GreatBigBlog

From the day we announced our School Reform Blogging Fellowship, our team has received a number of great applications from parents, teachers and students eager to share their firsthand insights on education reform. But two applications truly stood out.

Today I’m thrilled to introduce Tamara Gilkes and Priscilla W. Guo, our first School Reform Blogging Fellows!

As blogging fellows, Tamara and Priscilla will report from the front lines of education reform, writing about issues that directly affect their public schools. Don’t miss their debut on NYCAN’s blog today!

In the meantime, I encourage you to get to know our new blogging fellows:

First, meet Tamara. Tamara teaches sixth- and seventh-grade science at Achievement First Bushwick Middle School. Outside of the classroom, Tamara advocates with Educators 4 Excellence to include te...

Here's what educators, advocates, wonks and policymakers are talking about today:

News & analysis

Teachers' unions enter super pac world
The organized labor movement may not like the movement toward super PACs that have multiplied in the wake of recent campaign-finance decisions, but their motto for now seems to be, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. We reported last year that the National Education Association had set up its own super PAC. Now, the NEA has re-upped, moving $3 million from its PAC to its super PAC, called the "NEA Advocacy Fund," according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks federal campaign-finance issues. The American Federation of Teachers, meanwhile, gave $1 million to the Super PAC run by the AFL-CIO labor coalition, of which it is a member. PACs, or direct donations, are typically limited to $5,000 per candidate each election cycle at the federal level. Super PACs, on the other hand, can spend unlimited amounts to sway e...