Your school’s seniority list tells you how much seniority you have and where you stand in terms of excessing seniority compared to your colleagues who have the same license as you. Excessing seniority, otherwise known as citywide seniority, is the...

English Language Learners (ELLs)/Multi-Lingual Learners (MLLs) recommended to receive specialized instruction in special classes may be served in bilingual special classes or in special classes with students who are not ELLs/MLLs.

Since students who are English language learners or multilingual learners (ELLs/MLLs) may be assigned to ICT classes, the question of who is qualified to provide Integrated English as a New Language services in an ICT setting often arises.

We've compiled the following lesson plans, teaching ideas, discussion guides and online resources to help teachers address the crucial issues of racial equity and social justice in the classroom.

If you have any questions regarding accessing the site or your account, please review the questions below.

The UFT knows that dealing with even routine legal matters can be an expensive hassle. That's why the union negotiated a legal services plan to assist members with everyday issues like reviewing a lease or contract, dealing with a warranty, or help...

Amid school and business closings, many families are experiencing financial stress. Look into the resources below for free services and financial relief.

Along with public schools, many community organizations and businesses want to help food-insecure families. Look for groceries and daily grab-and-go meals from these organizations.

Planning to retire? Here's the information you need.

Form 1095-B, Health Coverage, is a tax form that reports the type of health coverage you have, any dependents covered by your insurance policy and the period of coverage for the prior year. In accordance with the federal Patient Protection and...

SI BEAGLE SPRING 2021 VIRTUAL TRIPS – STILL AVAILABLE!! Please send a note and/or registration form with the trip(s) you would like to register for and make the check(s) payable to UFTWF Retiree Programs. Mail to UFTWF Retiree Programs, 52 Broadway...

Is your school interested in joining PROSE Plus?

As continuing research confirms that skilled teachers are key to children’s academic success, school districts across the country, often working with their unionized staffs, are scrambling to recruit, reward and retain the most effective educators.

Just like a union, a professional organization represents the interests of its members. Banding together, members may be able to provide products and services to those who join — perhaps magazine subscriptions or professional development or insurance...

Lately the media have been overrun by charges that the teachers union is the 800-pound gorilla in the room whenever education policy is discussed in the halls of power — and it’s not meant as a compliment!

From the earliest days of the UFT, presidents Charles Cogen and Al Shanker knew that educators could be a powerful tool for reform. Educators knew first-hand the problems that their students faced, and they encouraged educators to come up with...

A faltering national economy. Huge budget gaps in Albany and New York City. Unemployment at a peak. Homelessness on the rise. Wall Street losses. Threats of massive layoffs and service cuts. Transit and tuition increases. Demands for concessions from...

A basic tenet of the UFT has always been that organized labor and progressive elected officials are essential to promoting the interests of its members. Indeed, the backing of the labor movement and political allies was instrumental in the UFT’s...

Despite its name, the United Federation of Teachers is a union of 200,000 working people who are committed to improving the lives of New Yorkers in many different ways. Most, but not all, provide education, child care or health services for adults...

The current school-budget crisis is no surprise to many veteran city public school educators. Fiscal turmoil seems to assault our schools every 15 or 20 years. Typically, teachers are called upon to save the day and, for the sake of the children...

As the UFT’s fourth president, serving from 1998 to 2009, Randi Weingarten led the union through a period of economic instability, two contentious city administrations and mounting attacks on the labor movement and public education. She relished...

Not far from the UFT’s Park Avenue South headquarters, Al Shanker sits stiffly in the study of his apartment. Physically, he’s not himself.

This award-winning series of articles by Jack Schierenbeck originally appeared in the New York Teacher in 1996 and 1997.

The UFT Disaster Relief Fund was established in the wake of 9/11 to help members who lost loved ones in that tragedy. Since then, the fund has helped members who have been personally affected by disasters such as Hurricane Sandy and has contributed...

Donate to the Daniel Dromm Scholarship Fund in memory of Patricia Filomena.

Important information for members from New York Teacher columns: For Your Information, Know Your Rights, Know Your Benefits, Q&A on the Issues, Secure Your Future, Your Well-Being and Grants, Awards & Freebies

As we wrap up another school year and begin also to plan for the upcoming one, school social workers across the nation, and certainly within New York State, cannot avoid addressing the recent developments in the nation’s "war on terrorism." The death...

I am sending this in on behalf of my son, Danny. Danny was 23 years old when he worked on the 55th floor of 2 World Trade Center when the first plane hit. He has suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder since then. He struggled to go right back...

The Greatest City in the World Was Today attacked, bruised, and scorned

As a teacher of English as a second language, I listened as teenagers asked questions about the tragedy as it unfolded before them — and I struggled to provide them with answers. This is my story.

deep inside the darkest moment there is a sudden burst of light movement that illuminates ignorance beyond disbelief at the same time the sky breaks its promise to heaven and falls the black sun tries to re-ignite when out of the blue the weather...

It was a clear morning of possibilities, a primary election day. The day itself was one of those brilliant pre-autumnal gifts that late summer offers in the weeks following Labor Day, meant to make people feel good as they went about their ordinary...

I woke up at 6 a.m. on this late summer morning, listening to Curtis and Kuby, a talk show on 770 AM radio. I forced myself up out of bed to walk the dog. My wife, Susan, was already awake getting her daily consumption of public radio while...

oh, what did you see on the news today, dear little friends of mine? I saw there are people, oh, so mean. Doing things I’d never seen. Ending lives… murdering. A world grey and dark — ’stead of blue and green. That’s what I saw on the news today. Yes...