continuous improvement through Baldridge in Education.

THE BALDRIGE CENTER HELPS BUILD THE CAPACITY OF SCHOOLS AND DISTRICTS IN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY TO BOOST ACHIEVEMENT, USING TECHNIQUES PROVEN SUCCESSFUL IN THE BUSINESS WORLD.

All students can reach high standards. Is that belief present in all schools -- especially low-performing schools? Is there a disconnect between standards, funding, teacher expectations and demands on students in California? If you believe that the barriers to school change lie in the need to change the system -- not the teachers or students -- you will be drawn to Baldrige in Education.

The Santa Cruz County Office of Education is refocusing staff and resources to build the capacity of schools and districts to boost the academic performance of all students, but especially English language learners and students performing below grade level.

In June, the California Department of Education selected Santa Cruz County to receive a regional partnership grant to assess low-performing schools and to expand the Baldrige in Education program. Riverside, Stanislaus and Ventura were also selected to allow county offices to develop pilot programs to serve as effective models for systemic change focusing on districts with large numbers of low-performing schools.

Over the past six years, the Santa Cruz County Office of Education has developed the Baldrige in Education (BiE) Center and Quality Leadership Academy with a growing number of partners. Walt Buster, Superintendent, Clovis Unified School District; Carl Cohn, Superintendent, Long Beach Unified District; and John Casey, Superintendent, Pajaro Valley Unified School District; outlined their districts' commitment to using Baldrige as a district change strategy at ACSA's Superintendents' Symposium in January 2001.

Santa Cruz County Office of Education continues to work with these districts and a growing number of districts through last October's Quality Forum 2000 conference, our local Quality Forum and a statewide conference being planned for May 2002.

"The Baldrige in Education approach is about getting results while building a culture that embraces continuous improvement. Baldrige gets everyone on the same page -- from the maintenance department to the School Site Council to the regional providers to the staff, parents and students -- everyone who interacts with the school can use the same criteria and tools to unify and drive their improvement efforts." -- Administrator, Pajaro Valley Unified School District

The Baldrige in Education Leadership Academy is a community-wide endeavor to improve local schools using management techniques proven successful in the business world. Educators are not the first profession to face the challenges of higher standards and expectations.

U.S. manufacturing industries faced tougher standards and competition in the 1970s and '80s. In the face of competition from Japan and Europe, automotive and electronic products from the United States were deemed inferior. Many American-made products that were highly praised in the past were then considered inferior and "underperforming." The companies that survived that era engaged in self-assessment and benchmarking; analyzing what customers wanted, focusing on high standards and continually improving their processes and working environments.

Schools and districts are learning from the experiences of American business. In the new millennium we face higher standards, greater "customer" or "stakeholder" expectations, and the need to build positive and enriching working environments for staff. We are more accountable for results -- requiring all students to be achieving at or above grade level and to be prepared to be successful in college and the world of work.

Beginning the quality journey

In 1995, Bruce Woolpert, CEO and President of Granite Rock Co., a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winner, approached the Santa Cruz County Office of Education with an innovative partnership idea. He suggested working with local schools to improve their performance by applying the same processes and tools successful businesses had used. That was the beginning of a quality journey for the Santa Cruz County Office of Education. The early years focused primarily on customer satisfaction and goal-setting with 13 local schools.

In 1998, as part of the Baldrige Award Program, the U.S. Congress extended the Baldrige assessment to include education (Education Criteria for Performance Excellence). These criteria provide the framework for continuous improvement shown in the diagram below.

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Early and dramatic successes at schools and districts in Florida, Texas and North Carolina provided renewed interest and commitment from Santa Cruz County schools. Today, 21 local schools are partnered directly with the Santa Cruz County Office of Education's Baldrige in Education Leadership Academy. Forty-five percent of these schools are considered "underperforming" and rank in the first five deciles on the California Academic Performance Index.

Santa Cruz trainings and forums have also included more than 20 other school districts around the state, including leaders such as Long Beach, Dos Palos, Clovis, Lancaster and San Jose Unified School Districts. ACSA, California Department of Education, Santa Clara County Office of Education, Contra Costa County Office of Education and others are exploring Baldrige as a change strategy.

"I never saw our school and my classroom as a system -- one that could be improved over time to become more effective. I now see how we can improve our "processes" to increase student learning. I am working smarter -- I accomplish more in less time. My students are meeting state standards for the first time. Now we want to exceed them." -- Teacher, Rolling Hills Middle School

Taking the blame out, putting the support in

Focusing on continuous improvement as a "way of doing business" takes the blame out of any system. The Baldrige approach places emphasis on improving district, school and classroom processes -- not on blaming individuals.

Through the Santa Cruz County Office of Education's Baldrige in Education (BiE) Leadership Academy and Quality Center, teachers and site and district leaders are trained in the practical application of the Baldrige criteria and quality tools. They learn how to create and maintain effective and efficient management systems at the classroom and school level.

These systems include aligning mission and goals, tracking data to drive decision-making, empowering staff and students, and establishing classroom learning processes and continuous improvement cycles of those processes to ensure learning is taking place.

This support extends beyond the training to coaching and networking. Through the BiE Leadership Academy, teachers and principals from across the county and across grade levels meet regularly to exchange best practices. Through networking with mentor principals and high-achieving schools, teachers and principals from underachieving schools gain new insights and learn best practices in curriculum and instruction as well as systems management.

Support and inspiration from the business community continues to come to the schools through the Baldrige in Education Leadership Academy. Corporate citizenship and responsibility is part of the Baldrige Leadership criteria. For example, Solectron Corporation, two-time winner of the national Baldrige Award, has provided leadership at the state and national level for both educators and other businesses. Granite Rock has supported the program of the Santa Cruz County Office of Education both financially and by loaning employees to mentor educators. The Boeing Company has supported the efforts of Long Beach Unified School District. John Cottingham, president of Industry Education Council, has committed to matching business partners and is convinced that schools will have the same success with quality strategies as experienced by U.S. businesses.

Moving from systems thinking to systems integration

As teachers and principals see the connections between the Baldrige criteria, they begin "systems thinking." But moving to systems integration requires new actions. The first step with many underperforming schools is to create one unified plan.

Often schools have more than ten plans: WASC, School Plan for Categorical Funding, Program Quality Reviews, Safe Schools plans, library plans, grant goals and others. And each plan comes with a different set of goals and requirements. Integrating these plans into one with a few focused goals begins the system integration process.

Alignment of mission and goals from the district to the school to the classroom level is often the next step. As more stakeholders align their mission to that of the school and begin to focus their improvement efforts toward the same goals, the organization moves to greater efficiency and effectiveness. Improving those efforts or processes over time leads to higher levels of performance. In Baldrige assessment terms, the organization is moving from approach to deployment. Continuous improvement eventually leads to innovation.

"I made all of my goals this month. Our class met its goals too. I am learning more this year because I know what I need to learn and how I'm going to do it." -- Student, grade three

Classroom systems for learning

The Baldrige criteria are not prescriptive. Understanding and acting on the criteria empowers teachers and students to implement innovative processes that they decide can work. For example, Baldrige schools use a unique approach in applying the quality criteria in the classroom to assist students in constantly monitoring their achievement results.

Starting with clearly displayed state standards, each class reviews its grade-level expectations and then students interview next-grade-level teachers to more fully review and understand the expectations. Students then set individual goals, and in so doing, take responsibility for their own education.

These goals are continually revised and tracked in data portfolios. Students publish their results and elicit the support of parents and staff members in achieving goals. Parents are not only informed of what their child should know and be able to do by the end of the year, but they also track their child's progress monthly in meeting the standards.

Students who fall behind are identified as each standards element is taught, and extra support is provided immediately before the class moves too far into the next standards element. Teachers regularly survey parents to determine their levels of satisfaction as they monitor the learning results in the classroom. Decisions to make changes in the class schedule, instructional strategies and interventions are based upon frequent analysis of this data, with input from students and collaboration among same-grade-level teachers.

Schoolwide systems

Ideally, in a Baldrige organization, school-site and district-level administrators use the same process improvement strategies as they share leadership and set the direction of the organization. Principals model the use of quality tools and data analysis in staff meetings. They track the results of the students and involve teachers as leaders of their learning processes. Teachers regularly identify and share these best practices, and the results they are achieving at staff meetings. Principals share their results and best practices at district-level managers meetings. The board and superintendent also use the same processes, aligning personnel evaluations, recognition and celebrations with the criteria and achievement of personal, school and district goals.

School site councils, unions, special support programs and all school providers align their goals and operations with those of the school. Each group uses quality tools to improve its effectiveness and monitor its efficiency. Establishing successful processes that are observable, repeatable and sustainable helps the school move forward while building a culture that embraces continual improvement as a core value.

Leadership in improvement efforts

County offices of education are playing an increasingly significant role in support of change at the district and school level. The Regional Partnership Grant awarded by the California Department of Education will support the Santa Cruz COE's Baldrige in Education Center in the expansion of this systemic effort statewide.

For more information, please contact Ruth Miller, director of the Santa Cruz County Office of Education Baldrige in Education Center, at [phone] or [e-mail]. You can check out the Santa Cruz COE Web site at www.qualityineducation.org for an upcoming training schedule. Additional Baldrige Quality Program information can be found at www.quality.nist.gov.

Diane K. Siri is superintendent of the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, where Ruth Miller is director of the Baldrige in Education Center.