There are days when it seems the speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, is moving toward school reform. But these are too often followed by days on which he takes back much of what has just been placed on the table. Still, that he is offering at all is promising, and the progress, however halting, may produce an encouraging outcome. Fred Siegel’s suggestion in Friday’s New York Sun that Mr. Silver may become the unlikely hero of education reform seems increasingly possible following the events of the past few days.

The teachers and the city seem unable to settle on a new contract, and the bad blood between Mayor Bloomberg and Randi Weingarten seems increasingly personal. She has also continued to bluster about striking, though a strike would violate the Taylor Law. Harold Levy, will stay on temporarily as chancellor until Mr. Bloomberg can find his own man to fill the post. The issues of mandatory city funding levels in exchange for mayoral control of the schools and the elimination of local school boards have yet to be resolved.

In the midst of all this, Messrs. Bloomberg and Silver held a five-hour marathon session on Friday that may come to be seen as a turning point, especially in light of the animosity the speaker directed at the mayor after State Senator Majority Leader Joseph Bruno introduced what was fundamentally Mr. Bloomberg’s plan for education reform to the Senate. Things seem to be achieving a critical mass, and with only three weeks remaining on Albany’s legislative calendar, the time for action is now.

For this deal to happen, the theory goes, Mr. Silver — who has been portrayed in the press as a spoiler — has to be given a way of looking good. Apportioning credit is not the only issue, but, say partisans of this theory, it would be naïve to think it is insignificant. If Mr. Silver throws his weight behind a plan acceptable to the mayor, as he seems increasingly inclined to do, he will disappoint some of his core supporters in the teachers union and on the local school boards. Additionally, he has to deal with the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, which is politically vested in the community boards.

There are those who insist Mr. Silver has come a long way on school reform, and a tenable deal may finally be near. We have our doubts. If Mr. Silver allows this to happen — and he can certainly derail any deal he so chooses — it will not make him a knight in shining armor. But we don’t mind saying that we are glad to see him, however hesitantly, however reluctantly, move against some of his own worst instincts and most significant supporters toward a reform that is long overdue in the city of New York.