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Special Education Intervention Teacher (formerly known as IEP teacher)

The Special Education Intervention Teacher is a centrally funded learning specialist. Learn more about this position and the role these educators play for students with disabilities.

What is the LEAP to teacher program for paraprofessionals?

The LEAP to Teacher Program is offered by the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies in collaboration with the UFT and participating colleges in all five boroughs. The LEAP to Teacher program helps place UFT paraprofessionals at participating...

Exhibit E — Lead Teacher Job Description

Minimum Qualifications Education: Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree in Education required Certification and License: NYS Certification and/or NYC License Knowledge, Skills, Experience: Knowledge of student academic growth and development Extensive...

Special education teacher certification resources

New York City schools are required to adhere to state certification requirements. If you work in special education, you know that certification requirements are complicated and frequently change.

Paras get Teacher’s Choice money

After years of advocacy by the UFT, paraprofessionals will be included in the Teacher’s Choice program for the first time this school year.


Can I opt out of Teacher’s Choice?

If you do not wish to participate in Teacher’s Choice, you should submit a Request for Non-participation (opt-out) form to your school by the deadline indicated for that particular school year.

Report: Teachers’ salaries not keeping up

The Miami-Dade County School Board on July 28 accepted two health and sexual education textbooks for use in middle and high schools, reversing a decision from just the previous week to reject the curriculum over fears it could violate the state’s...

Know your rights as a speech teacher

New speech teachers have many questions. Here are some of the issues you have raised at meetings, with answers that should help you understand your rights and responsibilities.

Teacher’s Choice amounts stay steady

As it has for more than 35 years, the Teacher’s Choice program will again reimburse UFT-represented educators for some of their out-of-pocket expenses for supplemental instructional supplies and materials of their choice.


Sorangel Acosta, dual language teacher

As a student teacher, Sorangel Acosta was “amazed and mesmerized” that it was possible to respect both languages equally in a dual-language class. She tries to bring that experience to the 3rd-graders in her English/Spanish classroom at PS 280 in...

Retired teacher becomes a Dragon Sister

Retiree Rita Kelly is setting the world ablaze in her second act as a Dragon Sister, one of an all-woman crew of dragon boat racers in Florida, where she and her teammates brave the waters in a thousand-year-old sport of endurance and speed.

Keep the pipeline of CTE teachers flowing

UFT Vice President for Career and Technical Education High Schools Leo Gordon writes that as the Success Via Apprenticeship program celebrates its 40th year, it is imperative that this unique pathway for new CTE teachers receive the support and...

Pasha Durr, home instruction teacher

Pasha Durr teaches Brooklyn high school students in their homes when they’re unable to physically attend school.

Praise for former student-turned-teacher

A retired New York City public school teacher responds to a New York Teacher article about one of her former students.

2024 Retired Teachers Chapter elections

The 2024 Retired Teachers Chapter elections will take place this spring. The elections will determine various leadership positions, including chapter leader, vice chairs, secretaries, treasurer, and executive board members.

Candidates must walk in teachers’ shoes

Candidates for New York City mayor must fulfill a new prerequisite this year if they want to be considered for the UFT’s endorsement: They have to spend a day in a New York City public school classroom helping educators.

Governance 101

A comparison of the 2002 and 2009 school governance laws.

Teacher shortages abruptly close schools

Schools around the United States are canceling in-person instruction with very little notice due to staffing issues, including teacher shortages and staff fatigue, exacerbated by the pandemic.

Supportive schools grow great teachers

After spending 12 years of my own education in conservative private schools, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I applied here. I was immediately welcomed by the warmest and most gracious staff I have ever had the pleasure of working with. One of the...

Teacher salary schedule (2022–27)

Teacher salary schedule (2022–27)

Arbitrator rules city must offer non-classroom work to teachers with Covid vaccination medical/religious exemptions

An independent arbitrator has ruled that New York City teachers with certain documented medical conditions must be offered non-classroom assignments. Other staffers reluctant to take the vaccine must be offered either an unpaid leave that maintains...

Are mandated providers, including special education and general education teachers in ICT classes, allowed to cover other duties during provision of service time?

No. Professionals who are obligated to provide services as mandated on IEPs (including special education teachers, general education teachers in ICT classes, related service providers, and paraprofessionals) must serve each student as mandated and...

Can co-teachers in Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) classes be assigned other duties during times that students are mandated to receive instructional services?

Co-teachers may not be assigned to other duties (such as exam scoring or coverage or test proctoring for other classes) that would prevent them from providing IEP-mandated services to their ICT class. If a co-teacher is routinely assigned to other...

I'm a new teacher. Where can I find more information about issues important to new teachers?

Teachers with 0-3 years of experience should check out the New Teacher section of the UFT website. This section contains information about mentoring, certification, licensing, the New Member Handbook, and much more.

Monique Scrubb, adult education teacher

Monique Scrubb teaches professional and conversational English to adult students as an English as a second language teacher at the DOE’s Brooklyn Adult Learning Center.

Wearing red for Chicago teachers

UFT members across the city wore red on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019, to show solidarity with striking Chicago educators and the Chicago Teachers Union.

Teacher Union Day 2019

More than 1,700 UFT members and guests packed the Grand Ballroom at the New York Hilton in midtown Manhattan on Oct. 20 to celebrate union activism past and present at the UFT’s annual Teacher Union Day event.

Teacher Union Day 2021

The first hybrid Teacher Union Day was held on Nov. 7, 2021, with 234 people, including honorees and their families, attending in person to celebrate union activism in Shanker Hall at UFT headquarters in Manhattan while 592 members joined the festivities online.

Teacher Union Day 2023

About 1,500 UFT members, family and friends gathered at the New York Hilton Midtown on Oct. 29 to honor the brave educators who put everything on the line in the 1960 strike that forged the union and the UFT activists who follow in their footsteps. This year, Teacher Union Day was dedicated to the Contract Action Teams.

Teacher Union Day 2022

More than 1,000 educators, family and friends honored UFT members at the New York Hilton Midtown on Nov. 6 during Teacher Union Day, an annual event that commemorates the 1960 strike that won collective bargaining rights for the union.

New Teacher Week 2024

The UFT rolled out the welcome wagon as some 1,500 new teachers signed up to join the union on opening day of the DOE’s New Teacher Week.

Teacher Union Day 2024

About 1,500 UFT members, families and friends gathered at the New York Hilton Midtown on Nov. 3 to celebrate the organizers, activists and leaders who advanced the union’s mission over the past year. The annual fall event, which commemorates the 1960 strike that won collective bargaining rights for the UFT, honored 179 in-service and retired members.

Teacher Union Day 2025

About 1,700 UFT members, families and friends gathered at the New York Hilton on Nov. 2, 2025, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the 1960 strike that won collective bargaining rights for UFT members. At the union’s annual Teacher Union Day event, more than 250 individual members and chapters were honored for their exceptional work and longtime service to the union’s mission, including the members of the UFT Health Care Committee and the Occupational and Physical Therapists Chapter.

New York Teacher Online

Read the New York Teacher, the UFT's newspaper, online.

How does the Teacher's Choice program work?

Members will receive reimbursement for classroom expenditures made within the annual spending period at the amount allocated for their job title. Then, they must submit an accountability form with receipts to the school to show the entire amount has...