Successful entrepreneurs almost always have one thing in common: a business plan. Plans that give business direction and focus, and offer management, employees and investors what they need to know about providing for the needs of their customers.

NYSUT also has a plan. Our plan, or "frameworks," runs through all our work and helps us set our agenda. If you were a delegate to the NYSUT convention or have attended a meeting or conference at which a union officer addressed the audience, you're likely to have heard about these five frameworks: political voice, active communications, education, organizing and social justice. Like a good business plan, the frameworks keep us focused and help to ensure that we deliver for our members and the larger community we serve.

Of course, one would expect education, organizing, politics, and communications to be part of our core structure and focus. Almost by definition, they are who we are and they are what we do. But why social justice? Well, as I've said many times and written here before, you can't be a union without a social justice agenda.

NYSUT has significant influence, and this influence helps us succeed in our political, labor and policy endeavors. But significant influence brings with it significant responsibility — a responsibility to better the lives of those we serve. This means not just the lives of our more than 600,000 members, but also the lives of our students and patients, their families and the taxpayers and citizens who depend on us.

NYSUT understands that it has a responsibility to the greater community, and we strive to live up to that responsibility each and every day.

Gap conference

It was almost a year ago that we demonstrated one way we embrace our role as advocates for social justice. Last October, we hosted a much-publicized symposium on the achievement gap. The conference, "Every Child Counts," as we expected, demonstrated that education is one — but only one — factor in ensuring that our students succeed. Other factors stressed by presenters and participants included health care, housing and family. Closing the achievement gap means advocating for strong and viable programs in each of these areas.

The achievement gap leaves far too many of our students behind. The gap spares no community and can be found in urban, suburban and rural settings. While many factors associated with the achievement gap can be identified, the one that is most consistently present is poverty. And, while the hardships of poverty do not discriminate against any racial or ethnic community, for a variety of social, political and historical reasons they are clearly more prevalent in communities with children of color and impact these children far more significantly.

By most measures, we're making progress in closing the gap. This summer, the State Education Department reported more students than ever took the SAT exam, with the greatest increase in test-takers coming among Latino and African- American students.

Other recent good news from the state includes improvements in student achievement across grades 3-8 on 2008 math and English assessments, with African-American and Latino students posting gains. Improvements in the performance of students with disabilities was also reported.

The progress, while reassuring, falls far short of closing the achievement gap. As SED noted in its most recent report to the Regents, "… although there have been some recent gains, the disparity for underserved groups remains especially troubling in terms of high school graduation."

The issue of high school graduation and the dropout crisis will be addressed in Rochester in a few weeks at the Governor's Summit on School Engagement and Dropout Prevention. I will be participating in that summit and look forward to adding NYSUT's experience with addressing the achievement gap to the discussion. I will also continue to commit NYSUT's resources and expertise to confronting the significant challenges associated with the unacceptable dropout rate that currently exists.

RFK project

A discussion of social justice — especially a discussion held in New York state during a highly charged political year — affords a natural segue to the steadfast commitment to social justice of our state's former U.S. senator, Robert F. Kennedy. Even 40 years after his death, Sen. Kennedy remains an icon for those who believe — as so many union members do — that we're responsible for one another and that we have within our power the opportunity to shape a better society.

That's why I am honored to have the opportunity to involve NYSUT in an exciting project that recognizes RFK's legacy and educates today's students about Sen. Kennedy's values and life of social commitment to the neediest in society. Most importantly, the project challenges all of us — not only our students — to carry on RFK's social justice agenda.

"Speak Up, Speak Out" is a series of lesson plans developed over the summer by NYSUT members and staff in collaboration with the RFK Memorial and SED. It will be introduced in fourth-, eighth- and 11th-grade classrooms this fall (when the Triborough Bridge will be renamed by New York state after the senator) to link Sen. Kennedy's social justice agenda to state standards in social studies and English language arts. The guides are rich in resources and thought-provoking materials. The materials and additional resources will also be available on NYSUT's Web site, http://www.nysut.org/. It is our hope the RFK project will spark a renewed interest in the man, and the values for which he stood and died — values that must regain our focus.