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American
Teacher September 2000--News and Trends NYSUT, College Board team up to expand AP courses In a move that promises to increase the number of New York high school students taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses, the New York State United Teachers has forged an alliance with the College Board aimed at expanding the availability of AP courses. The partnership, which came after 18 months of discussions between NYSUT and the College Board, is designed to increase access to the rigorous AP courses offered in New York public schools--especially for low-income and minority students in urban and rural schools. "The alliance represents a determined effort by both organizations to give more students the opportunity to strive for higher standards while addressing important equity issues," College Board president Gaston Caperton says. "Not only will this effort improve the quality of education across the state at no cost to the taxpayers, it will enable New York students to be more prepared for college-level work." This summer, the union's professional development branch--the NYSUT Education and Learning Trust--and the College Board oversaw advanced training for about 50 high school teachers in AP English Literature and AP Calculus. The partnership underscores NYSUT's commitment to improving teacher quality, the union's president Thomas Y. Hobart Jr. says. "The teacher-driven, teacher-oriented professional development at the heart of this project will pay big dividends for school districts," he points out. "But the real winners will be the students in struggling districts in rural and urban areas that have not been able to offer AP courses. We are moving closer to the goal of providing an opportunity for all students to take challenging AP courses." Substitutes hold conference to air their concerns In what was billed as the first national conference of substitute teachers, more than 50 substitute teachers met in Washington, D.C., July 14-15, to discuss their common concerns, including low pay and lack of benefits and the need for professional training that is specifically geared to substitutes. The conference also approved a name for a new organization, the National Substitute Teachers Alliance, as well as a substitute teachers' bill of rights. Leon Lieberman, former assistant to the president of the New York State United Teachers, was among those who addressed the conference. Lieberman, who started organizing substitutes for NYSUT in 1986, described the structure of some of the substitute teachers locals organized by NYSUT. "They're trying to get some respect for substitutes and become a clearinghouse for issues and information unique to subs," he said about the conference organizers. United Teachers of Dade teacher specialist Tom Lander, who organizes substitutes for UTD, attended the conference on behalf of the AFT's Miami affiliate. UTD's substitute membership has risen from about 75 people just a few years ago to more than 450 today, Lander reported. UTD sponsored a training conference for substitutes that was attended by more than 350 people, he said. "If we're going to respond to the call for accountability and high standards, we need to recognize that students spend a lot of time in classrooms with substitutes. When these subs are not properly trained, it's the students who lose out. The UTD staffer said he found out about the national conference over the Internet. "The most important thing that unions can do for substitutes is to organize them into our ranks and make sure they receive a living wage and training," he noted.
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American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO - 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW - Washington, DC 20001 Copyright by the American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO. All
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