The Baldrige Goes to School

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The Baldrige Goes to School
Margaret Byrnes Quality Education Associates Fort
Myers, Florida www.qualityeducationassociates.com
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Objectives

1. To provide an overview of the Baldrige framework
   for excellence in education schools and
   classrooms
2. To identify the Baldrige criteria category issues
   resulting from a series of common dilemmas
3. To identify the source of gaps in key processes
   that lead to student learning satisfaction
   results
4. To recognize the importance of students-as-workers
   in the classroom in order to gain more buy-in
   and greater enthusiasm for learning
5. To engage in a self-assessment process of your
   leadership and classroom system as a means of
   identifying opportunities to start any
   improvement efforts

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The Baldrige Framework - Education
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How does the Baldrige relate to your system? At
the school level. . .
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• FEEDBACK
• Surveys - satisfaction
• Focus Groups
• Standardized and Criterion Test Results
• Enthusiasm for learning

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Continuous Process Improvement

• RESULTS
• Students who meet or exceed expected performance
  levels (targets) on nationally or state normed
  tests
• Student achievement levels on local tests
• Students who meet or exceed satisfaction and
  enthusiasm for learning levels
• Decrease in discipline referrals, suspensions,
  expulsions
• Increase in attendance and decrease in tardiness
• Increase in parental, next-teacher-in-line, other
  key stakeholder group satisfaction
• Increase in satisfaction of the
  next-school-in-line
• Faculty and staff satisfaction and morale
• Decrease in complaints
• Improved budgetary responsibility

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Detailed school-level system diagram
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How does the Baldrige relate to your system? At
the classroom level. . .
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The Baldrige Framework - Classroom
Brain Center
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A Classroom System
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1-7
5
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The Driver Triad
7 Organizational Performance Results
Outcomes
Driver Triad
4 Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management
Brain Center
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The Brain Center
Outcomes
Driver Triad
Work Core
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The Work Core
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Category 7 - Results
Outcomes
Work Core
Driver Triad
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Alignment
No change - Mixed Results
Unpredictable Results
Predictable, Better Results
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Integration . . .

Refers to the harmonization of plans, processes,
information, resource decisions, actions,
results, and analysis to support key
organization-wide goals. It . . . is achieved
when the individual components of a performance
management system operate as a fully
interconnected unit.
- 2005 Baldrige Education Criteria for
Performance Excellence
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The Baldrige Framework - Linkages
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Discussion Flow for Dilemmas

• Move into groups of 5 to 7
• 5-6 minutes to discuss the following - and be
  as
• specific as possible

Does the dilemma demonstrate gaps in knowledge
and understanding of the requirements of any of
the Baldrige categories? If so, which
one(s)? Does the dilemma suggest any
misalignment within the classroom system?

• Selected report-outs and discussion

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Students in Mr. Jones class dont seem motivated
to learn. He is tired and confused, and
beginning to feel very old. Hes been teaching
for a long time and it just seems that kids are
different these days. Granted, the textbook is
a little outdated, but that cant be the problem
since he has always thought of himself as a good
teacher able to provide lessons and activities
that address the curriculum. Now, with the
accountability and high stakes testing, Mr. Jones
is getting pressure from the administration. It
seems his students are not doing well enough to
meet the district and state requirements.Mr.
Jones is a solid teacher. He has used a variety
of teaching methods, but in order to get the
information to the students he relies heavily on
his lectures. Only about half the students turn
in their homework and of that number, about 1/3
complete it correctly. Students come to class
with very little energy these days. Obviously,
the parents dont care about education anymore
because they dont respond to notes that he sends
home and few come to back-to-school night. When
he talks with the students, they seem polite, but
just sort of shrug off his inquiries. He just
doesnt know what is wrong with students or
parents these days. Mr. Jones shared some of his
results with us from the last 3 months.
Dilemma Student Apathy
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Dilemma Student Apathy
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Dilemma Student Apathy
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It is amazing how many students come to class
late in Ms. Youngs class. Recently, she has
started to track the amount of time it takes
before her students settle down and are ready to
learn. She has discovered that, on average, she
loses about 10 instructional minutes a day. When
she factors this out over the whole school year,
she is aghast that she will have lost 30 hours
or 5 whole days of school. The problem is what
to do about it.Ms. Young has been teaching for
3 years. She enjoys chatting with the students
outside class before school, during and after
school and has a good relationship with them.
The teachers lounge and office are at the other
end of the school from her classroom, and
sometimes she has to go there in between classes.
She has talked with the class about their
tardiness used the schools approach and sent
students back to the office for a late pass and
even called parents. Students just dont seem to
care.
Dilemma Tardy
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Dilemma Closing the Achievement Gap
This years 5th grade reading results are not
bad, but when the Board of Education asks for
disaggregated results, they are disappointed in
what they see. Board members are frustrated and
have asked the Superintendent for answers. Last
years budget included 150,000 for staff
development for elementary teachers to help close
the reading gap.
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The Curriculum Coordinator, Principal and 5th
grade teachers met and reviewed the cum records
of the current 5th graders for the past 2 years
(as 3rd and 4th graders).
Dilemma Closing the Achievement Gap
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Results from the last student survey indicate
that only 65 of the students feel safe at
school. Mrs. Ima Believer, the principal, urged
all teachers to address this situation in their
classes.Mr. Knight, a teacher and coach thought
these results were inaccurate. He walked the
halls everyday and didnt see anything unusual.
Someone did catch a student with a knife the
other day, but that was different. The student
wasnt very well known and hadnt been in trouble
before. One day, Mr. Knight watched as some
athletes were teasing some of the other kids, but
they didnt mean any harm. The building is
overcrowded and the cafeteria is always a site of
kids being kids. Its hard to get through the
halls sometimes and the stairways are especially
difficult as a few kids like to joke with others
by pushing them into the walls. Its really
nothing that doesnt happen all the time in every
school.
Dilemma Safety
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Next Steps for beginners

• Take a team of formal or informal leaders to
  visit a school and/or district already on the
  Baldrige path.
• Ask your leaders to share /? thoughts with you
  in relation to what they observed and for
  concerns before going forward
• Make a public commitment to performance
  excellence for your school or district
• Work with the leadership team to write a profile
  for the school and/or district.
• THIS WILL GIVE YOU THE FIRST INDICATION OF
  SIGNIFICANT GAPS IN YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE SYSTEM,
  AND/OR OF THE SYSTEM ITSELF.

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Next Steps for beginners

• Share the Profile and current results with
  stakeholders. Get buy-in from the Board, and
  other stakeholders to use the Baldrige as the
  framework for improvement.
• 5. Arrange for PDSA training for those
  responsible for addressing process improvement.
• Begin working to close the obvious gaps made
  evident from the Profile.

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For Those Along the Journey . . .

• Prepare a self-assessment
• Identify category champions
• Provide Baldrige training for the champions and
  
• leadership team
• Encourage the leaders and category champions to
  become
• Forward Award Examiners
• Complete a Baldrige self-assessment
• Seek and hire a Baldrige examiner/educator to
  provide
• written feedback
• facilitate focus groups
• coaching for leadership team

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For those already on the journey . . .

• Prioritize the identified opportunities for
  improvement
• Work on process improvements of 3-5 highest
  priority OFIs.
• Provide PDSA training for employees responsible
  for process
• improvement
• Educate teachers to use Baldrige in the
  classroom

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A self-assessment tool for teachers
Teachers are you . . .
Yes
No
Involving students in planning and
decision-making?
Seeking feedback from the next-teacher-in-line
about skills students need to succeed?
Providing learning experiences based on real-life
application and using a variety of teaching
strategies of multiple intelligences, brain
research, and differentiated instruction?
Setting personal goals and measuring progress
towards them? A role model for continuous
improvement?
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Does the classroom have . . .
Yes
No
A collaboratively established vision mission?
Is it signed by all and posted in the classroom?
Measurable class learning goals? Posted
prominently in the classroom? Charts showing
progress?
Charts and graphs posted that show evidence of
improvement of key classroom processes?
A climate that demonstrates the 2 principles of
I am responsible for my own learning and I am
response-able to the success of the group?
Students who are enthusiastic about learning
(measured?) few discipline problems high
attendance rates and low tardy rates?
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Are the students . . .
Yes
No
Involved in planning learning activities?
Setting personal goals? Measuring progress
towards their goals?
Improving the quality of their work?
Making suggestions to improve classroom
procedures?
Becoming learning risk takers?
Using the Plan-Do-Study-Act process to improve?
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Finally . . .

• Identify processes that are NOT capable of
  yielding the desired
• results
• BENCHMARK best practice to achieve
  break-through improvement
• Make continuous improvement and organizational
  and personal
• learning a habit for yourself and the
  organization
• Maintain an optimistic attitude be a leader
  with passion and be
• single-minded about learning and excellence.
  Accept NO excuses
• Lead with transparency be ready to make bold
  decisions and
• ensure resources are provided to get the job
  done

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For more information . . .
Contact Margaret Byrnes, Managing
Associate 17581 Sterling Lake Dr. Fort Myers,
FL 33912 [phone] margbyrnes_at_aol.com o
r Jeanne Baxter, Associate P.O. Box
385 Cable, WI 54821 [phone] drcolead_at_che
qnet.net