For many low-income workers, the most formidable barrier to higher-paying, more stable jobs is the cost of a college education. That barrier is scaled by the UFT Paraprofessional Chapter’s career ladder, officially called the Career Training Program, a benefit fought for and won by the UFT in the first DOE-UFT paraprofessional contract in 1969.

Travelers use Instagram to post pictures of scenery. Foodies use Instagram to post pictures of meals. And increasingly, teachers are using Instagram to post pictures of the work that goes on inside their classrooms.

A new drum line at the East Village Community School in Manhattan allows students to grow and explore through music.

What started two years ago as a club for LGBTQ students at IS 187 in Borough Park, Brooklyn, has quickly evolved into a group devoted to self-awareness and social advocacy that promotes tolerance and acceptance of difference.

Lourdes Ventura was sworn in as a judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York on Dec. 18 at Queens Borough Hall, the same venue where, as a child, she accompanied her mother to translate at a housing court proceeding. The eldest of three children, Ventura was born in Queens to immigrants from the Dominican Republic. She was educated in public schools in Corona and Elmhurst.

While the debate rages across the city about whether scoring high on a single test is the fairest way to win a coveted seat in one of the city’s specialized high schools, students at the HS for American Studies at Lehman College are tutoring local middle school students to prepare them to meet the test challenge and ensure more diversity at the specialized school in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx.