Tag Archives: Excellence

A School Board Improves Its Focus Using the Baldrige Framework

28 Wednesday Sep 2016

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This post reprinted in its entirety courtesy of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, Gaithersburg, MD, http://www.nist.gov/baldrige and author Christine Schaefer. Posted as “A School Board Improves Its Focus Using the Baldrige Framework” on September 27 by Christine Schaefer.

BlogrigeThis past Saturday (September 24, 2016) was a proud day for Greg Gibson, a member of the Judges Panel for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. As superintendent of Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District (ISD) in Texas, Gibson was delighted to see his district’s board of trustees publicly recognized for its performance at the annual convention of the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA).

Specifically, the board of trustees for Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD is one of five (among school boards for about 1,100 public school districts across Texas) named a “2016 Texas Honor School Board” by TASA. Selection criteria for the annual award include “support for educational performance, support for educational improvement projects, commitment to a code of ethics, and maintenance of harmonious and supportive relationships among board members,” according to the TASA website.

scuc-board-portrait-blogrigeSchertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD Board Members:
Front row, from left to right: Mr. John Correu, Trustee; Mr. Robert Westbrook, Vice President; Mrs. Amy Driesbach, Trustee; and Mr. Jerry Perkins, Asst. Secretary.
Back row, left to right: Dr. Greg Gibson, Secretary of Schools; Mr. Mark Wilson, Trustee; Mr. Gary Inmon, President; and Mr. David Pevoto, Secretary.

Describing his board’s recent achievement, Gibson explained, “Starting about five years ago, we took the bold step of wiping our slate clean of our previous agenda in order to focus our actions at board meetings on student achievement and staff satisfaction and engagement. Previously, we had wasted too much time at meetings on other issues.”

He added, “We started with the definition of governance in glossary found in the back of the Baldrige Excellence Framework booklet (which includes the Education Criteria for Performance Excellence). The definition, which reflects the systems perspective that is a core concept of the Baldrige framework, begins as follows:

the system of management and controls exercised in the stewardship of your organization…

“We built on that definition and the Baldrige Criteria concepts in item 1.2 [the section on an organization’s governance system],” explained Gibson.

To improve its focus on the school district’s true priorities during board meetings, Gibson said, the seven board members and school system leader initially worked on improving the governance board’s performance in relation to 29 indicators of excellence from a longstanding state self-assessment tool.

“Once we maxed that out, we looked to continuously improve by moving to the Baldrige Criteria,” said Gibson. “The new self-analysis we built—it’s an inventory for good governance—is based directly on the Baldrige Excellence Framework. We’ll start using it in the next school year.”

For the statewide award received by his board last weekend, Gibson noted, “We wrote our application around the work our trustees are doing with the Baldrige framework.”

Congratulations to the board of trustees for Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD—and kudos to all boards of directors that similarly are using or plan to use the Baldrige framework to achieve and sustain good governance!

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Special thanks to Blogrige blogger Christine Schaefer for providing the opportunity to reprint Blogrige posts for WRIE readers. Reprint courtesy of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, Gaithersburg, MD, http://www.nist.gov/baldrige.

Our mission at Studer Education is to help education systems achieve measurable results that produce positive outcomes in student achievement, employee engagement, support services, and financial efficiencies and productivity. Our goal is to help school systems provide students with a great place to learn, teachers with a great place to teach, and parents with confidence that their children are getting a great education. Follow us on Twitter at @StuderEducation and visit us online at http://studereducation.com. Studer Education is a division of Studer Group, a recipient of the 2010 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

School Boards, @BaldrigeProgram Framework, Excellent Results

22 Friday Apr 2016

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Two of our Wisconsin colleagues, Superintendent of Pewaukee Schools, Dr. JoAnn Sternke, and Executive Director of Wisconsin Center for Performance Excellence, Liz Menzer, share thoughts about school boards connecting the Baldrige Framework to focus on excellent results. The post is reprinted in its entirety courtesy of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, Gaithersburg, MD, http://www.nist.gov/baldrige and author Christine Schaefer. Posted as “School Boards and the Baldrige Framework = Excellent Results” on April 14, 2016 by Christine Schaefer.

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The 2013 Baldrige Award-winning Pewaukee School District of Wisconsin began using the Education Criteria for Performance Excellence (part of the Baldrige Excellence Framework) at the prompting of a school board member, according to its superintendent, JoAnn Sternke. Larry Dux—then clerk of the Pewaukee School District Board of Education—was familiar with the Baldrige framework’s value to the business sector from his work. Dux believed his school district could benefit just as for-profit organizations had from adopting a systems approach to improving its performance, among other Baldrige core concepts.

He was right. As Sternke’s high-performing school system has since demonstrated, the Baldrige Education Criteria can be used as a self-assessment tool by a school and, better yet, the entire school system to improve performance in all key areas. Those include leadership and governance systems; strategic planning and development; approaches to engaging and supporting students, stakeholders, and employees; knowledge and data management as well as performance measurement; operations; and results.

Sternke and Liz Menzer—a longtime school board member and a leader in both Wisconsin’s Baldrige-based program and the nationwide network of local programs known as the Alliance for Performance Excellence—presented earlier this week on the Baldrige framework’s benefits to school boards at the 2016 annual meeting of the National School Boards Association (NSBA). I recently asked them to share some key information about their presentation for readers of the Baldrige blog.

As background, Sternke noted that NSBA has identified the following as core skill areas that effective boards of education need to ensure that all students achieve at high levels: vision, accountability, policy, community leadership, and relationships.

“These five dovetail beautifully with the Baldrige framework,” said Sternke. “In fact, the Baldrige framework supports and makes these concepts become actionable. This is the focus of our presentation at the National School Board Association conference (held in Boston, April 9–11).”

When asked why school boards can find the Baldrige framework valuable, Menzer responded, “Ensuring that public education will meet emerging challenges requires a clear vision for the work and operations of school boards in the future. The Baldrige framework can help boards shape proactive strategies that make school board members more relevant, credible, and effective leaders of public education.”

Sternke and Menzer each shared examples of the value they described, based on their respective experiences in school communities in Wisconsin.

“Using the Baldrige framework has helped our organization better utilize people, plan, and use processes to achieve [desired] results,” said Sternke. “Our board and our senior leaders clearly know their roles and their key work as we pursue our mission to open the door to each child’s future.”

For her part, Menzer said, “Using the framework has made us more data-driven, and this makes us better decision makers. It also makes us better ambassadors for public education because we can be less anecdotal and more factual about the good things going on in our public schools.”

Sternke and Menzer also provided their answers for three questions school boards are likely to ask about adopting the Baldrige framework, as follows:

1. Does adopting the Baldrige framework add more work for school boards?

Menzer: “No, it just organizes your work and provides focus.”

2. How do you get started?

Sternke: “The state-level, Baldrige-based programs of the Alliance (see link above) throughout the country can be great resources for educational leaders. In fact, Pewaukee School District got started with the support of the Wisconsin Center for Performance Excellence, which is headed by Liz Menzer.”

3. What’s the board’s role and the superintendent’s role in pursuing school/district improvement?

Sternke and Menzer: “One of the nice things about using Key Work of School Boards along with the Baldrige Excellence Framework is that these resources provide clear direction about governance versus operations. The first clearly presents differing roles that superintendents and school board members hold in education organizations that function optimally. These roles are supported by the Baldrige framework, which aligns the focus for all and also identifies the line between leadership (the work of senior leaders) and governance (the work of the board).”

[Illustration Omitted]

To help your local school board get started using the Baldrige Excellence Framework, consider downloading and sharing copies of the following free resource containing sample questions from the Education Criteria: http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications/baldrige_perspective.cfm. And please share how this or other Baldrige resources have helped your board of education and local schools improve and excel.

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Special thanks to Blogrige blogger Christine Schaefer for connecting with us via email about our request to reprint this post for WRIE readers. Reprint courtesy of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, Gaithersburg, MD, http://www.nist.gov/baldrige.

Our mission at Studer Education is to help education systems achieve measurable results that produce positive outcomes in student achievement, employee engagement, support services, and financial efficiencies and productivity. Our goal is to help school systems provide students with a great place to learn, teachers with a great place to teach, and parents with confidence that their children are getting a great education. Follow us on Twitter at @StuderEducation and visit us online at http://studereducation.com. Studer Education is a division of Studer Group, ranked for the seventh straight year on the Best Small and Medium Workplaces by Great Place to Work® and a recipient of the 2010 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Process Management Tips from a @BaldrigeProgram Award-Winning School District

30 Wednesday Mar 2016

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This post is reprinted in its entirety courtesy of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, Gaithersburg, MD, http://www.nist.gov/baldrige and author Christine Schaefer. Posted as “Where Success Isn’t an Accident: Process Management Tips from a Baldrige Award-Winning School District” on March 21, 2016 by Christine Schaefer.

BlogrigeAs superintendent of the Baldrige Award-winning Pewaukee School District, JoAnn Sternke is widely considered an expert on systematic process management (among other areas addressed by the Baldrige Excellence Framework). Sternke is frequently asked to share her district’s best practices to help other organizations around the country improve their systems so they too can achieve their desired results.

Yet Sternke recently said something that new users of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence may find both surprising and reassuring. In regard to the “Operations Focus” category (where process management is assessed), Sternke admitted, “I used to fear category 6.”

“Now I recognize that process is so vital to any organization’s success,” she added. “Improving processes will truly get us long-lasting results.”

At the Baldrige Program’s Quest for Excellence® conference in April, Sternke—along with Pewaukee School District Information Technology Director Amy Pugh—will provide guidance on process management in the session “How to Manage Your Processes So They Don’t Manage You.” According to Sternke, “Participants will learn a five-step process to identify, document, measure, analyze, and improve processes.”

Pewaukee-Five-Step-Process-Management“Without a process you don’t have a guide,” said Pugh. “Having a process makes it so much easier to identify targets and then collect key data points around those goals, monitoring them regularly and making changes as necessary.”

Sternke agreed, “Success isn’t a happy accident if you can rely on process. [Having a systematic process] is what makes positive direction sustainable and predictable—and that’s what we aim for.”

Tips and Insights on Managing Processes

Based on her district’s experience, Sternke offered the following tips for managing key processes to support excellence across an organization:

  1. Have a process owner who is identified as the “go to” for this process, and have this person document the process so there is a collective understanding of the process.
  1. Know what’s key and measure this.
  1. Have a systematic review of the process—remember the “S” and the “A” in Plan–Do–Study–Act [improvement methodology]. Don’t become so busy doing the process that you don’t evaluate it or refine it.

Sternke also shared her insights on innovation in relation to process management:

“I’ve learned that innovation truly comes from process, not in ‘lightbulb moments,’” she said. “The quest to offer greater value to stakeholders is what drives both process improvement and innovation. They go hand in hand.”

Benefits of the Baldrige Framework in Education

Why is using the Baldrige Excellence Framework (including the Education Criteria for Performance Excellence) beneficial for school districts today? According to Sternke, she’s “better equipped to lead my organization using this framework” and doing so helps her avoid merely “pursuing random acts of improvement” as a leader, ensuring systematic improvement.

“We can’t be successful if we just lead from one cool idea to another, thinking that is improvement,” she explained. “The people who come to work and learn each day deserve an organization that allows them to do the good work they want to do.”

“The Baldrige framework is a proven means to better outcomes—and we all want that for our students,” Sternke added. “The Education Criteria focus our organization on the right things: the questions guide me as a leader and all of us in our organization to think more deeply about how we can make our organization operate best in order to be successful.”

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Visit the Pewaukee School District website for more information. The district will also present on Tuesday, April 5, at the Baldrige Program’s Quest for Excellence® Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

Special thanks to Blogrige blogger Christine Schaefer for connecting with us via email about our request to reprint this post for WRIE readers. Reprint courtesy of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, Gaithersburg, MD, http://www.nist.gov/baldrige.

Our mission at Studer Education is to help education systems achieve measurable results that produce positive outcomes in student achievement, employee engagement, support services, and financial efficiencies and productivity. Our goal is to help school systems provide students with a great place to learn, teachers with a great place to teach, and parents with confidence that their children are getting a great education. Follow us on Twitter at @StuderEducation and visit us online at http://studereducation.com. Studer Education is a division of Studer Group, a recipient of the 2010 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Tips from @BaldrigeProgram Award-Winning #Education Organizations

07 Thursday Jan 2016

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Many education systems are writing their state-level quality program applications at this time. We think the tips in this post might be helpful. The post is reprinted in its entirety courtesy of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, Gaithersburg, MD, http://www.nist.gov/baldrige and author Christine Schaefer. Posted as “Tips from Baldrige Award-Winning Education Organizations” on November 4, 2014 by Christine Schaefer.

BlogrigeThe following have been compiled from interviews of presenters at the Baldrige Program’s 26th Annual Quest for Excellence® conference.

How to Use the Baldrige Criteria to Improve a School System:

  • Talk with the staff involved: Help the staff to identify their priority areas for improvement, looking at the data you have to support that, and get them involved in identifying what the “big rocks” are. Sometimes it’s an easy win to get them involved in being part of the solution as well as identifying the problem. It’s not always what the leadership might see as a priority area; if workers see it as a major issue, then they tend to be more engaged in the improvement process and have more buy-in along the way.
  • Use the Baldrige Criteria and the Baldrige processes without using all the Baldrige terminology. Using language that is familiar to the workers is less overwhelming.
  • “Go slow to go fast”: Keep a pulse on your staff to see where they are in the transition process through both formal check-in meetings and informal conversations. You need to have a combination of that hard and soft data to monitor. You need some folks to tell you what the reality is on how things are going.

These tips are from Melanie Taylor, associate superintendent of curriculum and instruction of Iredell-Statesville Public Schools (2008 Baldrige Award recipient, education). Read the complete interview at http://nistbaldrige.blogs.govdelivery.com/2014/04/02/tight-education-funding-growing-student-needs-where-baldrige-is-essential/.

How to Conduct an Organizational Self-Assessment:

  • Use the “Are We Making Progress?” surveys as a starting point for using the Baldrige framework. These surveys—one for the senior leadership team and another for other employees (available for free download from the Baldrige Web site at http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications/progress.cfm—are based on the Organizational Profile questions in the Baldrige Criteria.
  • Once the survey results are in, pull together a cross-functional team to analyze the results and discuss potential answers to the questions from the Organizational Profile.
  • Conduct a gap analysis based on this work; it will likely provide several “jumping off points” for continuous improvement efforts in the organization.

These tips are from Lisa Muller, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning at Jenks Public Schools (2005 Baldrige Award recipient, education). Read the complete interview at http://nistbaldrige.blogs.govdelivery.com/2014/03/25/value-of-the-organizational-profile-to-an-ever-changing-organization/.

How to Implement a New Curriculum:

Use a collaborative planning process to ensure that you are implementing the curriculum across your system systematically. Following are questions addressed by the school system at each step of the process:

1. Plan: What is the indicator or standard asking our students to do? What are the difficult points for teachers? Students? What are the connections to prior/future learning? How will the thinking and academic skills be addressed?

2. Do: What is acceptable evidence of proficiency with the indicator? What is the sequence of learning? How will we identify ways instruction can be adjusted to meet the needs of all learners?

3. Study: How will we know students are learning it? Review data points around multiple pathways.

4. Act: What do we do if they already know it? What do we do if they do not learn it?

These tips are from Rose Ann Schwartz, staff development teacher, and LaVerne Kimball, associate superintendent, at Montgomery County Public Schools (2010 Baldrige Award recipient, education). Read the complete interview at http://nistbaldrige.blogs.govdelivery.com/2014/03/13/preparing-students-for-future-jobs-update-from-2010-baldrige-award-winner/.

How to Create a Strategic Plan for a School District:

  • Determine your values and goals (from mission)
  • Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis and an environmental scan.
  • Determine strategy areas and create action plans.
  • Publish and share the strategic plan with all.
  • Monitor and create accountability systems.

This tips are from Brian Kammers, vice president of the board of education, and Marty Van Hulle, principal of Pewaukee High School, for the Pewaukee School District (2013 Baldrige Award recipient, education). Read the complete story at http://nistbaldrige.blogs.govdelivery.com/2014/04/22/from-blind-squirrels-looking-for-nuts-to-strategic-planners/.

How to Systematically Measure Your Organization’s Performance:

  • Design a system for your performance measurement and improvement that is repeatable and sustainable (Approach).
  • Involve all key groups in development of your performance measurement and improvement system and share the results widely (Deploy).
  • Make calm, clear-headed decisions based on the data analysis and regularly evaluate the effectiveness of the performance measurement process itself (Learn).
  • Align your performance measurement system with your organization’s mission, vision, values, and key work processes (Integrate).

These tips are from Fonda Vera, executive dean for planning, research, effectiveness, and development, and Bao Huynh, director of institutional effectiveness, at Richland Community College (2005 Baldrige Award recipient, education). Read the complete interview at http://nistbaldrige.blogs.govdelivery.com/2014/03/06/measuring-performance-best-practices-of-a-2005-baldrige-award-winner/.

Editor’s Note: The first two blogs in this series feature tips from Baldrige Award-winning businesses and health care organizations, respectively, based on interviews of presenters at this year’s Quest for Excellence conference.

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Special thanks to Blogrige blogger Christine Schaefer for connecting with us via email about our request to reprint this post for WRIE readers. Reprint courtesy of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, Gaithersburg, MD, http://www.nist.gov/baldrige.

Our mission at Studer Education is to help education systems achieve measurable results that produce positive outcomes in student achievement, employee engagement, support services, and financial efficiencies and productivity. Our goal is to help school systems provide students with a great place to learn, teachers with a great place to teach, and parents with confidence that their children are getting a great education. Follow us on Twitter at @StuderEducation and visit us online at http://studereducation.com. Studer Education is a division of Studer Group, ranked for the seventh straight year on the Best Small and Medium Workplaces by Great Place to Work® and a recipient of the 2010 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Support Employees to Maximize Their Potential via @MyCommunityNOW

08 Thursday Oct 2015

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This post reprinted in its entirety courtesy of the Muskego NOW and author Jane Ford-Stewart. Posted as “Muskego-Norway official sees benefits from evidence-based leadership” on October 5, 2015, by Jane Ford-Stewart.

MN NOW logo

As the Muskego-Norway schools start the second of a three-year evidence-based leadership program, Superintendent Kelly Thompson reported the schools are seeing positive results already.

“We have seen an increase in employee satisfaction in all areas of our engagement survey,” she said.

That is a sign that the evidence-based leadership initiative aimed at helping administrators better support employees to maximize their potential is not just on paper but is in everyday use.

Muskego-Norway has partnered with the Pewaukee and Kettle Moraine school districts to have leadership consultant the Studer Group teach district-level administrators and principals evidence-based leadership techniques.

“Studer has worked with us to embed ‘evidence-based leadership’ into our daily work,” Thompson said.

Although Studer has focused mainly on the health care industry, it has solid numbers to back up the methods it recommends, said Muskego-Norway School Board President Rick Petfalski. The three districts have engaged Studer together to save money, with Muskego-Norway using funds devoted to administrative inservice training.

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Special thanks to Muskego NOW reporter Jane Ford-Stewart for connecting with us via email about our request to reprint this post for WRIE readers. Posted as “Muskego-Norway official sees benefits from evidence-based leadership” on October 5, 2015, by Jane Ford-Stewart.

Our mission at Studer Education is to help education systems achieve measurable results that produce positive outcomes in student achievement, employee engagement, support services, and financial efficiencies and productivity. Our goal is to help school systems provide students with a great place to learn, teachers with a great place to teach, and parents with confidence that their children are getting a great education. Follow us on Twitter at @StuderEducation and visit us online at http://studereducation.com. Studer Education is a division of Studer Group, ranked for the seventh straight year on the Best Small and Medium Workplaces by Great Place to Work® and a recipient of the 2010 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.