State Education Department Completes "Contract For Excellence" Monitoring;

The State Education Department presented the findings of its monitoring of the "Contract for Excellence" school districts to the Board of Regents today. The Department reported that the vast majority of those districts implemented their contract provisions, providing new and expanded programs and services shown to improve student performance. There are exceptions, however – particularly with regard to required class size reductions – that must be corrected.

The 2007-08 State budget required, for the first time, that certain school districts enter into "Contracts for Excellence" and spend a portion of their Foundation Aid increase on certain allowable programs and activities. Contract for Excellence school districts are required to implement proven programs and activities primarily focused on students with the greatest educational needs. These districts could use funds for class size reduction; time on task; teacher/principal quality initiatives; middle school/high school restructuring; and full day pre-kindergarten/kindergarten and experimental programs. For the 2007-08 school year, 55 school districts across the State – made up of over 1,500 schools with a total enrollment of 1.1 million students – were required to adopt Contracts.

"The Regents insist that districts meet their Contract obligations," said Regents Chancellor Robert M. Bennett. "It’s encouraging to see that most have substantially complied. We will make certain that those who haven’t will quickly come into compliance."  

State Education Commissioner Richard Mills said, "The Legislature and the Executive have given schools record amounts of State Aid to help improve performance through proven methods, like class size reduction. With that added funding comes added responsibility. The Department and I will continue to work closely with Contract districts to ensure that they meet their commitments."

To meet the Regents expectation that the terms of the approved Contracts are being met, the Department conducted monitoring visits to 183 schools in Contract districts between March and May 2008. Since it was not possible to conduct site-visits at all 1,500 schools impacted by the Contracts for Excellence, the Department visited a sample of schools in each district based on student performance.  The more schools identified as "in need of improvement" in a district, the more schools the Department selected for monitoring. 

Department monitoring visits assessed implementation in the following areas:

• Implementation of the 2007-08 Contract as approved;
• Public comment process for 2007-08 Contracts;
• Established procedures for parent complaint;
• Improved student performance and expectation of achievement of contract performance targets; and
• Public comment process for 2008-09 Contracts.

In general, Department monitors found that the majority of Contract districts substantially implemented the Contract provisions as approved by the Commissioner. In those districts where Department monitors had concerns about implementation, detailed monitoring reports that included findings and corrective action steps that need to be taken were provided to them. And those districts must prepare a corrective action plan to correct deficiencies within 30 days.

New York City Class Size Reduction

In its Contract, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) was required to reduce the average class size in its public schools, as part of a broad, five-year class size reduction plan. NYCDOE substantially increased the number of classroom teachers, by 1,892, and made progress toward achievement of the citywide targets they established.  However, they did not fully achieve the 2007-08 school year citywide class size targets the NYCDOE established in their plan.

NYC Average Class Size 

NYCDOE made progress toward achieving its 2007-08 school year pupil-to-teacher ratio targets. As permitted by law, much of the New York City’s class size funding was used to reduce pupil-teacher ratios rather than reduce official class sizes.

Overall, 53.9% of New York City schools reported that either class size or pupil-to-teacher ratio increased in 2007-08. In contrast, 46.1% of schools reported decreases in both class size and pupil-to-teacher ratio.

NYCDOE will be required to improve implementation of the second year of its class size plan. And based upon the Department’s findings, certain actions have already been taken by NYCDOE, including:

• For 2008-09, the timing of funding designations and Contract for Excellence allocations has already allowed class size planning to occur when it is more likely to impact system and school-level resource allocations.

• NYCDOE must provide evidence of how Contract funds were used appropriately to support class size reduction in schools in the 70 schools that received $100,000 or more in Contract funding but in which class sizes and pupil-teacher ratios increased. In addition, all Contract districts, including New York City, are required to submit certified audit reports that show that systems are in place to separately track receipt and spending of Contract for Excellence funding for purposes of assessing that contract funding is targeted to schools consistent with the approved Contract and that the increase in total foundation aid and supplemental improvement plan grants have been used to supplement and not supplant funds allocated by the district in the previous year.

• NYCDOE must provide SED with class size and pupil-to-teacher targets for each school and a detailed description of how many additional classrooms are to be created in school year 2008-09 under the Class Size Reduction Option for each school, including the grades, subjects and/or special populations that are targeted for reduced teacher/student ratios for 2008-09.

NYCDOE’s 2008-2009 class size reduction plan will be approved only after all required actions have been taken.  To receive approval, NYCDOE must demonstrate that the elements of its plan will result in NYCDOE achieving its 2008-2009 average class size and pupil-to-teacher ratio targets.

The Commissioner’s Class Size Panel will make recommendations on future class size targets and provide guidance on NYCDOE’s five year plan. The panel will also recommend methodologies that can be used statewide to calculate class sizes and pupil-to-teacher ratios.  The Commissioner then must set class size targets and pupil-to-teacher ratio targets.

Next Steps for All Contract for Excellence Districts Statewide

The Department is using what we learned in the first year of Contract for Excellence implementation and monitoring to inform the approval process for the 2008-09 Contracts. Building upon that knowledge, the Department will, among other things, continue to meet with Contract districts, provide technical assistance, and review final monitoring reports provided by districts; review New York City’s class size data and detailed year-end expenditure reports; 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. Additionally, the Department is discussing potential consequences in the event that districts do not carry out the terms of their Contracts and/or fail to follow-through on corrective actions.

The Regents Monitoring Report as well as several supporting documents are attached.