The Challenge

• The Governor and Legislature committed historic investments to improve the quality of our schools, and enacted a formula designed to direct aid increases to school districts that need the most help. Unless that investment is tied to accountability, it will be wasted.
• Without greater accountability, our education system will not become an engine of economic growth and opportunity.

Our Approach

• Phase 1 of the Governor’s education accountability program centered on the Contracts for Excellence. Last year, school districts that received the largest Foundation Aid increases (10 percent or more than $15 million) and had one or more schools that failed to meet state performance standards, were required to develop a “Contract for Excellence.” As a result, 55 districts, serving nearly half of New York’s school children entered into contracts demonstrating how funds would be spent to produce measurable results in student outcomes. We will make additional progress on this initiative in 2008-09.
• The Governor and Legislature also enacted several measures to build a state-of-the-art accountability system, improve the performance of all of New York’s schools, and to hold districts accountable for results. To implement these measures, the Governor’s Office will work with the Board of Regents and State Education Department to:
• Develop school and district “improvement targets” by July 1, 2008
• Ensure that “student progress reports” are written for all students by July 1, 2008
• Design and develop a new P-16 data system that will enable the State to track individual student performance from preschool through college
• Establish “Enhanced Accountability Systems”:
• first, establishing an interim, modified accountability system using existing state assessments to measure real student progress and academic growth from one year to the next by September 2009
• then, including a new, state-of-the-art “Value-Added Assessment Model ” that can measure the effects of a school, program and other factors on student learning to be completed by September 2010
• Require improvement plans from districts identified as requiring academic progress or with one or more schools identified as in need of improvement, and develop a plan for intervention in districts that fail to demonstrate progress
• Develop a “school leadership report card” and “school progress reports” outlining a school’s progress toward student achievement goals, as well as an assessment of leadership
• Establish minimum standards and procedures in order to strengthen the teacher tenure determination process
• Expand and improve the Schools Under Registration Review (SURR) process, and develop a plan for increased support and intervention in troubled schools, including the appointment of School Quality Review Teams
• Establish a “distinguished educators program” to assign accomplished and skilled educators to assist in low performing districts
• Develop methods to support educators in the use of student performance data
• Develop informational materials to help parents better understand the Regents examinations and learning standards

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