By all indications, new Minneapolis Superintendent Thandiwe Peebles is a strong, bold and dynamic woman -- which is a good thing, as she has a challenging job ahead of her. And with her hiring, the Minneapolis school board has the opportunity to send a powerful message to educators and the community about accountability if they place a focus on that part of her contract that is performance-based.

Under such an arrangement, like those of CEOs of major corporations, she is guaranteed a basic salary -- but if certain goals are met, then monetary bonuses would follow. This is happening elsewhere in urban settings, and it is working.

In 2002, Deborah Jewell-Sherman signed a performance-based contract as the new superintendent in Richmond, Va. Many colleagues advised her not to sign -- the contract was seen as an invitation to her own dismissal.

But the Richmond school board made it clear: It was time for action. Members wanted measurable results and weren't going to wait around forever to see them met.

Jewell-Sherman was required to meet three goals in her first year:

• To double the number of the district's 55 schools with 70 percent or more of their students passing the state tests. (That number went from 10 to 23.)

• No more than 12 schools would rank in the lowest achievement category. (Under Jewell-Sherman's guidance, that number fell from 23 to 9.)

• At least 70 percent of the third-graders in 16 low-performing schools would pass the state reading test. (This goal was not met.)

But for exceeding two of her three goals, the school board awarded her $24,000, a hefty addition to her $133,500 base salary.

In contrast, that portion of Peebles' contract to be based upon performance is unusually small -- at $10,000, it is only a fraction of her total package of $188,000, and surprisingly, the terms have not yet been set. Yet the question must be asked: Will the terms and the incentive be enough to make a difference?

Richmond is a smaller district, with about half as many school-aged children as Minneapolis. However, the socio-economic standing of the two districts is similar: 68 percent of Minneapolis public school children get free or reduced-price lunch -- the government's proxy for poverty -- compared with 72 percent of Richmond's children.

Ethnically, the differences are stark. In Richmond's district, 91 percent of schoolchildren are black and 7 percent are white. The students who make up Minneapolis public schools are a more eclectic mix, with 42 percent black, 27 percent white, 13 percent Asian and 14 percent Hispanic.

Wealthier suburbs ring both cities, but there is no open enrollment in Virginia as there is in Minnesota. Minneapolis parents can -- and frequently do -- leave the district for other educational opportunities. In Richmond, however, parents have been known to lie about their addresses or report that their children live with relatives outside city boundaries in a desperate attempt to get their children into a different school district. In other words, in both cities parents will do what it takes to give their children opportunities they perceive to be lacking in their own districts.

Both districts face many of the same challenges -- an entrenched bureaucracy, onerous union rules, and students from disadvantaged families lacking a grounding in basic skills.

But hope is beginning to glimmer in Richmond. Thanks to Jewell-Sherman's determination and leadership, attitudes are changing. In the past, some children were seen as beyond help, but now educators report a new attitude -- one that focuses on the intrinsic capabilities of each child rather than on obsessing about how a child's background makes that child unaccountable for his or her learning. In other words, family life and personal circumstances are not used as an excuse for children to underperform. Expectations are high and children are encouraged to reach beyond the artificial boundaries set by "the soft bigotry of low expectations."

Education in the age of accountability is a different sort of challenge and demands a new and bold approach. Leadership must be decisive, change must be swift, and there can be no fear of upsetting the status quo. Our children don't have decades to languish in a broken system while adults try to figure things out.

It took a leader of action who was willing to accept public accountability to begin the turnaround of Richmond public schools. Will the momentum there be maintained? Only time will tell, but current indicators bode well for the future.

One thing is certain -- if things can change so dramatically in Richmond, they can surely change in Minneapolis. The goals imposed on the superintendent in Richmond became aspirations shared by the whole community. A performance-based contract with goals that are bold, decisive and clearly measurable has the hope of bringing energy, action and a new momentum for reform to Minneapolis public schools.

-- Cheri Pierson Yecke, Ph.D., is Distinguished Senior Fellow for Education and Social Policy at Center of the American Experiment, a conservative think tank in Minneapolis. She recently served as Minnesota’s education commissioner.

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