I've made it a point lately to emphasize the role of accountability in addressing the needs of low-performing schools and students, and as a significant ingredient in closing the achievement gap. I've gone so far as to say that educators should embrace accountability — and their own accountability for things they can control.

Most often, I raise this within the context of the increased focus placed on education as discussions continue to heat up over the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind.

Certainly, in New York, where a record-setting investment in education is based on a new aid formula and issues of accountability, the focus is clearly on education, and the public eye is directed at the public school.

Education Week — the well-respected national journal covering the profession most of us practice — agrees.

"As states look for ways to hold school districts accountable for how they use big increases in K-12 funding, New York's experience may offer a test case in directing the flow of that new money," wrote Michele McNeil in Education Week's Sept. 5 issue. "Under the state's ambitious 'Contracts for Excellence' program, (56) of New York's 705 school districts will share $430 million in extra aid this school year, but are required to file detailed plans that limit the spending to five strategies intended to raise student achievement.

The early signs are that districts are complying with the new rules."

Ms. McNeil's early assessment is encouraging, but it's just that — early. There are some hits and misses in districts across the state and, as of this writing, the State Education Department has yet to officially approve any of the plans.

Still, anecdotal feedback that we're getting from NYSUT's local leaders, as well as information from the Board of Regents, indicates that most of the Contracts for Excellence districts are working within the spirit of the law to develop and — eventually — implement academic programs that move them closer to ending the achievement gap.

A new initiative

The Contracts for Excellence were part of Gov. Spitzer's historic 2007-08 education budget. The 56 school districts identified had at least one school designated as "in need of improvement" and received increases in foundation aid of 10 percent or more. The contracts to be submitted by these districts need to describe how the districts plan to spend their increases within the five areas allowed by the new initiative:

• class-size reduction;

• student time on task;

• teacher and principal quality;

• middle school and high school restructuring;

• and full-day kindergarten or pre-K.

Also, the contract districts can apply to use up to 15 percent of their additional funding for experimental programs.

While NYSUT's analysis of contracts available for public examination leaves us with a healthy blend of skepticism and optimism, Education Week's review indicates that, for the most part, districts plan to spend their money on programs that have proven to work and have been consistently supported by our members.

According to Ms. McNeil's report, about half of the new money is being spent this year on reducing class size — a welcome finding. Meanwhile, our own research is finding plans that we can stand solidly behind. They include proposals for additional reading teachers in elementary and middle schools, expanded Academic Intervention Services, early childhood centers (although, unfortunately, according to Education Week's analysis, little of the new money in any of the plans reviewed is earmarked specifically for early childhood education), mentoring for teachers and principals, and more curriculum and professional development.

These are all academic strategies that research and experience tell us can work.

But, as with any new program, the Contracts for Excellence come with questions and cautions. Since our locals and their members weren't required by law to be involved in the development of these plans, we won't know for sure that what's submitted — as good as it might look — is how we'll see money spent until it starts flowing from Albany.

Transparency is a concern in other ways as well. While teachers weren't required to be part of the process, the broader community was. Here again, while it appears that in many cases there was obvious compliance, in other districts the opportunity to bend the interpretation couldn't be resisted.

Public input was solicited in some communities but not in others. Some districts have readily shared their plans with the public through the media and on Web sites, while others claim they never kept a copy of the original plan sent to SED!

Some of the plans are incredibly detailed; others much too vague to be of any real value.

Of concern, of course, is that, contrary to the intent of the contracts, some districts may use the money for programs and initiatives that would have been funded anyway: supplanting district funds rather than supplementing them. "The devil's in the details" certainly applies here.

And then there's the issue of timing. We're moving rapidly through the new school year and districts have yet to be given the necessary approvals to spend expected funding. As indicated earlier, SED continues to review the plans and to work with districts to fine-tune their contracts. While this is certainly a better approach than simply rejecting plans or approving weak ones, it has frustrated some administrators and teachers eager to implement their plans. In many cases, if too much time is allowed to pass, some strategies and programs will no longer be viable during this school year.

Cautious approach

"It was very important to us to do this right," Johanna Duncan-Poitier, SED's senior deputy commissioner, told Education Week. "This is about making a difference, and we have really made a commitment to this."

NYSUT couldn't agree more. The state investment in public education provides us with a unique opportunity to help end the gap in performance that plagues too many of our students. It is an opportunity we simply can't squander. While we had hoped for a more expeditious process, we support the due diligence exercised by SED. It's critical that SED ensures that approved plans aren't watered down with escape clauses and asterisks that might allow some districts to get around the goals of the Contracts for Excellence.

NYSUT will continue to do its part as well. In addition to meetings held in the spring and summer, Vice President Maria Neira will bring together in November the 56 local presidents from the contract districts to discuss how their funding is to be spent, how the process worked — or didn't work — this year, and how it might be changed next year when teachers are required to be part of the decision-making.

There is much to celebrate about education in New York — many successes and programs of excellence. Let's hope the Contracts for Excellence provide the same opportunity for the rest of New York's students.