Baldrige Leadership in Ohio Schools

Periodically, the Ohio Legislature is asked to revisit the standards for operating schools inOhio. This has been done previously in 1968, 1970 and 1983. The current operating standards were approved by the State Board of Education on 12/12/00 and became effective 2/18/01. These new operating standards reflect changes in educational practices and goals since the formulation of the 1983 Minimum Standards for Elementary and Secondary Schools. One of these changes involves movement away from prescriptive inputs and toward a performance and accountability system for students and schools that emphasizes continuous improvement. The new set of standards incorporates quality improvement principles and will provide a framework for building high performance schools capable of supporting student needs and achieving state and local educational goals and objectives. The Ohio Department of Education assisted in this new adoption process, and is now charged with orienting school district administrators to the new standards. ODE also remains responsible for the site visits to schools. These orientations and site visits are currently underway in Ohio using Baldrige criteria. Bold faced words and phases particularly reflect the language of Total Quality Management and the Baldrige criteria. Comments or observations by Dr. Doug Brooks are in italics.

There is absolutely no question that the Department of Education's commitment to become a "Baldrige State" in public education has shaped the vocabulary and expectations of the 2001 operating standards for Ohio schools.

The following sections connect the discrete sections of the 2001 Operating Standards with the eleven (11) "Baldrige Core Valuesand the seven (7) "Baldrige Categories." Normally these are presented in separate documents, thus the relationship is harder to discern and specific action steps for stakeholders are harder to determine. A good way to remember the core values and criteria is to reverse the well known "craps game" call out "7 come 11" and make it "11 gives you 7." Boldfacewords and phrases of the Ohio Operating Standards for Schools in the following section are particularly "Baldrige."

"New Features" of the 2001 Operating Standards Governance & Organizational Leadership Section 3301-35-02 Ohio Revised Code.

The board, superintendent and treasurer are responsible for setting and communicating the district's mission, direction, and priorities in a way that addresses the needs of students and stakeholders.

The local board of education, district superintendent, and school faculty and staff are expected to be strong leaders who create the conditions for the district to operate as a successful organization, reinforce best practices,and serve as positive role models.

Leadership is a system and exists at all levels of the organization.

Leadership exhibits a strong commitment to continuous improvement by regularly and systematically monitoring student and organizational performance to ensure continuous improvement.

Leaders are responsible for listening to and appropriately responding in a timely manner to stakeholder's concerns. Leaders model ethical behavior among all stakeholders.

What is Different in Leadership Between the 1983 Minimum Standards and the 2001 Operating Standards for Ohio Schools?

2001 adds a purpose statement.

Definitions have been expanded from eleven to eighteen to include Baldrige terms.

The terms "pupil activity programs" and "pupil performance objectives" have been deleted.

The term "credentialed staff" has replaced "certificated staff".

Modified definitions are provided for classified staff, educational options, intervention, and procedures.

The "Leadership" Expectations in the 2001 Ohio Operating Standards

3301-35-02 Governance and Organizational Leadership

(A) The Board of Education, Superintendent, and Treasurer establish and communicate the district's mission, philosophy, direction, priorities and strategies for addressing stakeholder needs, especially those of students. To assure that the district operates a successful organization, the board, superintendent, treasurer and staff should serve as strong positive role models, reinforce best practices and provide strong leadership. The board of education shall be responsible of developing policies governing the schools' operations and educational programs, which are consistent with applicable local, state and federal laws and regulations.

(B) The elements of a leadership system that will guide a high performing district or school include:

    (1) A student focused environment;

    (2) High expectations for student and organizational performance, individual student and staff development, initiative, innovation, and a commitment to continuous improvement.

    (3) An educational environment that supports students' developmental needs.

    (4)On going analysis by the district or school of both student and organizational performance; and

    (5) The use of findings from on going reviews of student and organizational performance to improve system operations; promote innovation; align the district's mission, goals and objectives, strategic plan, and stakeholder needs; and allocate fiscal and human resources.

(C) To be responsible to the stakeholders they serve, the board of education and superintendent shall:

    (1) Assure that the mission and educational goals of the school district reflect the educational needs identified by a broad representation of stakeholders.

    (2)Assure that board policies and the district's educational goals are available to stakeholders;

    (3) Listen to and appropriately respond in a timely manner to stakeholders concerns about current and future school operations; and

    (4) Model and promote ethical behavior among stakeholders.

What are the Steps to Performance Excellence in "Baldrige Leadership"?

Common understanding, language and approach by key system owners

Commitment to approach and deployment of Baldrige-based improvement

Commitment to creation of an infrastructure to support a high-performing system at every level.

What is "Baldrige Leadership" in Your District?

The principal and leadership team members are leaders of the school learning system and are responsible for setting the direction and monitoring the progress of important school processes. What is important from a Baldrige perspective is evidence of a "leadership system" that advances continuous improvement and is not dependent on any one person to remain in place. Important requirements of leadership include how the superintendent, principal and leadership team set and communicate direction, communicate and reinforce values, create and sustain a climate conducive to learning for students and adults and work continually to improve the system of leadership. The leadership system in successful school districts and schools ensures that students are the primary focus in every area of operation. High performing schools are characterized by leaders and systems that establish and communicate clear, consistent focus and a commitment to increased student achievement through the practice and modeling of continual improvement.

Key "Leadership" Questions to Use as Quality Reflective Tools.

1) How do senior leaders set, communicate, and deploy organizational mission and core values, performance expectations, and a focus on student learning and development? The "How" is a reference to systemsnotevents. In Preble Shawnee the district mission statement scrolls across the screen when teachers and administrators turn on their computers.

2) How do senior leaders create and balance value for students and stakeholders?

3) How do senior leaders establish and reinforce an educational environment that promotes ethical values, equity for all students, empowerment, innovation, and safety, and that encourages and supports organizational learning. (Include key performance measures.)

4) How do senior leaders set the directions and address current and future opportunities for your organization?

5) How do senior leaders review organizational performance and capabilities to assess organizational health, performance relative to comparable organizations and key benchmarks, and progress relative to performance goals and changing organizational needs? (Be mindful of key performance measures that are regularly used.)

6) How do you translate organizational performance review findings into priorities for improvement and opportunities for innovation?

7) What are your key recent review findings, priorities for improvement, and opportunities for innovation? How are they deployed throughout your organization and , as appropriate, to your feeder and /or receiving schools, suppliers, and key stakeholders to ensure organizational alignment?

8) How do senior leaders use organizational performance review findings and faculty and staff feedback to improve their leadership effectiveness and the effectiveness of management throughout the organization?

9) How do you address the impacts of society on your operations. (Include your key practices, measures, and targets for safety, regulatory, accreditation, legal requirements, and risks.

10) How do you anticipate public concerns with current and future operations?

11) How do you prepare for these concerns in a proactive manner?

12) How do you ensure ethical practices in all students and stakeholder interactions?

13) How do your organization, your senior leaders, your faculty and staff, and students actively support and strengthen your key communities? How do you identify key communities and determine areas of emphasis for organizational involvement and support? (Include how community involvement reflects your organizationâs mission and/or values. )

How is "Baldrige Leadership" Evaluated?

There are three categories and five levels of performance.

The three categories are:
1) We work with key stakeholders in developing and improving a school mission statement.

2) We monitor and communicate progress toward school goals.

3) We use quality improvement principles and tools in leading the school.

The five levels of performance are the same across all seven Baldrige criteria:
1) Our district has not yet developed a specific approach to meet each criteria requirement. (1 point)

2) Our district has developed approaches that are consistent with Best Practices and are rarely implemented on a consistent basis in most schools. (2 points)

3) Our district approaches are widely implemented. They are sometimes implemented systematically in a few schools (3 points)

4) Our district approaches are usually systemic in most schools. Critical system connections exist between this category and all other quality categories. (4 points)

5) Our district approaches have had regular cycles of improvement. (5 points)

"Baldrige Leadership" in the Classroom

The classroom teacher develops, maintains, improves a classroom mission that guides decision making for students and teachers.

The classroom teacher uses quality improvement principles in daily classroom operations.

The classroom teacher regularly reviews, displays and communicates to parents and students the progress toward classroom goals that are aligned to the School Improvement Plan.

The classroom teacher joins with parents and other groups to continually improve classroom, school and community efforts.

Doug's Tip:

The classroom teacher who encourages the development of a "mission statement" that is consistent with the goals of the schools Continuous Improvement Plan is probably taking the first important step toward Baldrige. I saw this step taken by an eighth grade English teacher who on the first day of school said and wrote on the board "Our goal is to have you develop into the best writers that you can become." He proceeded make all of his instructional and management decisions around this mission statement. He did not develop this statement with them. He did use individual and classroom student work to show students and parents how they were progressing toward his goal. A generic mission statement that would make good sense would be the following: "Our goal is to have each of you become proficient in the course of study for this grade level and subject area." Then the teacher would distribute the Ohio course of study goals for that subject area and content area to students and parents. The Piqua City Schools have developed a CD-ROM that they distribute to parents. The CD includes the K-6 Ohio Course of Study for all content areas. The CD is free to parents at a cost of about $1.00 per family to the district. It is customized for each district. The CD was produced by the Primax Group in Cincinnati, Ohio. What we once called "Mastery Learning" is consistent with Baldrige. Students are told specifically what they are expected to know and will be tested on. The teacher formatively and summatively assesses student progress toward the goals. Grading on the curve is not consistent with Baldrige.

There are several instructional moments that lend themselves to "Baldrige leadership." I have always believed that an effective classroom or session "opening" should include a clear statement of what is to be learned and how it will be learned. Similarly, the "closing" of a session should include a review of what has been learned and a preview of what will be learned at the next session. Novice teachers tend to ignore or hurry through both openings and closings. Experienced, effective teachers tend to build skillful, content rich, paced openings and closings into each session.

Leadership Summed Up

Professional educators are inclined to view "effective leaders" as people possessing a set of personal traits thought to include variables like charisma, high energy, vision, etc. These people exist and often accomplish great things. But for the rest of us, effective leadership is more often a commitment to continuously improving systems that empower people, engage talent, synergize groups, and provide quality tools to accomplish organizational goals. The state of Ohio no longer wants someone to just take over a building or district and "leave a mark" or "run the place." What the new Ohio Operating Standards are requiring is that an effective leader be the steward of an effective system the would operate in the administrator's absence. In this new role, effective leaders would be seen developing a common understanding, language and approach to success by key system owners, committing to this approach and the deployment of Baldrige-based improvement methods, and most importantly creating an infrastructure to support a high-performing system at every level.

A charismatic building principal, with faculty members that are not aware of the building mission or continuous improvement plan, is not leading. A bright building principal that has not developed systems for reviewing proficiency test scores and item performance is not "Baldrige Bright." A building faculty without a building level continuous improvement plan is not being organized to improve. A classroom teacher that does not develop a classroom mission statement and assess progress toward that mission is probably not "getting it" according to Baldrige. The assess, plan, do, verify cycle has to be more than an annual review of performance. The language of Baldrige is the place to start. Get the vocabulary and model into the culture of the building. Use any network environment you have to systemically accomplish this goal. Start with the common language of Baldrige. Get everyone to learn the core values and categories.

Referencing the "Reflective Questions" in this section will get you started on discussing the presence or absence of systems in your school district or building.

Faculty and Staff Focus