight-foot vat of liquid chocolate, dying before he could be rescued. While the job was contracted by the Hershey Company, the deceased’s employer was an outsourced temporary employment company hiring at minimum wage and offering no benefits.
Parent-initiated reforms at L.A. schoolsNov 12, 2009
Instead of waiting for the Los Angeles school district to initiate changes in failing schools, a majority of the schools’ parents will be able to make the first move. The effort is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s efforts to restructure 12 underachieving schools and 18 new campuses.
State budgets to ‘fall off cliff’ even as economy improvesNov 12, 2009
Fiscal watchers are predicting that state budgets will “fall off the funding cliff” next year even while there are some signs of economic recovery from the recession. Though the recession may be officially over, unemployment and underemployment continue to rise.
D.C. axes teachers midsemesterOct 29, 2009
The public schools system in the District of Columbia laid off more than 220 teachers from its 3,800-member teaching force in October, the deepest cut for the school system since 2003. In all, 388 school employees — few of them central office personnel — received separation notices.
AFT blasts Senate health care billOct 29, 2009
The health care reform bill that the U.S. Senate Finance Committee passed on Oct. 13 “has serious defects that could jeopardize insurance affordability for both the insured and the uninsured,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten.
Public workers in Puerto Rico hold work stoppage over layoffsOct 29, 2009
Teachers and other public sector workers in Puerto Rico held a 24-hour work stoppage on Oct. 15 after Republican Gov. Luis Fortuno laid off some 17,000 workers in an effort to shrink the island’s $3.2 billion budget deficit.
California allows teacher pay to be tied to student test dataOct 29, 2009
In a bid to secure federal Race to the Top funding for schools, California legislators struck a clause from a 2006 law barring the tying of teacher pay or promotions to students’ state test results.
No paid sick leave for parents means sick children in schoolOct 29, 2009
The Community Service Society of New York found that nearly half of working New Yorkers hold jobs without paid sick time, and two-thirds of low-income New Yorkers have no paid sick leave.
Warnings to schools slow on tainted foodOct 15, 2009
Federal agencies supplying food for 31 million schoolchildren fail to ensure that tainted products are pulled quickly from cafeterias, a congressional audit showed.
NEA to encourage locals to help place best teachers in needy schoolsOct 15, 2009
National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel told a Sept. 29 House education committee hearing on teacher quality that his union will encourage its locals to help place their best teachers in schools serving mostly poor and minority students.
13-year-olds hired to do cold callingOct 15, 2009
The Orem, Utah-based market-research firm Western Wats illegally hired children to work long hours doing cold-calling to adults.
Banking crisis batters working familiesOct 15, 2009
Working families are bearing the brunt of the economic crisis, while banks are back to the risky business that caused it and that will delay recovery, according to “The Trillion Dollar Bank Job,” a report issued by the Service Employees’ International Union.
Federal push for longer school yearOct 15, 2009
The Obama administration wants to curtail students’ summer vacations, saying that the long break from the classroom puts U.S. students at a disadvantage with counterparts in other countries such as India and China and makes the U.S. work force less competitive.
Are small class sizes necessary? You bet!Oct 15, 2009
Business-friendly management expert William G. Ouchi is just one who gives an unambiguous “yes” to the need for small class sizes, saying lightening teaching loads is key to improving student achievement.
California class sizes squeeze students as state dollars shrinkOct 15, 2009
Think New York classrooms are oversized? In California, the state with the biggest budget deficits in the nation, many school districts are really packing them in.
Wal-Mart drops challenge of unfair labor practiceOct 01, 2009
Back in June 2000, at two Wal-Mart superstores in Orlando, Fla., representatives of the United Food and Commercial Workers distributed fliers accusing the world’s largest private employer of sex discrimination in promotions. Company representatives asked them to leave, threatened to call the police, ordered employees not to take the fliers and confiscated handbills from those who did.
Cafeteria food out to lunchOct 01, 2009
Truth to tell, kids’ school lunches bite. Not that they taste uniformly bad, but they’re too often loaded with fat and empty calories.
Connecticut AT&T workers suspended for wearing contract-related T-shirtsOct 01, 2009
Some 200 AT&T customer service representatives in Connecticut took a day’s suspension rather than take off their T-shirts after management demanded they remove shirts reading “Prisoner of AT&T.”
The rich got really rich before the boom went bustOct 01, 2009
A report from the Internal Revenue Service shows that between 2002 and 2007, when the economy stopped expanding, two-thirds of the nation’s total income gains flowed to the top 1 percent of U.S. households.
Florida high school grading system stresses college/job readinessOct 01, 2009
This fall, Florida high schools are no longer being judged solely on their student successes on a minimum standards test. It’s college readiness that will determine if a school gets a high or a low progress report grade.
Uniform skills set proposedOct 01, 2009
Are there core education standards the states can agree on? And should they? Education experts convened by the nation’s governors and state schools chiefs in September said "yes."
Swine flu expected to pound schools in fallSep 17, 2009
Schools nationwide are bracing for a return of the swine flu epidemic, after a presidential panel offered a worst-case scenario of an outbreak this fall killing up to 90,000 Americans, and sending more than 1.8 million victims into hospital emergency rooms and intensive care units.
SAT scores steady as number, diversity of test-takers riseSep 17, 2009
The average SAT scores of 2009 high-school graduates stayed constant with last year’s scores even as the number of test-takers and the proportion who were minorities grew, says the College Board.
City unemployment at 17-year highSep 17, 2009
More than 400,000 New York City residents are unemployed, the highest number since July 1992, says a report by City Comptroller William Thompson.
California gov vetoes labor rights billSep 17, 2009
State legislation making it easier for farmworkers to join a union was scotched by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in late summer.
Michigan schools cite progress statewideSep 17, 2009
It’s not just New York City that’s giving high grades on school progress reports. In Michigan, A’s and B’s are cascading down, too.
Good teachers raise bar for allSep 17, 2009
Hiring qualified, talented teachers doesn’t just benefit students; it helps incumbent educators sharpen their game, too.
Federal funding tied to performance payAug 13, 2009
The federal DOE proposed rules to prevent states with laws barring the use of student test scores to evaluate teacher performance from getting money from a $4.3 billion education innovation fund.
Girls = boys in math, provided ...Jun 29, 2009
It’s nurture, not nature, that explains why girls in the aggregate traditionally scored markedly less well in math than did their male counterparts, a new study has found.
U.S. unemployment grows even as rate of increase declinesJun 29, 2009
The good news: Labor Department jobless figures show fewer workers laid off in May than in January, when more than 500,000 jobs were lost. The bad news: May’s 345,000 new jobless pushed the unemployment rate to 9.4 percent, its highest level since August 1983.
Military veterans redeploy as teachersJun 29, 2009
A federal program designed to bring more men and minorities to the public schools by offering stipends to military personnel who switch careers is producing results.
More signs bad economy battering educationJun 29, 2009
From pre-K through college, enrichment programs and after-school activities are feeling the budget pinch, and it’s leaving a black-and-blue mark.
Dropout survey shows need for collective responseJun 29, 2009
In “On the Front Lines: Perspectives of Teachers and Principals on the High School Dropout Problem,” teachers name multiple factors of why students drop out.
Fighting for patient care, NJ nurses beat lockoutsJun 29, 2009
Management at New Jersey’s Englewood Hospital and Medical locked out its 650 AFT-represented registered nurses from June 3 until June 18, after nurses voted on a new three-year contract.
AFT joins coalition to defend professional integrityJun 04, 2009
Tired of getting no respect? Professionals for the Public Issues was founded by the AFT and 18 other unions and professional associations to shield the integrity of their members’ work from outside pressures.
Pa. AFT talks down charter school’s renewal; reform commission listensJun 04, 2009
Ted Kirsch, president of AFT Pennsylvania, wanted the Philadelphia School Reform Commission to delay voting on a new charter for the area’s New Media Technology Charter School until the district investigates parents’ and teachers’ complaints about its finances and academics. On May 20, the commission postponed its vote indefinitely.
Charter schools gaining favor worldwideJun 04, 2009
Pioneered by the United States, a new wave of interest in privately run, publicly funded schools has swept many countries over the last 15 years, a new report reveals.
Mutual and pension funds for EFCAJun 04, 2009
A group of mutual and pension funds that invest in social causes is breaking ranks and urging Congress to support legislation that would make it easier for workers to join unions.
The problems with so-called performance payJun 04, 2009
Merit-pay plans for teachers may be hot tickets for politicians, but a report from the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute shows such compensation schemes are frequently shunned in the private sector because they often lead to gaming the system.
Rapid growth in AP classes for wrong reasons troubles someMay 27, 2009
A survey of more than 1,000 teachers of advanced placement courses in U.S. high schools by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute found more than half concerned that the program’s effectiveness was threatened as districts lower admission standards and as more students attend only to polish their resumes.
Iz txtng da ftr of edu?May 21, 2009
For those who purchased iPhones before they could vote or drink legally, texting is the way to communicate.
Swine Flu: What did schools learn?May 21, 2009
While the swine flu pandemic didn’t initially affect schools as badly as the hype suggested, 726 schools serving more than 500,000 students in 24 states and the District of Columbia did close for days.
Report finds four-decade stagnation in high-school student gainsMay 21, 2009
While elementary and middle school students have improved in reading and math since the 1970s, U.S. high school students haven’t achieved any significant gains in reading or math for nearly four decades, says the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the “Nation’s Report Card.”
Recession’s dire effect on spendingMay 21, 2009
The nation’s deep recession is being felt everywhere, even in Elysian Santa Cruz, Calif. With a looming $6.5 million deficit in a city of 56,000, municipal salaries are being cut dramatically.
Enjoined, LA teachers engage in civil disobedienceMay 21, 2009
Los Angeles Unified School District boss Ray Cortines, New York City public schools chancellor until crossing then Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is in another dispute, this time with the AFT-affiliated United Teachers of Los Angeles.
Philadelphia’s district-run schools outperform manager-operated onesMay 07, 2009
When some of Philadelphia’s worst performing schools were put under private management in 2002, the move’s boosters said the results would speak for themselves. They’ve spoken.
… and despite stimulus, cuts are comingMay 07, 2009
A March survey by the American Association of School Administrators of districts in 48 states indicates that conditions in some districts have deteriorated just over the past six months.
Fed stimulus law funds building programs - sort of ...May 07, 2009
School facilities directors are penciling in construction plans in hopes of getting some of the $22 billion in Qualified School Construction Bonds targeted for land acquisition and construction.
Facing layoffs, French workers kidnap bossesMay 07, 2009
When managers at the U.S.-owned Caterpillar factory in suburban Grenoble, France, balked at negotiating over layoffs and severance, employees invaded the executive suite, locked five top bosses inside and said they would be released only after talks resumed.
Tennessee schools block gay sites regardless of contentMay 07, 2009
The American Civil Liberties Union will sue unless Tennessee school districts allow access to Web sites on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.
Supremes re-look at districts paying for private schooling for special-needs kidsMay 07, 2009
What is to be done when public schools cannot or won’t appropriately educate children with disabilities?
Unions bring fight for labor law reform to blogsApr 23, 2009
Numerous state AFL-CIO federations are running blogs promoting passage of the Employee Free Choice Act by marshaling arguments in support of the legislation and linking to state debates on how EFCA would affect local economies.
Labeling students ‘biracial’ conflicts with NCLB numbers crunchingApr 23, 2009
With multiracial households growing, schools in the Washington, D.C., area next year will begin separately counting students who are of more than one race.
Fla. student suspended for (are you ready?) passing gas on school busApr 23, 2009
When an 8th-grader was suspended for three days from riding the school bus in Florida’s Polk County for breaking wind to make other children laugh, he was accused on a behavior form by the driver of “creating a stench so bad that it was difficult to breathe.”
Boston’s ELL dropout rate soars after state mandates English-only teachingApr 23, 2009
A new study by the University of Massachusetts-Boston in cooperation with the Center for Collaborative Education in Boston found that ending ESL led directly to a decline of ELL students’ test scores in the Boston schools.
Chicago charter teachers demand union recognitionApr 23, 2009
It’s not just east of the Hudson where charter school staffers want union representation. Illinois teachers at three Chicago-area charter school campuses formed a union, too, joining AFT-organized charter schools in 10 other states.
Better ways to handle behavior problems in lower gradesApr 23, 2009
By giving children more time for dramatic or pretend play, and by building into the school day more lessons in self-control, researchers are seeing both big reductions in bad behavior and gains in cognitive skills.
Erstwhile aid for school luxuries now targets necessitiesApr 02, 2009
When school budgets were tight, fiscal wiggle room came from nonprofits. Now it’s the nonprofits who are being squeezed.
Fact: Higher taxes don’t make rich fleeApr 02, 2009
We’ve heard the governor and mayor proclaim that you can’t fix the budget deficit by taxing the wealthy because they will “flee.” Analysis from a demographer at Princeton finds no evidence that this is the case. And if they don’t leave Jersey, who thinks they will flee Manhattan?
Music training good for reading, tooApr 02, 2009
Study finds that children in a multi-year music training program showed greater cognitive performance in reading that their nonmusically trained peers.
Arizona high court nixes vouchersApr 02, 2009
On March 25, the Arizona higih court overturned two school voucher programs, ruling they violated the state’s consitutional provision against providing state aid to private schools.
Nationwide strikes hit FranceApr 02, 2009
A massive strike protesting austerity measures closed factories, schools, the postal service, and public transport on March 19 in France.
Subs coming from collapsed financial and industrial sectorsApr 02, 2009
With national unemployment rising by 600,000 per month, school districts are awash in applications for substitute teaching jobs from those laid off from financial and industrial sectors.
KIPP booster: Local leadership may sometimes be the problemApr 02, 2009
Even the enthusiasm of a KIPP booster and author was dimmed by events at the KIPP AMP Academy in Brooklyn and KIPP Fresno, in California.
Big lie won’t stop union billMar 19, 2009
The Employee Free Choice Act, American labor’s key legislative demand, was introduced in both houses of Congress on March 10, and congressional opponents are countering with their misnamed Secret Ballot Protection Act.
Impoverished rural districts to use stimulus dollars for basic repairsMar 19, 2009
The $106 billion in stimulus aid to education hasn’t even trickled down to local school districts yet, but one rural West Virginia school district wants to use its infusion of dollars to repair the roof of a wind-damaged school.
Study: Public school kids do better at mathMar 19, 2009
Public school students outperform their private school classmates on standardized math tests, thanks to two key factors: certified math teachers and a modern math curriculum, a team of University of Illinois education professors has found.
California to save energy $$ at teachers’ expense?Mar 19, 2009
Looking to save money in all the wrong places, California’s school district officials say banning personal teacher appliances such as microwaves, refrigerators, space heaters and coffee makers can save them big bucks.
World Bank sees world recession, growing unrestMar 19, 2009
It’s not just the U.S. whose economy is in free fall. The World Bank says there’s a global recession — the first since World War II.
Obama education talk borrows from right and leftMar 19, 2009
Addressing the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, President Barack Obama issued a challenge to educators, lawmakers, parents and teachers to reverse the growing drop-out rate.
Calif. ‘compromise’ budget guts ed fundingMar 05, 2009
Catholic school conversions into charters face obstacles
Mar 05, 2009
Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to convert four financially strapped Brooklyn diocese Catholic schools scheduled for closing into Roman Catholic-led public charter schools — something he called a “win-win situation” that could be put into operation as early as September — may be stalled.
Job losses create demand for GED, adult ed classesMar 05, 2009
Many of those laid off since the start of the current recession are people with no high school diploma. Now GED programs nationwide are reporting a lengthy backlog of people desperate to complete their secondary education.
Schools no longer need exile students for nitsMar 05, 2009
It’s the lice, not the nits, that are the problem, say the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of School Nurses.
French send riot police to quell Guadeloupe strikersMar 05, 2009
Massive strikes in Italy, France, Greece and the United Kingdom received coverage in the U.S. press. Less noted were workers on the French-Caribbean island of Guadeloupe and their months-long protest of low wages and high prices.
Microsoft and foreign workersMar 05, 2009
Microsoft Corp., which lobbied the State Department for more foreign visas to hire computer technicians, now plans to eliminate part of its U.S. work force.
Mayoral control no cure-all, Milwaukee report saysMar 05, 2009
Turning over control of a school system to a mayor doesn’t guarantee improved schools. It’s also “messy, difficult work” says an analysis of other cities by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.
Calif. ‘compromise’ budget guts ed fundingMar 05, 2009
If California is the Golden State, it was fool’s gold that lawmakers spun as they cut education and public service funds to fill the state’s yawning $41 billion budget gap in the current year’s budget.
Economic crisis triggers school layoffs nationwideFeb 19, 2009
New York City is not alone in staring down cuts to education. Here’s a sampling of company.
Georgia GOP wants school vouchers for allFeb 19, 2009
A state Republican plan to offer vouchers to all public schools students — the first such move in the nation — would allot parents some $5,000 in taxpayer money for private school tuition.
Now they’re halving severance payFeb 19, 2009
Like so much else, newspapers and the rest of the media are downsizing, too. And so are their employee severance packages.
Anti-union blather falls on deaf presidential earsFeb 19, 2009
President Obama unveiled his Task Force on Middle Class Working Families, what one observer called “the most unambiguous statement yet from the president of his support for unions.”
Media mogul Murdoch tells Obama: skewer teachers now!Feb 19, 2009
Billionaire media boss Rupert Murdoch challenged the Obama administration to “take on” U.S. teachers’ unions.
What to expect from federal DOE chiefFeb 19, 2009
Education Secretary Arne Duncan is a work in progress. And, while he does back some programs that are not exactly top union priorities, he does back AFT/UFT President Randi Weingarten’s call for improving the social, physical and economic health of students through community schools.
More teachers prep = better resultsFeb 19, 2009
Educators abroad teach less and prepare more. They are also more effective teachers, at least as measured by student outcomes on prominent international exams. Is there a connection? A new report thinks so.
Britain’s women workers hardest hit by current downturnFeb 05, 2009
A study by Britain’s Trades Union Congress found unemployment among women in the United Kingdom rose by 2.3 percent in one year, almost double the rate for men.
Ireland’s students, workers fight school cuts, tooFeb 05, 2009
Facing record budget deficits following a massive shortfall in tax revenue, Ireland’s ruling party is enacting massive budget cuts critics say threaten the nation’s schools.
Stella D’Oro Breakfast Treats: Boycott ’em anytimeFeb 05, 2009
Four months after appealing to the October UFT Delegate Assembly for support of their then two-month-old job action and receiving a prolonged standing ovation and a $5,000 strike fund contribution in return, workers at the Stella D’Oro cookie factory in the Bronx are still pounding the pavement demanding a new contract.
Arizona teachers, parents protest school cutsFeb 05, 2009
The number of states cutting education spending is soaring, and more school supporters are fighting back.
Starbucks jolted by organizing effortsFeb 05, 2009
Starbucks’ reputation for social responsibility continues to be tarnished as an effort by an independent union to organize the coffee chain drags on.
After $2 billion, Gates admits mistakeFeb 05, 2009
Acknowledging what many educators already knew, Bill Gates, the Microsoft philanthropist, admits that his costly, controversial and disruptive effort to dismantle large, comprehensive high schools in favor of small, “boutique” theme schools didn’t accomplish its most important goal.
School segregation up, not downFeb 05, 2009
Black and Hispanic students are more separate from their white peers than at any time since the civil rights movement, and many of the schools they attend are struggling, said a report by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California.
House stimulus bill could provide $100 billion to K-12 schoolsFeb 05, 2009
Cash-strapped school districts could see an unprecedented $100 billion infusion of federal aid under a massive economic-stimulus package unveiled by House Democrats on Jan. 15.
School layoffs, pay freezes loom for many citiesJan 22, 2009
The U.S. economy lost 524,000 jobs in December, closing out the worst year of job losses since World War II, says a Labor Department report.
Charters vs. Public Schools ReduxJan 22, 2009
A state-funded study of Indiana charter schools found that “no practical difference” in outcomes exists between the two.
Schools failing to meet NCLB accountability goalsJan 22, 2009
Annual yearly progress (AYP) is the indicator that the federal government uses to judge whether schools are improving. By that gauge, almost 30,000 U.S. schools underperformed last year.
Labor reuniting?Jan 22, 2009
Less than four years after seven unions left the AFL-CIO to form the more loosely affiliated Change to Win coalition, the presidents of 12 of the nation’s largest labor unions — including the AFT — called for a rapprochement.
New Labor Secretary nominee applaudedJan 22, 2009
The pending appointment of Los Angeles Congresswoman Hilda Solis as Labor Secretary to replace the much criticized Elaine Chao is being heralded in labor circles.
Obama’s Ed Dept. pick: A unifier, not a union fighterJan 22, 2009
Arne Duncan, since 2001 the Chicago public school system’s chief executive and now Barack Obama’s nominee to head the U.S. Department of Education, is respected as a collaborator with teachers, a good listener and anything but a polarizing figure.
Gates Foundation adopts new education improvement planDec 11, 2008
Bill Gates now admits the investments to public education made since 2000 by the Bill & Melinda Gates mostly didn’t work. Undaunted, Gates and his $35 billion foundation went back to the drawing board, looking at what went wrong and hiring new leaders for their education effort.
Schools need federal stimulus, tooDec 11, 2008
Miami-Dade, Fla., schools chief Alberto Carvalho was just the latest education leader to call on the federal government to consider a bailout for the nation’s public schools.
Detroit schools slash costs to avert state takeoverDec 11, 2008
Michigan’s top education official approved a financial agreement with Detroit Public Schools that helps the troubled district avert a state takeover of its finances — for now.
CNN ordered to rehire 110 union workersDec 11, 2008
Just before Thanksgiving an administrative law judge ordered CNN to rehire 110 workers who were fired because they were union members. CNN was also ordered to recognize the workers’ unions.
States want fair share of federal bailoutDec 11, 2008
A proposed multibillion-dollar fiscal package to boost the U.S. economy must help deficit-ridden state budgets, too, says the National Governors Association.
KIPP success overstatedDec 11, 2008
The much-vaunted Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) charter schools, of which there are five in New York City, are good, but not as good as some claim, according to a review of research by an education professor at Teachers College at Columbia University.
AFT, NEA back economic stimulusNov 20, 2008
Testifying with the president of the National Education Association, AFT/UFT President Randi Weingarten told a congressional panel on that investing in schools and children’s futures could help put the economy on a firmer footing.
Affordable housing an education issue, tooNov 20, 2008
Among reasons that teachers in urban areas quit is the high cost of housing, something the UFT is tackling as it urges the city to plan new school construction in tandem with approvals for new residential development.
Italian and French students, teachers fight cutsNov 20, 2008
Huge demonstrations are rocking Italy over a $10.2 billion cut in education spending and the elimination of 87,000 teaching positions, while a similar movement is growing in France.
Districts weigh school closings, four-day weekNov 20, 2008
Like urban areas nationwide hit by the Wall Street collapse, the California state capital’s economy is contracting.
Who and what to expect on the federal education frontNov 20, 2008
While attention focused on President-elect Obama’s choice of Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a former Clinton administration operative, as his chief-of-staff and a coterie of economists with careers in Wall Street investment banking to serve as advisors, his moves on education are less certain.
Oil-price gauging blamed on market speculationNov 20, 2008
The sharp rise in oil prices and subsequent drop were caused by investment funds speculating in the market, and not traditional supply and demand fluctuations, a new report says.
College professors no longer well paidNov 20, 2008
College professors may not put in the same classroom time as public school teachers do, but their earnings aren’t markedly better.
Chicago mayor backs cash bonuses for inner-city student scholarsNov 06, 2008
Critics call it “Greed for Grades,” something that does nothing to teach self-motivation or spark a love of learning. Supporters, including Chicago Mayor Richard Daly, say that if suburban parents can bribe their kids to go the extra mile for their studies, so should urban school systems.
Use of student test data to judge teachers spreadingNov 06, 2008
Under the impetus of No Child Left Behind, more and more school districts and states are using their increasingly powerful computers to establish vast databases that link years of student performance data with their teachers’ names.
Fearing passage of pro-union bill, business gives large to GOP hopefulsNov 06, 2008
While corporate leaders may be reconciled to an Obama presidency, they shudder at the prospect of the Employee Free Choice Act, labor’s legislative priority, passing Congress.
Do financial sector layoffs mean gains for education hiring?Nov 06, 2008
Wall Street’s loss could be the schools’ gain as the economic crisis shifts brainpower from the trading floors and the hedge funds to the classrooms.
D.C. teacher firings opposedNov 06, 2008
D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and the Washington Teachers Union — backed by the AFT — are on a collision course over Rhee’s plans to fire instructors she deems “ineffective.”
Some A’s more equal than othersNov 06, 2008
What’s an A grade worth? In Virginia, that depends upon what district your child is enrolled in.
Economic crisis = school budget woes in every stateNov 06, 2008
More states are joining the list of those struggling to fend off school budget cuts in the face of deficits, flagging tax revenues and credit jitters threatening their cash flow.
Utah schools let kids report infractions anonymously via InternetOct 23, 2008
Even victims of blatant bullying don’t want to be called snitches. That’s why a Brigham Young University student says he created SchoolTipline, a Web site allowing students to report bullies incognito.
Police in Teheran arrest teachers attending union meetingOct 23, 2008
Iranian teachers attending a trade union meeting on Oct. 5 to discuss ways to celebrate World Teachers Day were arrested by state intelligence outside the private building that was to host the meeting.
Are blue books an endangered species?Oct 23, 2008
With computers used for everything from course registration and smart boards to note taking, schools still use blue books for exams — for the time being.
Texas teacher layoffs signal dangerous trendOct 23, 2008
The economic crisis is already forcing cuts in teaching positions in one major southwestern city.
Financial crisis affects schoolsOct 23, 2008
Nationwide, school districts are struggling to float the bonds needed for capital projects, to borrow money to ensure cash flow and to get access to investment funds locked up in failing institutions.
Race or Class? Pick one, unions tell many white working-class membersOct 23, 2008
Union members and union households tend to vote Democratic in higher proportions than do their nonunion counterparts. Yet union members are not immune from the racism that affects some U.S. voters’ choices.
Physical damage not sole legacy of Hurricane Ike to school kidsOct 09, 2008
Weeks after Hurricane Ike devastated the Texas Gulf Coast, some 225,000 students in 10 shuttered school districts remained out of school.
Planet manager in India murdered after labor disputeOct 09, 2008
Talk about fractious management-labor relations! The chief of Italian motor parts company Graziano Transmissioni’s plant near New Delhi, India, was attacked and killed when confronted by some 100 workers that he had fired a month earlier.
Baltimore’s new tactic gets dropouts back in schoolOct 09, 2008
Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso ordered all city high schools to call and pay home visits to the 925 students who dropped out since January. It may not be the complete solution, but it works.
Strapped Milwaukee schools want state takeoverOct 09, 2008
Milwaukee’s deficit-plagued public schools were in the news again when Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle called for “a complete evaluation of exactly where” the city’s school system is before taking state action to better Milwaukee school funding or change the school system’s governance.
Massachusetts blames NCLB for school failuresOct 09, 2008
Half of the some 1,600 public schools in Massachusetts failed to meet NCLB’s English and math performance standards, based on student performance on the state’s 2008 Comprehensive Assessment System English and math exams
Schools: Obama stresses more investment, McCain likes vouchersOct 09, 2008
The choice is clear. Sen. John McCain wants vouchers, calling it “parental choice,” supports test-based accountability and wants to invest $1 billion in building online “virtual schools.”
Coalition wants schools to focus on community partnerships as well as accountabilityOct 09, 2008
The AFT has joined with more than 100 local, state and national partners to get schools to tackle struggling students’ nonacademic needs, too.
Florida’s highest court nixes anti-school-funding amendmentsSep 25, 2008
The Florida Supreme Court unanimously voted to axe a tax revision plan and a school voucher proposal from the November ballot. The amendments were labeled “tax reform” by proponents and the end of public education by the Florida teachers unions, school boards and others.
California budget battle squeezes schoolsSep 25, 2008
California lawmakers reached a compromise with the state governor on a state spending plan with no new taxes, bringing the longest budget impasse in modern California history to an end.
AFL-CIO to mobilize 250,000 for electionSep 25, 2008
Describing the differences between the pro-worker policies of Barack Obama and the pro-corporate policies of John McCain as “overwhelming,” AFL-CIO Political Director Karen Ackerman laid out a political strategy for the weeks remaining before the Nov. 4 elections.
McCain’s TV ad on Obama’s education record blasted as hypeSep 25, 2008
Under the headline “McCain’s ‘Education’ Spot Is Dishonest, Deceptive,” the Washington Post slammed the GOP candidate for caricaturing Barack Obama’s education record in a widely seen television ad.
Rudy Crew fired in MiamiSep 25, 2008
Former New York City schools Chancellor Rudy Crew, hired and then fired by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is out of a job again.
AFT creates fund to foster school reformSep 25, 2008
The AFT announced the creation of the AFT Innovation Fund, “a groundbreaking initiative” to be funded by the union and philanthropies to support sustainable, innovative and collaborative reform projects developed by union members to strengthen public schools.
South African unions strike over inflation, privatizationSep 12, 2008
Minnesota spike in ‘No Child’ failures blamed on suburban schools
Sep 12, 2008
Data from the Minnesota Department of Education shows 937 of 1,951 schools not making “adequate yearly progress” under the 2001 No Child Left Behind law. The numbers represent a dramatic uptick from last year, when 727 schools didn’t make the cut.
School vouchers ‘no magic passport to academic betterment,’ editorialist saysSep 12, 2008
Georgia Republicans pushing hard to increase voucher opportunities got a rude awakening from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the state’s main newspaper, which editorialized against it.
... means lean times for school spending nationwideSep 12, 2008
With 31 states forced to reduce spending to avoid a collective $40 billion budget deficit and the rest also severely strapped because of higher gas prices and an economic slowdown brought on by the subprime mortgage collapse, schools nationwide are taking it in the neck.
Picture of American economy bleak ...Sep 12, 2008
Despite surging productivity, many Americans suffer from dwindling income, rising inequality, eroding living standards and declining expectations, reports the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute in the first release of data from its The State of Working America 2008/2009.
Who grades the graders?Sep 12, 2008
The cover of a recent issue of Private Eye, the British political-satire magazine, shows Ed Balls, the UK’s Minister for Education, leaning over a young girl who seems to be taking a test. “Are you doing SATs, little girl?” the minister asks. “No, I’m marking them,” the child responds.
High pay vs. job security in proposed DC teachers union contractSep 12, 2008
Washington, D.C.’s 4,000 public school teachers have spent much of the summer discussing proposed contract parameters that could significantly raise annual salaries to a maximum of $131,000 for those with a Ph.D. and 14 years of experience.
Broader, bolder education reform advocatedJun 05, 2008
A new bipartisan group of national policy experts is launching a campaign for what it calls a “broader, bolder approach to education.” The recommendations mirror many of the same reform initiatives long backed by the AFT.
Colorado state workers join unionsJun 05, 2008
Some 22,500 Colorado state workers voted to join a coalition of unions that includes the AFT. Ballots went out in mid-May to the majority of the state’s workers, and results were announced June 12.
Labor leaders decry attacks on trade unionists in Zimbabwe, IraqJun 05, 2008
In early May, Lovemore Matombo and Wellington Chibebe, the respective president and secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), were arrested, interrogated for six hours and jailed on the reported charge of “inciting people to rise against government.”
Windy City assigns grief counselors to teachersJun 05, 2008
Chicago saw 24 public school students killed outside the classroom this school year. To help teachers and students cope, and as part of the new union contract, counselors will be assigned to all 483 Chicago elementary schools beginning in July.
Teachers list favorite education booksJun 05, 2008
Looking for a summer read that will help you in the classroom, too? Teacher Magazine Web moderator Anthony Rubora asked readers to name the one book they considered the single best on teaching. He got a lot of replies.
LA teachers plan boycott over state budget cutsJun 05, 2008
The AFT Los Angeles county affiliate organized a one-hour boycott on June 6, where members stayed outside their schools before signing in and going to class to protest the state’s $353 million shortfall for county schools.
Cal State professors fired for refusing to sign loyalty oathMay 22, 2008
A California State instructor who objected on religious grounds to signing a 1950s-era anti-Communist pledge was fired from her job teaching American Studies at Cal State Fullerton.
U.S. unions aid Burmese tornado victimsMay 22, 2008
The AFL-CIO Solidarity Center has launched an online relief fund, with contributions going not to the military junta but to the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma, which is distributing clothing, medicine and nonperishable food to Burmese workers and their families in the wake of a catastrophic tornado.
West Coast port workers strike for one shift to protest warMay 22, 2008
Cargo traffic at 29 ports from San Diego to Seattle was halted on May 1 as the 25,000-member independent International Longshore and Warehouse Union staged an eight-hour work stoppage to demand the Bush administration end the war in Iraq.
Principal sounds like teachers in how to promote learningMay 22, 2008
A 32-year classroom teacher, central-office administrator and principal in the Boston public schools cited many methods espoused by the UFT as the best ways to evaluate teachers.
D.C. area schools plan larger class sizesMay 22, 2008
With rising costs straining school budgets, some U.S. capital-area school systems want to increase class size in the coming year rather than hire more teachers.
As food costs soar, schools raise lunch pricesMay 22, 2008
School districts nationwide are scrambling to keep up with the rising costs of milk, wheat, eggs and the fuel used to transport them.
Mooney Institute melds unionism with school reformMay 08, 2008
Tom Mooney left a legacy, and not just in the stronger, militant union federation he worked so hard to build, but in instilling a vision that incorporated a professional and social-justice emphasis into the union’s work.
South African longshoremen refuse to unload weapons bound for ZimbabweMay 08, 2008
Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe used to be a hero, a liberation fighter and a symbol of freedom worldwide.
Tarnished silver anniversary of ‘Nation at Risk’ reportMay 08, 2008
Twenty-five years ago, the Reagan-appointed National Commission on Excellence in Education issued “A Nation at Risk,” which reported poor academic performance at nearly every school level and warned that the education system was “being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity.”
Hunger a fact of life for growing numbers of AmericansMay 08, 2008
With food prices and fuel costs rising, the United States and other developed nations may see hunger and cold, not just poverty and wage inequality, becoming commonplace.
Black college graduation rates can improve if colleges make it a priorityMay 08, 2008
Colleges know how to close gaps in the graduation rates between black and white students, but few are willing to do it, says a report from Education Sector, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
UK teachers strike against below-inflation pay offerMay 08, 2008
A national strike by British teachers — the first in 21 years — left more than 8,000 schools closed on April 24’s “Fightback Thursday” and affected some 2.5 million pupils.
Smaller class sizes no panacea? No kidding.Apr 24, 2008
A Columbia University Teachers College researcher argues that a review of the class-size literature shows that shrinking class size by itself does not improve learning or perform miracles. How do you spell straw horse?
Aramark strikers go international for supportApr 24, 2008
Members of UNITE HERE were in Ireland in April protesting giant food services company Aramark’s shabby treatment of workers in New York, where Aramark workers have been striking Bank of New York-Mellon headquarters for more than a month, pounding a drum within easy earshot of UFT headquarters.
Nevada proposition to fund schools through higher casino taxes on ballot — maybeApr 24, 2008
The Nevada State Education Association, an NEA affiliate, won a big school-funding victory in early April when a Nevada judge found that its petition to place a ballot initiative raising casino taxes may proceed to the next step, collecting signatures.
Led by teacher walkouts, Israel shows labor problems, tooApr 24, 2008
The number of Israeli work days lost to strikes rocketed to 2.5 million in 2007, more than 200 times the number of days lost in 2006, a report by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor says.
Bush administration clueless on student-lending crisisApr 24, 2008
With sources of student lending drying up, even federal Education Secretary Margaret Spellings doesn’t know what the federal government can do beyond being “lender of last resort,” which under current law means underwriting private loans.
College Board to drop four AP subjectsApr 24, 2008
High school students looking to take advanced placement classes and exams after the next school year will see a smaller menu of options.
All the school supervision money can buyApr 24, 2008
They’re called “rock star school superintendents,” the alleged turn-around-artist administrators whom beleaguered school districts look to hire to meet No Child Left Behind mandates and who can take the heat and not break out in a sweat. Oh, yes, and educate kids, too.
Car washers organize in L.A.Apr 10, 2008
The AFL-CIO and the United Steelworkers are helping Southern California’s 18,000 car washers — many undocumented workers — at some 1,000 hand car washes form a union.
Midwest governor fights for schoolsApr 10, 2008
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm wants to make it mandatory for all state schools to offer daylong kindergarten.
Report says math teachers need to know more than content area. But what?Apr 10, 2008
Question: What coursework and credentials make for an effective mathematics teacher?
Teachers in France resist job cutsApr 10, 2008
France’s education unions have been mobilizing against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to cut 11,200 teaching jobs at the start of the next school year.
British teachers fight the barely liberal Labour governmentApr 10, 2008
The 255,000 members of Britain’s National Union of Teachers (NUT), the largest of the United Kingdom educator unions, are threatening to strike.
Buying their way into another public school systemApr 10, 2008
In Washington, D.C., where public schools range from the excellent to the execrable, some families are paying as much as $14,000 in tuition for their children to attend public schools in nearby states.
Teachers respond to “bully” ad campaignMar 27, 2008
Newspaper ads and television commercials headlined “The Biggest Bully in Schools? Teacher Unions” began appearing March 11 in major news outlets across the country.
Recession a self-inflicted woundMar 27, 2008
The oncoming recession was avoidable, economists Jared Bernstein and Nancy Cleeland of the labor-union backed Economic Policy Institute say.
Georgia guts public schoolsMar 27, 2008
If there’s a dystopian future for public education modeled anywhere, it’s in Georgia.
Cal. Gov. says budget shortfall means teacher layoffsMar 27, 2008
More than 20,000 California teachers recently received pink slips for next school year as the governor tries to eliminate a projected budget shortfall with a proposed school budget cut of $4.8 billion.
Phys ed builds strong minds, tooMar 27, 2008
Note to the number-crunchers at Tweed: Want to improve school performance? Don’t just stress reading and math alone. Educate the whole child.
Pay gap widens between public school teachers, other professionals; bonus schemes won't narrow gap, report saysMar 13, 2008
A new report found that there's a growing pay gap nationwide for those who choose to become public school teachers, in contrast to the salaries of other similarly educated and credentialed professionals.
Credit crisis hits student loansMar 13, 2008
Many college students will see higher costs for loans this spring, while others at community and for-profit colleges will be turned away as risky investments.
More than half the states need federal fiscal help nowMar 13, 2008
Federal fiscal relief should be targeted to the states that need it, a new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says.
Vegas casinos offer wage hike to stop union organizingMar 13, 2008
Sometimes just the threat of a union coming in to a workplace brings gains to workers.
Slaughterhouse boss calls union organizing ‘racketeering’Mar 13, 2008
Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork-products producer, is acting swinish.
Homework too heavy? Survey says ‘No’Feb 28, 2008
Are students overburdened with homework? Not according to a recent MetLife Inc.-commissioned poll.
AFL-CIO tells Colombia: ‘No trade deal until murders, union-busting stop’Feb 28, 2008
A fact-finding delegation of AFL-CIO leaders to told Columbia President Alvaro Uribe that the U.S. union movement would not support the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement at least until real progress is made protecting the lives and rights of trade union members.
In Florida, teachers work two jobsFeb 28, 2008
“I’m happy, I really am,” said science teacher Randolph Chancey about working for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. “But being happy doesn’t pay the bills.”
Concerns about safety of beef in California schoolsFeb 28, 2008
Allegations that at-risk cattle were slaughtered at one of the California school nutrition program’s top suppliers is sparking congressional calls for an independent investigation.
Life-sciences bill in Mass. a boon for CTE schoolsFeb 28, 2008
High tech has been part of career and technical education curricula for a generation, and a funding bill working its way through the Massachusetts legislature should kick it up a few more notches, too.
Houston school bonuses kept secretFeb 28, 2008
The Houston Independent School District wants the state attorney general to permit the district to keep confidential the names of teachers and administrators receiving bonuses.
Texas study links NCLB model to higher drop-out ratesFeb 28, 2008
A new study of the impact of Texas’s public-school accountability system found that the high-stakes testing system actually contributed to more dropouts and lower graduation rates in large urban districts.
Underpaid and dissed, Puerto Rico’s teachers may walk out in defiance of anti-strike banFeb 14, 2008
After two years of failed negotiations with their Department of Education employers, Puerto Rico’s 32,000 public school teachers in the Teachers’ Federation of Puerto Rico (FMPR), the commonwealth’s largest union representing the bulk of the island’s 43,000 pedagogues, are mulling a strike.
Union membership grows nationwideFeb 14, 2008
Reversing a 25-year decline, union membership is on a slight upswing, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unions added about 310,000 members last year, raising the unionized share of the workforce to 12.1 percent from 12 percent in 2006.
Day laborers sue Chicago over harassmentFeb 14, 2008
Day laborers in Chicago are suing the city, charging police with systematic harassment and false arrest. The laborers, who gather on street corners where contractors hire them and transport them to jobs at remote locations, allege wrongful detention, violation of First Amendment rights, conspiracy to violate civil rights and malicious prosecution in denying their right to assemble in public places.
Stimulate the economy? Extend benefits to the unemployedFeb 14, 2008
Labor unions and their allies are calling for a number of additions to any stimulus package approved by Washington. Chief among them is a temporary extension of unemployment insurance benefits.
14-week writers strike shows what solidarity can doFeb 14, 2008
Bargainers for the Writers Guild of America, East and West, agreed to a new contract on Feb. 10.
Schools caught up in derivatives lose millionsFeb 14, 2008
When the Erie City School District in Pennsylvania, deep in a financial hole, couldn’t repair its buildings or buy textbooks in the 2003-04 school year, JPMorgan Chase & Co., the second-largest bank in the United States, made it an offer it couldn’t refuse. All the school district had to do was sign papers that would benefit it if interest rates increased in the future.
Even a Democratic Congress listens more to business than laborFeb 01, 2008
A $100 billion economic stimulus package — read corporate and personal tax cuts heavily favored by U.S. corporations — is gaining support on Democratic-dominated Capitol Hill despite unions saying it is not enough.
AFT to monitor impact of recent NCLB court decisionFeb 01, 2008
A Jan. 7 court decision in a lawsuit brought by the National Education Association over unfunded federal mandates in NCLB is being closely watched by the AFT.
City HS dropout rate could rise again, report saysFeb 01, 2008
The progress New York City announced in curbing the high school dropout rate “while promising, is limited and might not be lasting,” reports City Limits Investigates in its Winter 2008 issue.
Opposition to property tax cap emerges from upstate ed officialsJan 31, 2008
While a recent Siena College poll of 625 New York State registered voters found almost 3-to-1 support statewide for a property tax cap, school officials are leery.
California’s deficit splits education advocatesJan 31, 2008
With a projected $14.5 billion state revenue shortfall, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency in January and proposed 10 percent cuts across the entire state budget.
It’s teachers left behind in modern ChinaJan 31, 2008
Low wages, few legal protections, government-dominated unions and dangerous working conditions are facts of life not only for Chinese industrial workers but for the nation’s classroom teachers, too.
E-Textbooks: The future is now?Jan 17, 2008
They’re the bane of school life. Teachers must stick to the textbook, while 90-pound kids trudge around with 30 pounds of dead weight as if they were in basic training. Now, two products could change that.
Class divide grows between Ivy League, public collegesJan 17, 2008
“Higher education is increasingly a tale of two worlds, with elite schools getting richer and buying up all the talent,” writes Business Week in a survey of college costs and amenities at the “Ivy Plus” colleges.
European Court rules employers can pay foreign workers lessJan 17, 2008
The American model of union-busting has advocates in Europe, too.
Bush’s Labor Board wants to shut down union e-mailJan 17, 2008
In a Grinch-like move, the Bush administration’s NLRB majority ruled 3-to-2 in late December that employers can bar workers from sending union-related e-mails at work.
Chamber of Commerce gets politicalJan 17, 2008
Be afraid. Be very afraid. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce doesn’t like the populist tone of some of the 2008 presidential contenders, and it’s planning to spend millions to defeat candidates it deems “anti-business.”
Some states foresee funding squeezeJan 17, 2008
There’s no such thing as permanent school funding.
Teachers in Greece fight pension givebacksDec 10, 2007
Facing plans by the right-wing Greek government to reduce social security benefits, Greek schoolteachers went on strike on Nov. 26, with several thousand marching through Athens and Thessalonica.
Immigrant New Yorkers an economic boon to regionDec 06, 2007
Listen up, Lou Dobbs. Immigrants don’t drain the economy, they help grow the economy, a new report says.
Nurses battle union busting in AppalachiaDec 06, 2007
Nurses fighting for a fair contract at Appalachian Regional Healthcare face more than lost pay or a lost job. They’re facing violence, too.
AFT joins other unions in organizing Colorado state employeesDec 06, 2007
Now that the Colorado governor has issued his long-promised executive order allowing some 32,000 state workers the right to form bargaining groups, the AFT is joining two other unions in a joint effort called Colorado WINS to organize and represent those workers.
D.C. Catholic schools to convert to charter statusDec 06, 2007
Seeking to keep seven of its schools functioning, the Washington, D.C., Roman Catholic Archdiocese wants to convert the schools into public charters for the 2008-09 school year.
California budget woes doom merit payDec 06, 2007
California’s $10 billion deficit is putting a big question mark in front of plans by a blue-ribbon state panel to make individual bonus pay for teachers part of its multibillion-dollar overhaul of state education.
Demonstrators demand shutdown of NLRBDec 06, 2007
Some 1,000 sodden demonstrators slogged in the rain last November to the headquarters of the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., to demand it shut up and shut down for renovation.
Utah voters turn down vouchers with $8 million spent on referendumNov 15, 2007
Both sides in the voucher debate spent big in Utah’s ballot initiative that voters turned down decisively by a 62-to-38 margin on Nov. 6.
Colorado state workers win bargaining rights: prelude to national labor gains post-2008?Nov 15, 2007
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed a Nov. 2 executive order giving unions for state workers official recognition and bargaining powers.
Pittsburgh teachers vote strike authorizationNov 15, 2007
Nobody calls the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers strike-happy; its members haven’t walked a picket line in 32 years. But last month they authorized their union to strike.
Workers strike in Dubai: goverment to expel 'lawbreakers'Nov 15, 2007
Some 4,000 South Asian construction workers were interned after taking to the streets of Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, in late October after protesting poor wages, bad living conditions and a lack of transportation to work sites.
Better ed schools yield better trained newbiesNov 15, 2007
Teacher unions stress experience, mentoring and credentials from high-quality institutions as keys to placing and retaining quality teachers in the classroom.
U.S. health care: 'We're Number 7'Nov 15, 2007
Americans pay more for health care, wait longer to be seen by doctors and suffer from a higher rate of medical malpractice than do citizens of six other advanced nations.
Some states face education budget squeezeNov 01, 2007
New York State may be adequately funding schools this year, but that is not the case for states such as Florida, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin.
Baltimore debates need for state testing of special ed studentsNov 01, 2007
With thousands of special-education students in Maryland high schools failing the state’s graduation exams, parents and advocates are debating whether all students should still be required to pass high school assessments in English, algebra, biology and American government before graduating.
Students obese? Try clog dancingNov 01, 2007
It may not beat slam dancing for burning calories, but one entrepreneur thinks his passion for heavy-hoofed clogging is the perfect treatment for childhood obesity.
Iowa teacher saves child’s lifeNov 01, 2007
It’s the kind of underreported story that happens a lot in the schools, where teachers don’t just educate students but keep them healthy and safe, too.
Vancouver librarians still out after three monthsNov 01, 2007
While some city workers have agreed to accept a city offer giving them a 17.5 percent raise over five years and a $1,000 signing bonus, Vancouver librarians are standing firm.
French transit workers strike to protect pensionsNov 01, 2007
The biggest transit strike in a decade gripped France after conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy announced planned cuts in retirement benefits.
Bulgarian teachers’ weeks-long strike continues, tooNov 01, 2007
Some three-quarters of Bulgaria’s 100,000 teachers in state schools and nurseries rallied in downtown Sofia on Oct. 11 in the third week of a nationwide strike for higher wages and increased school funding.
Israeli educators go on strikeNov 01, 2007
Secondary school teachers in Israel who went on strike on Oct. 10 in a wage dispute with the national government were later joined by the nation’s university staffs, themselves pursuing a 20 percent pay raise after government delays in providing an extra $75 million in support this year.
Credentials and training matter in student outcomes, report saysOct 18, 2007
A post-2000 policy that phased out uncertified teachers from New York City’s public school classrooms, permitted alternative credentialing programs and recruited high-achieving college graduates through the New York City Teaching Fellows programs and Teach for America significantly contributed to student test-score gains in low-performing schools, a new report says.
Where affirmative action is greenOct 18, 2007
At elite colleges, according an op-ed piece, it’s not low-income applicants of color who are the main beneficiaries of preferential admissions treatment, but rich white kids with cash and connections.
Shocking news about TasersOct 18, 2007
We can supposedly sleep secure in our beds knowing that researchers at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center declared Tasers to be safe and that they can be used without damage in law enforcement.
Say what? Jobs increase in September, but so does the unemployment rateOct 18, 2007
It’s not just young New Yorkers who can’t find affordable housing. In Italy, the housing crunch is so bad that one third of Italian men still live with their mothers.
Young people in Italy have housing woes, tooOct 18, 2007
It’s not just young New Yorkers who can’t find affordable housing. In Italy, the housing crunch is so bad that one third of Italian men still live with their mothers.
SEIU endorses … nobodyOct 18, 2007
While the AFT enthusiastically embraced Hillary Clinton as its choice for the Democratic presidential nomination, the Service Employees International Union is sitting on its hands, the outcome of a standoff between SEIU supporters of Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama.
Fight to rehire union teachers in New Orleans goes onOct 18, 2007
A glowing Sept. 24 profile of New Orleans schools Superintendent Paul G. Vallas in The New York Times left some dark spots unmentioned.
Los Angeles teachers to school district: get the math right!Oct 18, 2007
Members of the United Teachers Los Angeles are picketing 24/7 at Los Angeles United School District headquarters and camping out on district property to protest nine months of payroll snafus.
GM workers back on job after two-day strikeOct 04, 2007
At the core of the settlement of a two-day strike by 73,000 General Motors autoworkers, reached on Sept. 26, is the transfer of retiree health-care payments from GM to the United Auto Workers.
Guns for teachers = school safety?Oct 04, 2007
An Oregon high school teacher took her licensed Glock 9-mm pistol to school every day, until the administration found out.
‘Chocolate War’ war at Chicago schoolOct 04, 2007
Parents living in the same quadrant of Chicago where residents pummeled Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights marchers over integrated housing and jobs in the 1960s are up in arms again.
Wanna be a state worker?Oct 04, 2007
Suburbanites complain about high property taxes for schools, so a Long Island Republican legislator has a solution of sorts: Make the state’s public school teachers state employees.
Spending millions to win less health careOct 04, 2007
As the health-care-for-all fight heats up, the other side — the one that favors all the health care for all you can pay — is stepping up efforts, too.
College admissions offices ignoring SAT writing test?Oct 04, 2007
Is the 25-minute SAT writing sample a waste of time, ink and paper? Many university admissions offices think so.
Florida charter schools ink union contracts with AFTSep 20, 2007
Teachers in the Pembroke Pines, Fla., charter school system ratified a first contract by a 106-2 vote in August.
Celebrating the music of laborSep 20, 2007
Traditional labor songs are together in an omnibus edition, the “Big Red Song Book: 250-Plus IWW Songs,” with more than 200 pages of lyrics and 300 pages of commentary by participants, songwriters and modern commentators.
Union protest infiltrated by provocateursSep 20, 2007
If you’re at a demonstration and a masked man wants you to “off the pig,” ask him to fix your parking ticket instead.
Heat inside school buses hits 116°Sep 20, 2007
Shreveport, La., is hot in the summer, and its school buses sizzle. After measuring temperatures, the Caddo Federation of Teachers and Support Personnel found bus heat spiking to 116 degrees.
Chicago Teachers OK pactSep 20, 2007
The Chicago Teachers Union voted up a tentative agreement with the Chicago public schools that provides more than 20 percent in raises over five years.
Student’s violent essay ruled ‘unprotected speech’Sep 20, 2007
A federal appeals court in Atlanta has ruled that a high school student merited no First Amendment protection for a private essay — in a personal notebook discovered inadvertently — whose main character fantasizes about killing her math teacher.
Disney’s ‘Baby Einstein’ no Einstein, report findsSep 06, 2007
Disney says its “Baby Einstein,” “Baby Mozart” and “Baby Bach” videos are “where discovery begins” in improving a child’s cognitive and linguistic skills. Not so, says a report.
Teacher union president busted at orientationSep 06, 2007
Talk about fighting unionism! Carmen Mayorga, the Aldine (Texas) AFT local president, was busted by school district police as she and others prepared to distribute membership information at a new teacher orientation.
California district’s report card flunksSep 06, 2007
A Bay Area public interest group is suing California’s 41,000-student Oakland Unified School District for leaving out state-mandated data on its school accountability report cards.
Students in debt while lenders live largeSep 06, 2007
Student loan giant Sallie Mae earned $1.3 billion last year, with a return on equity that dwarfs most other companies.
Slack government oversight blamedSep 06, 2007
Like the federal government’s failure to maintain New Orleans’ levee system or respond to Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast states, Utah’s Crandall Canyon Mine collapse raises questions about the quality of federal oversight.
Teaching the Bible in schools: pedagogy or dogma?Sep 05, 2007
Distinguishing sectarian preaching from educational instruction seems pretty clear in the abstract. But as values intertwine with ideas, the line separating the two is pretty porous.
Teasing obese kids leads to school absenteeismSep 05, 2007
Obesity is a better predictor of student absenteeism than any other single factor, a new report says, though it’s not related health problems that’s the cause.
It’s not your grandfather’s teacher-union movement, anymoreAug 09, 2007
Teacher union leaders today are just as militant and just as unwilling to cut sweetheart deals with management as were their forbears, though they use a wider variety of tools to represent their members.
Add ‘learning gap’ to those summertime bluesAug 09, 2007
Researchers at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University say that the achievement gap between high- and low-income students increases dramatically over the summer break.
Employee Free Choice Act DOA, thanks to GOP filibusterAug 09, 2007
Senate Republicans prevented the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) from even being considered by the full Senate, despite majority support for the measure in both houses of Congress.
Hurting U.S. automakers seek givebacks from workersAug 09, 2007
Detroit automakers say they lost $16 billion last year and want their workers to bear the losses, too.
Teacher blogger’s interlocutors also know the scoreAug 09, 2007
“Teacherken” is a diarist on Daily Kos, the liberal blog. His slogan is: “Those who can, do.
Iraqi unions fight multinationals’ oil grabsAug 09, 2007
Add one more battle to war-torn Iraq’s list, as oil workers fight to keep the nation’s oil production facilities out of private, foreign hands.
Private-sector pensions from profitable firms disappearing, tooAug 09, 2007
Nearly two-thirds of private employers already offering traditional pensions have closed their plans to new hires, frozen them for all employees, or plan to do so in the next two years, a new study found.
Texas Senate approves Bible classes in public schools — sort ofJun 07, 2007
The Texas State Senate sent to the governor a House-sponsored bill that would allow Bible classes in public high schools.
