A workplace violence prevention bill just introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would develop protection measures and enforceable safety standards for people who work in frontline healthcare jobs. While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration “has left these workers vulnerable,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said, “incidents of workplace violence continue to rise, with 69 percent of reported cases occurring in healthcare settings. Thankfully, this bill addresses this increasing trend head-on, and it provides long-needed protections and specific and enforceable safety standards for people who work in frontline healthcare jobs.”
Category: National News
The AFT Robert G. Porter Scholars program offers four 4-year, $8,000 post-secondary scholarships to students who are dependents of AFT members, as well as 10 one-time $1,000 grants to AFT members. Grants can be used for continuing education and also for implementing programs or introducing tools in the classroom, workplace and/or community. The 2019 application is now open for submissions through March 31, 2019. Read more information about the program here.
The Los Angeles teachers reached a tentative agreement with the school district to end their weeklong strike. “The agreement is a paradigm shift for the city and nation, as it makes a clear commitment to the resources and conditions necessary for teachers to teach and kids to learn in L.A.’s public schools,” says AFT President Randi Weingarten. “This strike and the community support of the teacher strikers flipped the debate over public education in L.A. on its head. And the result is nothing short of a sea change for public schools and for educators in L.A. and in the country.” The win includes caps in class sizes, nurses in every school, concessions on testing, a cap on charter schools and more.
In a new article for American Educator’s Winter 2018-19 issue, researchers Nell Duke and Heidi Mesmer discuss seven common instructional missteps in phonics instruction and how to correct them. The need to explicitly teach letter-sound relationships in U.S. classrooms is settled science. However, too often such instruction is not provided in the most efficient or effective way. These instructional missteps mean that fewer children will develop strong word-reading skills. In addition, ineffective phonics instruction is likely to require more class time and/or later compensatory intervention, taking time away from the growth of other important contributors to literacy development. Read more here.
The Winter 2018-2019 issue of American Educator is available online for free. It explores what’s needed to support literacy in early childhood education, which is the foundation for all future learning. Also in this issue: tips for connecting science learning at home and in school, encouraging spatial thinking to teach STEM, developing mathematical mindsets, and the elementary school teacher’s perspective on recess. Check out the issue here.