Baldrige in Education

Posted on January 6, 2007 by John Hunter

Superintendent’s method used by Boeing, Motorola [the broken link was removed] by Helen Gao

The three M’s – managing for innovation, management by fact and market focus – are unfamiliar phrases to most people in the educational establishment. But don’t be surprised if, in the coming months, leaders of the San Diego Unified School District start spouting corporate-speak. Management principles long embraced by companies seeking a competitive edge are making inroads in the public school system, as Superintendent Carl Cohn pushes the district toward “Becoming America’s best.”
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When the training was over, one question on employees’ minds was: “Will the district follow through with Baldrige?” After all, other improvement efforts had come and gone.

Good question. I think the Baldrige criteria can help, but it is not the most effective strategy (it is too often just a surface attempt to apply some “tools” without real change). I believe improvement methods, strategies and tools can work for education but the education area has special factors to consider. I suggest the following resources: David Langford, Alfie Kohn – books and articles by Kohn, Applying Lean Tools to University Courses, Ivan Webb’s School Improvement website [the broken link was removed], books on education improvement, k-12 education improvement links, Jenks Public Schools – 2005 Baldrige Award [the broken link was removed] – UW- Madison Office of Quality Improvement, Improving Engineering Education

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