Unions host meeting with congressman 

In April, teachers and paraprofessionals from AFT Massachusetts affiliates in Amesbury, Lynn, Peabody and Salem had a chance to meet with U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D.-Mass.), a senior member of the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor. The congressman participated in a No Child Left Behind town hall meeting in Lynn, which was hosted by the AFT and the state federation. AFT president Edward J. McElroy outlined the issues that classroom teachers and paraprofessionals face as a result of the implementation of NCLB. He discussed the AFT’s position on changing the adequate yearly progress (AYP) formula to reflect growth, pointed out the problems with the definition of “highly qualified teacher” contained in a recent report from the Aspen Institute, and noted the special burdens on teachers of special education and English language learners. The AFT members described how tests in Massachusetts get layered, with district tests, state tests and the MCAS (the state’s test used to determine schools’ AYP). The result: The testing, along with test preparation, takes up 30 days of the school calendar. McElroy closed the meeting, the first in a series of similar gatherings with other members of Congress, by urging AFT members to continue the conversation at the state level and to seize the opportunity to work on curriculum and education reform.