03072014 - Want a longer school day? Pay up
A longer school day has arrived as a consistent campaign theme. Among the leading candidates, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Martha Coakley says she’s a big believer, while rival Steve Grossman calls a longer day an important tool for improving education. Republican Charles D. Baker says he supports a longer day in underperforming schools.
03032014 - A Happy, Good News Story
In which we visit one of my all-time favorite programs and learn the surprising reason for its success.
A student in the Andover Bread Loaf writing program in Lawrence shares her work.
01092014 - Tutors at a no-excuses charter school learn some hard lessons
Last December, I drove down to Boston from Middlebury College in Vermont where I was finishing my senior year. On a crisp Monday morning, I parallel parked, straightened my tie and walked into an interview to become a tutor at a “no excuses” charter school. A week later I had an offer sitting in my inbox, inviting me to become a member of the “Corps,” so called because the program used to be part of AmeriCorps. I was the first of my roommates to receive a job offer and joining the Corps sounded pretty damn good.
01092014 - "Why Unions Matter" from AFT Massachusetts
We have all seen the charts that show the correlation between the decline of labor unions and the shrinking of the middle class. Union membership is at an all time low, and not surprisingly the gulf between the rich and poor is the widest it has been since the Roaring ‘20s.
While the number of dues-paying union members is small, our impact is mighty. Non-union workers enjoy many of the benefits that we have worked so hard to secure, such as the 40-hour workweek, workplace safety, health insurance, and sick time.
01022014 - Phoenix on the rise in Lawrence - Charter school works to keep teens in school, headed toward college
LAWRENCE — Lots of people told Destiny Clarke she would drop out of high school.
Diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, she said she couldn’t sit through class all day long.
“I wasn’t in school,” she said. “I was enrolled, but not going. I showed up at 9, and then left.”
Eventually she began to believe she’d drop out. “I thought that was going to be my life,” she said.
12202013 - AFT President Randi Weingarten on ALEC and SPN
The Guardian has released a series of articles detailing new information about the American Legislative Exchange Council and the State Policy Network. ALEC brings together conservative state legislators and corporations to advance an agenda of privatization, disinvestment and attacks on worker rights. The SPN, a network of conservative state think tanks, consistently supports this agenda and works in coordination with ALEC.