Today we announced the first recipients of the AFT Innovation Fund grants. When we created the Innovation Fund last year, we asked local and state affiliates to think big, think boldly and think in ways that might go beyond their usual comfort zone -- and they did. And...

Why do so many schools have auditoriums?

Why do they have athletic fields?

We take features like those for granted today, but there was a time when a school building with anything more than classrooms and chalkboards was considered wildly unorthodox. But, more than a hundred years ago, educators came...

As I embarked on the AFT's first-ever "back-to-school tour" last week, I had a feeling of great optimism, as I always do at the beginning of the school year. But it was reinforced when I was joined by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan for our first stop -- the...

I had the pleasure of speaking to 2,500 educators on July 13, 2009, at the AFT's educational issues conference in Washington, D.C. Here's a portion of my speech:

Some of the best-kept secrets regarding American public education are the success stories. Teachers have lots of know-how when it comes to...

Last night, at a meeting of my union's Delegate Assemby, I announced my plans to resign as president of the United Federation of Teachers, effective July 31st. Below are my remarks.

When I was elected president of our national union, the AFT, I said that I would hold both positions...

President Barack Obama today made it clear that he understands what it will take to make our public schools, as he put it, "the envy of the world." In his speech before the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the president called for providing all Americans with a comprehensive, competitive education...

When the economy catches a cold, our schools get pneumonia. Today, pneumonia is spreading from state to state, and our students are suffering the symptoms.

In troubled times such as these, the battered economy will affect virtually every sector of society. That's why I believe we must take...

Yesterday, I spoke at the National Press Club in Washington. The following are excerpts from my speech. The full transcript can be found at www.aft.org.

Neither the economy nor public education can be strong when the other is weak. Growing the economy and creating a shared prosperity requires a...

Americans have been transfixed by the nation's fiscal crisis this past week. Bank failures, government bailouts and a major restructuring of Wall Street finally pulled press attention off of trivialities. Sen. McCain is finally waking up and discovering an important issue that working Americans have been worried about for a...

Good teachers usually have good ideas about what it would take to better their schools, help other teachers, or improve education across their communities.

But turning those good ideas into reality isn't easy. Here's how it usually goes:

One teacher, who has years of experience and a knack for turning...

DENVER -- We've heard a lot of great speeches in Denver this week, and I have no doubt that Barack Obama's speech tonight will be among them. But it's a speech delivered 45 years ago today that's been running through my head recently. I'm thinking, of course, of the "I...

This past weekend in Chicago, I had the great honor of being elected president of the American Federation of Teachers. With my mom, a former teacher herself, looking on, I was filled with such tremendous pride and gratitude -- especially for the example she set for me.

When I was...