Contracts For Excellence Approved For 26 School Districts

State Education Commissioner Richard Mills announced today the approval of Contracts for Excellence between the Department and 26 school districts throughout the State. The Department continues to work with the remaining 13 districts to finalize their Contracts.

State law requires that certain districts – those that have at least one school in need of improvement and received an increase in State Foundation Aid above a threshold – enter into "Contracts for Excellence." Contract districts must spend a portion of their Foundation Aid increase on programs and activities that have been shown to improve student achievement and that are focused primarily on students with the greatest educational needs. These districts may use funds for class size reduction; increased time on task; teacher/principal quality initiatives; middle school/high school restructuring; model programs for English language learners; full day pre-kindergarten/kindergarten; and experimental programs.

The 26 school districts with approved Contracts for the current school year are:  Arlington, Binghamton, Buffalo, Copiague, Dunkirk, Gloversville, Greece, Hannibal, Haverstraw-Stony Point, Hyde Park, Massena, Mexico, Middletown, Newburgh, Northeastern Clinton, Odessa-Montour, Ossining, Oswego, Port Jervis, Spencer-Van Etten, Syracuse, Utica, Valley Central, Wappingers, Watertown, and Watervliet.  

The 13 school districts whose Contracts are still under development or review are: Albany, Amsterdam, Elmira, Fulton, Geneva, Monticello, New York City, Norwich, Rochester, Schenectady, South Colonie, White Plains, and Yonkers.

"These Contracts represent a commitment that districts make to improve student achievement and provide for public involvement and accountability," Regents Chancellor Robert M. Bennett said. "They offer an unprecedented opportunity to link school funding with increased expectation for achievement."

Commissioner Mills said, "Districts throughout the State have responded by using their Contract funding in ways that have been shown to improve student performance, especially for those students in greatest need. We will continue working with them to ensure that student achievement improves as a result of the Contracts."

2008-09 is the second year that the law has required certain districts to enter into Contracts for Excellence. In the first year, 2007-08, 55 school districts were required to adopt Contracts. Those 55 districts – comprising over 1,500 schools with a total enrollment of 1.1 million students – received $428 million in Foundation Aid that was subject to Contracts. Monitoring by the Education Department showed that the vast majority of Contracts were implemented as approved and where there were compliance issues, corrective action plans were put in place.

This year, 20 districts were removed from the list of districts required to enter into Contracts, while four were added, for a total of 39 Contract districts in 2008-09. The 26 districts with Contracts approved today will distribute $53.5 million in Contract funds to 279 schools that have an enrollment of roughly 180,000 students. Forty-two percent of those students are eligible for the federal free lunch program, 15 percent are students with disabilities, and six percent are English language learners.

In the newly approved Contracts, the districts committed to:

• Direct 75 percent of their Contract funds to the neediest students.
• Implement and expand programs shown to improve student achievement.
• Set performance targets indicating the academic improvements they expect students to achieve. This includes targets for students in need and also for groups of students, such as students with disabilities and English language learners, who need more help to meet the standards.
• Use the money in proportion to the need in low-performing schools before spending on other schools.
• Ensure public involvement in the development and implementation of the Contract.
   

Examples of specific programs to be implemented by the districts with approved Contracts:

Class Size Reduction: Will be implemented in 83 schools at a cost of $11.68 million, reflecting 21.8% of approved Contract funds.

Research has shown that reductions in class size, particularly in the early grades, can improve student achievement.  More than three-quarters of the approved Contract for Excellence districts will use at least part of their fund allocations to support these efforts.

• Newburgh City School District is continuing a district-wide class size reduction plan over three years to achieve a class size of 20 students.
• Copiague Union Free School District is adding primary classroom teachers to reduce class sizes.

Increased Time on Task: Will be implemented in 170 schools at a cost of $18.95 million, reflecting 35.4% of approved Contract funds.

• Buffalo City School District has increased its school year by 20 additional days in the summer in SURR schools.
• Mexico Central School District has created an alternative high school for at risk students and a summer literacy program.

Middle and High School Restructuring: Will be implemented in 56 schools at a cost of $11.26 million, reflecting 21% of approved Contract funds.

• Oswego City School District will fund an alternative 9th grade small learning community with a block schedule.  This program is for students who have difficulty transitioning and need a smaller classroom environment.
• Greece Central School District is funding co-teaching classrooms in four core curricular areas.
• Newburgh will be expanding its Career and Technical Academy with funding for the Nursing Assistant program and the Construction Career program.

Teacher and Principal Quality Initiatives:  Will be implemented in 145 schools at a cost of $7.9 million, reflecting 14.8% of approved Contract funds.

The research shows that improving teacher preparation is one of the strongest policy levers that schools have to improve achievement, and a number of districts are making significant efforts in this area.

• Syracuse City School District has professional development at the center of its plans, using administrative mentors and instructional support teachers.
• Other districts have funded school improvement planning teams, curriculum mentoring services, and professional development in differentiated instruction.

Full-day Pre-K and Kindergarten:  Will be implemented in nine schools at a cost of $1.2 million, reflecting 2.3% of approved Contract funds.

• Massena Central School District is offering full day pre-kindergarten for all eligible students.
• Middletown City School District is funding a full day kindergarten program.              

Model Program: English Language Learners:   Will be implemented in 19 schools at a cost of $2.27 million, reflecting 4.2% of approved Contract funds.

• Haverstraw-Stony Point Central School District is funding a receiving class for ELL students with interrupted education.
• Greece Central School District is directing funds to ELL early intervention services and a dual language program.
• Ossining Union Free School District is expanding the two-way bilingual program that was implemented with last year’s funding.

Some districts will also use Contract funds to help address the social, behavioral and emotional growth of pupils. For example, the Greece CSD is funding a Family Support Center – a school-centered collaborative program that coordinates services to help strengthen family, school and community life.

Next Steps

The Department will continue to work with the 13 remaining districts to complete their Contracts.

Additionally, the Department will continue to monitor the implementation of the Contracts for Excellence and will use what was learned from the first year of Contract implementation and monitoring to assist districts this year. Building upon that knowledge, the Department will, among other things, continue to meet with Contract districts to offer technical assistance; provide the Regents with analyses of broad trends in student performance in C4E districts, once a full set of test results are available; and report to the Regents on the degree to which schools were successful in meeting performance targets.

Click on the link which follows to see the twenty-six 2008-09 Contracts that are currently approved:  http://eservices.nysed.gov/c4e-public/