Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to learn why schools adopted the Baldrige in Education (BiE) model, how the BiE continuous improvement process was successfully established in schools, and to describe the common approaches used by these schools. Methodology. This qualitative research design used a descriptive-comparative multi-case study approach. Sixty-five administrators, teachers, parents, board members, and community leaders were identified and interviewed in the five study school districts. Most questions were open-ended and related to specific research questions. Findings. Four of the five school districts started quality management systems before there was a BiE. A critical success factor in these schools was leadership. Leadership took a strong hand in managing the budget, cutting overhead costs, and understood what was necessary to develop a shared vision to improve education in their districts and schools. They improved organizational and process efficiency and involved stakeholders in their strategic planning process aligning operations to support their mission and vision. Schools shared a common vision that grew out of a belief that "all children can and will learn." All the districts used the "PDSA Cycle" as part of their implementation and continuous improvement process and ensured stakeholders' concerns or recommendations were recognized. Teachers developed goals and worked in collaborative teams adjusting instructional strategies based on formative assessment feedback. Significant organizational improvement occurred because the schools focused on management by fact, sharing data analysis. Schools in the study used "Data Binders" that defined student performance and what was needed to close the achievement gap. The Baldrige winners believed in benchmarking comparing world-class performance to their performance. Conclusions. All of these successful schools had strong leaders who identified and involved all stakeholders in the education process to develop a "shared vision" and ensure good continuing communications with these groups. Schools must teach students to develop learning plans that align with their individual goals and action plans including coaching, feedback, teamwork, while continuously checking student progress in their "Student Data Portfolios." Teachers must work in collaborative teams and support learning at the student's individual and developmentally appropriate level versus age-graded classrooms. All the schools in this research took advantage of technology using data management systems to administer formative tests and to simplify data disaggregation at the grade or department level. Recommendations. Conduct a study that evaluates the longitudinal academic performance of students as they progress from elementary to middle and then to high school in BiE education systems compared with students and schools with similar demographics but who have not used BiE processes.