This is a fantastic program and partnership with NYU. We need more programs and availability for our students on the autism spectrum. The DOE also needs to provide more in-person training for teachers and staff to support our kids not only within the...

The UFT Welfare Fund has increased the dollar amount of its death benefit for UFT members who die while still working for the DOE or the city to a flat payment of $50,000 regardless of age.

The city of New York's health plan and the UFT Welfare Fund-provided supplemental health benefits are among a UFT member's most valuable assets. Learn about what both plans provide so that you and your eligible dependents can access these benefits...

A new high school teacher shares her inner thoughts about the day teaching Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" sparked fear in her heart -- until she switched things up and helped her ELA students make modern connections to the old text.

During Black History Month and Women's History Month, this 2nd-grade teacher dresses up each day as a historical figure and teaches her students about that person.

Retired music teacher Emy Vanderpool wasn't ready to leave the world of education when health concerns forced her to step down. The UFT's Partners Through Experience program has offered a way for Vanderpool and other recnt retirees to stay connected...

Are you not receiving invitations to the RTC monthly membership meetings? Email is now the primary way that the union communicates about events and news. It takes only a few minutes to subscribe or resubscribe to UFT mail.



Scammers more often target retirees because they're more likely to have savings, good credit and less experience with technology. But retirees can sniff out whether a scammer is at work if they take heed of “the four p’s,” authorities say. Scammers...

Retired high school math teacher Mark Grashow supports the education of thousands of students in rural communities throughout Africa and the Middle East through the nonprofit he founded after retirement, the US-Africa Children's Fellowship.

We have a lot to be happy with regarding the state of the RTC chapter. We have debates of retiree issues and an enhanced voting process. But I am concerned that Zoom is hurting the quality of our union engagement.

A group of 2nd-graders at Manhattan's PS 163 take a trip through musical history at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, learning history, culture and how to scat sing like musical icons Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington.

Adrianna DeAngelis has taught a pre-K class at Birch Family Services for the past 14 years. She is one of 200 educators and support staff across Birch's four early childhood centers and schools represented by the UFT.

Reading scores dropped to a new low on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress while math scores were stagnant for 8th-graders and up slightly for 4th-graders.


The National Labor Relations Board is at a standstill after President Donald Trump fired board chair Gwynne Wilcox, a Democratic appointee, leaving a total of three vacancies on the five-member panel and ensuring it does not have a quorum to conduct...

In the latest salvo in its bid to control and reduce the size of the federal workforce, the Trump administration has decreed that union contract provisions permitting telework for federal employees are invalid because they conflict with management...

About a thousand members of the union's Social Workers and Psychologists Chapter gathered online and another 380 in person for a day of professional development, networking and bonding on Jan. 27.

More than two dozen new members from Manhattan schools turned out for some food, fun and fellowship on Jan. 24 at the UFT's new member event at a Manhattan bowling lounge.

Social studies teacher and Big Apple Award fellow Jay Maqsood discusses the merits of concept mapping to help students better retain and synthesize complex information and sets of data points.

While technology tools cannot and should not replace hands-on art making, these digital resources can be used to bring the arts, which may be otherwise lacking in your students’ school day, into your curriculum in meaningful ways.

Paraprofessionals across the city have embraced the opportunity to participate at long last in Teacher’s Choice.
After years of advocacy by the union, paraprofessionals were included in the program beginning in the 2023-24 school year. Learn how...

If you are planning to retire in the next year or two, now is the time to start preparing. It may seem early, but trust us, it’s not. 
The UFT Pension Department is here for you to assist in your transition to retirement.


Healthy social relationships are a key to greater happiness and life satisfaction. Here are ways to cultivate strong social ties.

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...

Union leaders and representatives from the union’s private, nonprofit and Department of Education functional chapters gathered at union headquarters on Jan. 16 to kick off a new union initiative intended to showcase and amplify the work of members in...

The fact is our paraprofessionals cannot survive in this city on a starting salary of just under $32,000. Without offering more money, the DOE cannot hope to retain and recruit enough paraprofessionals. 


Teaching artists at Lincoln Center, who are represented by the UFT, have reached agreement on a new five-year contract with significant economic gains and more input to help shape the type of education they provide.

The provisions in the DOE-UFT contract regarding program preferences and professional activity assignments give teachers a voice about which classes they will teach the following year and which professional activities they are assigned.

Established in 2009, the UFT’s Member Assistance Program (MAP) provides tools for coping with the full range of life’s challenges, such as work-related stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, bereavement and substance use disorders. 


President Trump's executive order to end "radical indoctrination" is devoid of any compassion for the struggles of young people who are living or considering living as a person of the opposite gender. Nor does it acknowledge our role as educators in...

We will continue to fight for schools to remain safe zones. Our students deserve an education free from fear, humiliation and trauma. Children should feel safe and protected at all times, and when they are with us in our schools, we will ensure that...

New city legislation requires that city-owned property, including public schools, generate at least 100 megawatts of electricity from solar panels by 2030 and 150 megawatts by 2035. The bill is a boon for the environment, public health, affordable...

More than 5,500 UFT members are employed by organizations other than the Department of Education. They are members of the union’s private and nonprofit chapters. Meet the leaders of those chapters.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed legislation to set a maximum classroom temperature of 88 degrees in public schools following a campaign led by the UFT and its state affiliate NYSUT. The new law takes effect in September 2025.


Educators at Boerum Hill School for International Studies in Brooklyn have banded together with students, parents and PTA leaders to demand the city reallocate classroom space being underutilized by a Success Academy charter school.

For some teachers, summer is the time to take teacher institutes offered by notable organizations across the country that provide practical and unique learning experiences expressly designed for educators. 


After a huge citywide push driven by school chapter leaders, more than 750 New York City public schools applied for funding to lower class sizes next school year.