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Malcolm Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence- The Criteria were developed in 1987 and named posthumously for former Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige. Designed to help American business and industry gain a competitive edge in the global market, the Criteria reflect current best thinking on organizational practice. The Education version of the Criteria was created in 1998 as a tool for understanding and improving school performance. The Criteria are made-up of two equally important components: the eleven core values and the seven categories that embody them.
Doug's comments are in italics.
The Eleven Core Values-These core values are the foundation for integrating key requirements within a results-oriented framework and are the embedded behaviors found in high performing organizations. VL/LCE/OPL/VFSP/A/ FF/ MI/MF/PRC/RCV/S
1) Visionary Leadership- senior leaders set directions and create a student-focused, learning-oriented climate, clear and visible directions and high expectations.
2) Learning-Centered Education-a commitment to develop the fullest potential of all students and stakeholders in an environment that understands and translates marketplace and citizenship requirements into appropriate curricula and developmental experiences.
3) Organizational and Personal Learning- the continuous improvement of existing approaches and processes and adaptation to change, leading to new goals and or approaches.
4) Valuing Faculty, Staff and Partners- committing to their satisfaction, development and well being.
5) Agility-the faster and more flexible response to the needs of students and stakeholders.
6) Focus on the Future-Fulfilling public responsibilities, developing faculty and staff, seeking opportunities for innovation.
7) Managing for Innovation-meaningful change to improve an organization's services and processed and create new value for stakeholders. Innovation should be structured in such a way that innovation becomes part of the culture and daily work.
8) Management by Fact-an organizational culture that depends on measurement and analysis of performance consistent with the organizations mission.
9) Public Responsibility and Citizenship-the importance of an organization's serving as a role model in its operations. This includes the protection of public health, safety, ethical business practices and nondiscrimination beyond mere compliance.
10) Focus on Results and Creating Value-the use of a balanced composite of performance measures offers an effective means to communicate short and long term priorities, to monitor performance and provide focus on improving results.
11) Systems Perspective- looking at the organization as a whole and focusing on what is important and concentrating on key linkages among the seven Baldrige categories.
The Seven Categories-These seven categories describe the essential elements of anintegrated management system. L/SP/SSF/IA/HRF/PM/SPR
1) Leadership- 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.
2) Strategic Planning-School plans support the district improvement plan and take into account student and stakeholder needs. Goals and measures in the plan focus on student achievement.
3) Student and Stakeholder Focus-There are definite methods for building positive relationships with students, parents, other schools, and the community as well as for determining their needs, expectations and requirements.
4) Information and Analysis-The school collects and manages the information required to monitor school progress, support plans for improvement and improve key processes.
5) Human Resource Focus- The school work environment supports the full development and engagement of faculty, staff and students in accomplishing the school mission.
6) Process Management- The faculty, staff and students manage and continually improve a variety of processes designed to achieve classroom goals.
7) School Performance Results- All areas of the school show improvement over time as well as compared to similar and world-class schools.
Action Plans-Refer to the principal organizational-level drivers, derived from short and long term strategic planning.
Alignment-the consistency of plans, processes, actions, information and decisions among district and school units to support district and school goals. Effective alignment requires common understanding of purpose, goals and measures. The consistency between classroom actions and school improvement plan goals and measures is an example of alignment at the school level.
Customer- Internal and External-Internal customersare people within the school whileexternal customersare those outside the school. The core product for a school is the learning that teachers and students work together to produce. Examples ofinternal customersinclude: other teachers, grade levels, departments, support staff, school administrators and students. Examples of external customersof learning as a product include: receiving schools, employers, and the community.
Continuous Improvement Plan- a document required by the state of Ohio consisting of fourteen components. The CIP is currently required of schools on Academic Emergency and Academic Watch. The Ohio CIP has a particular structure requires ODE approval.
Classroom Learning System-an organized approach to teaching and learning which focuses on the relationship between expectations, goals & measurements, and reported results of student achievement.
Data-Numerical information used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, determining status, decision-making and analysis. Examples of school data include: employee satisfaction levels, academic test scores, customer satisfaction levels, and financial indicators.
Deployment-refers to the extent to which (breadth and depth) the Baldrige criteria (11 core values and 7 categories are being used in the organization.
Empowerment-Refers to faculty and staff having the authority and responsibility to make decisions and take appropriate actions. Empowerment is aimed at enabling faculty and staff to respond to student educational needs, to improve processes, and to better the organization's performance results. Information is provided in a timely and useful way. THIS is what collaborative networks like DarkeNet, ShelbyNet and PrebleNet accomplish.
Human Resources-Human resources are the work force who make up the school as a system. Faculty, staff, and students are the primary human resources for a school. This may be true in schools and districts without collaborative networks, but I would propose that in a networked environment the work force and service force is much larger and more interdependent.
Integrated Management System- Applies in appropriate sequence the seven essential elements listed above. For example: The goal of the organization is learner performance. Results are achieved when visionary leaders develop strategic plans that have student, stakeholder, faculty and staff focus, use educational and support processes for management and use information and analysis to decision-make.
MissionStatement-A school mission statement translates customer requirements into a statement of what the school is going to do, for whom and how it will be done. The process of developing a mission statement often brings key stakeholders of the school together to articulate a clear and focused statement of purpose. A typical Baldrige influenced mission statement would go something like this.....The mission of our school is to work together for the highest student achievement by creating and improving the school as a learning system. Component #1 in the State of Ohio's Continuous Improvement Plan is building a mission statement.
Optimization-Deriving the best possible outcome from a system by focusing on the entire system rather than only its parts.
Organizational Learning- the type of learning that is reflected in an organizations capacity to use data to improve systems. Organizations that do not learn make the same mistakes again and again and demonstrate no capacity for systems thinking.
Performance Excellence-The result of a pragmatic system of continual improvement driven by customer needs, expectations, and requirements. The system is characterized by
1) leadership awareness and commitment;
2) Strategic alignment;
3) Partner orientation;
4) Operation planning and deployment;
5) Learning to lead a high performing system;
6) creating a technical support team;
7) Using quality tools and techniques; and finally
8) Assessing system performance.
PDSA-The Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycle (also known as the Shewhart Cycle) is a description of the steps for continual improvement. Adopted by W. Edwards Deming, he substituted the word "study" for "check" as more descriptive of the need for analysis in on-going process improvement. The cycle continues with interactions of on-going refinement and improvement.
Process-Refers to linked activities with the purpose of producing a product or service for a customer within or outside the school. Generally, processes involve combinations of people, machines, tools, techniques, and materials in a systematic series of steps or actions.
Quality tools-A group of data management tools and decision-making strategies that support total quality management. These tools include: affinity diagrams, consensograms, control charts, competency matrix, cause and effect chart, Crawford slip process, flowcharts, force field analysis, histograms, Pareto diagram and run chart. The quality strategies include: brainstorming, cooperative learning, facilitation, self-managed groups and the use of collaborative learning networks like DarkeNet, ShelbyNet and PrebleNet.
School Improvement Team-The School Improvement Team is a the school's cross-functional work team responsible for the development and deployment of the school improvement plan.
School Leadership Team- The School Leadership Team is comprised of key building leaders who have responsibility for clarifying and communicating goals, decision-making, facilitating improvement efforts, and monitoring progress of the school as a system.
Stakeholder-Those groups and/or individuals who have a vested interest in the capacity of the school to meet and even exceed customer requirements. Examples of stakeholders include: students, parents, other schools, the district at large and the community.
Strategic Objectives-refer to an organization's major change opportunities and/or the fundamental challenges the organization faces. Strategic objectives are generally externally focused, relating to significant students/stakeholders, market, product/service, or technological opportunity. Broadly stated, strategic objectives are what an organization must change or improve to remain or become competitive. Strategic objectives set an organization's longer-term directions and guide resource allocations and redistribution.
Strategic Plan-The overall strategic guide for a school district that anticipated the future, accounts for resources and serves as a constant reference for decision-making by all stakeholders in the district. Strategic Plans come in many forms. The State of Ohio does not have a required form for Strategic Plans. The new Ohio Standards use continuous improvement plans and strategic plans almost interchangeably. They are not interchangeable. Strategic Plans can include Continuous Improvement Plans but not visa versa.
Self-Managed Groups-Teams or groups of people who function without the need for external direction.
Six Steps to Improvement-
1) Validate the need for improvement;
2) Clarify organizational purpose, goals and measures;
3) Adopt and deploy an organization-wide approach to improvement;
4) Translate the approach to "aligned action" at every level;
5) Analyze results and make improvements and
6) Repeat the cycle.
This is not a particularly unfamiliar cycle in public education. What is different is how often the cycle is activated. Public school educators tend to stimulate this cycle annually. The private sector tends to activate it daily. Effective teachers sometimes do this from one class to the next as they become more effective with a new lesson.
Supplier-Suppliers to the school provide the resources, materials, services, and products the school needs to do its job well. The feeder school is a primary supplier of students. Other suppliers include central office departments of curriculum and instruction, parents, the community, ESCs, RPDC's ITC, DA-Sites and the universities that train prospective teachers and provide advanced coursework for current teachers.
System-A set of well-defined and well-designed processes that work together for meeting the school's performance requirements. An example of an impressive systems for communication and professional development is DarkeNet, ShelbyNet and PrebleNet.
Systematic vs. Systemic-Systematic refers to processes that are repeatable and predictable, rather than anecdotal and episodic. Systemic refers to the inter relatedness and interdependence of parts and people within a system. Continuous improvement requires a balance of both systematic actions and systemic thinking.
Value-Refers to the degree of worth relative to cost and relative to possible alternatives of a product, service, process, asset or function.
Work Core-Describes the relationship between the people in the organization and the work that must be done to achieve goals and improve performance. The vast majority of an organizations resources are expended in the Work Core.
Baldridge Leadership
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