Most teachers, however, didn’t lock their doors, and Ms. J was one such teacher. So, when I went into class, they watched me go over to the pathetic desk that I sat at.

Before the initiative, teachers in the city’s worst schools were far less effective at raising student test scores than their colleagues at better-performing suburban schools.

It was on their desks. A Woodbury teacher wrote inspirational messages directly on her students' desks Monday before they started four days of high-pressure, high-stakes Common Core-aligned tests.

Luther Burbank Elementary School principal Debi Cardozo, left, and sixth grade teacher Debbie Crapeau help load a handmade desk into a vehicle for student Rudy Magaña, 11, in Santa Rosa on Friday ...

The first day of school must be one of the most anticipated days on the annual calendar — for students, parents and teachers. But it’s the latter group that gets busy every August whipping their ...

A teacher from Yorkshire Elementary, in Springettsbury Township, had submitted a similar request, so the foundation awarded $10,000 for both schools to purchase standing desks for their classrooms.