There is no question that significant business remains. But by focusing exclusively on what did not happen, we risk missing the fact that more was accomplished for current and aspiring middle-class New Yorkers this session than perhaps any other in the state's recent history.

Middle-class New Yorkers care about sending their kids to a decent school and being able to take them to a doctor for checkups and illness. They worry about how they will support their families if they are injured on the job.

In industries like construction, middle-class New Yorkers worry about being cheated out of benefits and overtime pay because they are misclassified as independent contractors. In industries like child care, New Yorkers worry they will never succeed in working their way into the middle class unless they can organize a union.

New Yorkers have seen substantial progress on every one of these fronts so far in 2007. Eligibility for Child Health Plus was expanded to 400 percent of the poverty level, making insurance coverage available to hundreds of thousands of uninsured children. At the same time, Medicaid enrollment procedures were streamlined so adults and children who already qualify can more easily get the care they need. Workers' compensation insurance was reformed so that not only do injured workers get higher benefits, but employers pay less.

Thanks to historic educational investment, parents in New York's underserved school districts will finally see their children's classrooms receive the resources necessary to provide a sound education.

The Legislature also provided sufficient funding to guarantee universal access to preschool, an educational initiative with a proven public payoff, according to the experience of states like Oklahoma. Research from across the country has found that children who attend preschool are more prepared for elementary school, have more developed social skills and are less likely to need special education classes. Down the road, they are more likely to graduate from high school and be employed, and less likely to need public assistance or go to jail.

By executive order, Spitzer gave day care workers the right to organize. At the same time, he has begun to crack down on unscrupulous businesses that mislabel employees as independent contractors to dodge their fair share of taxes and employee pay. Both measures will enable the affected workers to get a fair shake in the workplace and a decent standard of living for themselves and their families.

Clearly, more could have been done. Paid family leave would enable more New Yorkers to care for new babies or sick family members without risking economic insecurity. Enacting Mayor Michael Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan for New York City would reduce traffic jams, improve air quality and provide funding for much-needed mass transit investments. Campaign finance reform would help to rein in the special interests whose influence permeates Albany. The lack of progress on these and other needed reforms is disappointing.

But by minimizing the significance of the substantial middle-class policy victories that did occur, we risk succumbing to a dangerous myth about Albany dysfunction: a belief that nothing can be accomplished, and no amount of effort or resolve can make a difference.

The truth is, thanks to what was accomplished in Albany this year, more New Yorkers will have access to a more secure middle-class standard of living. Any state that can do that can accomplish much more besides.

Amy Traub is the director of research for the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy in New York City.