Key Words and Concepts

Approach - Approach refers to the method or plan developed by a classroom teacher or an entire school staff to satisfy the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence.

Classroom Data Center - The graphic representation of a set of well-defined processes that describes the classroom mission and what the successful completion of the mission looks like. This may take the form of a run chart that compares a performance projection for classroom goals with current and past data performance. The data center includes key measureables. It is a classroom version of the building and district data centers. It may include the class mission statement, action plans, the name of team members, and a half dozen charts. In its most highly developed form, students use the data center to manage their own learning and truly become self-directed learners.

Core Team - The Core Team is a cross functional team made up of Board of Education Members, Community Representatives, Students, and School Employee Representatives who examine action plan performance data and make recommendations to the overall Strategic Plan Steering Committee.

Customer - Internal and External - Customers of the classroom are groups and/or individuals who receive or use a product or service of the classroom. The only reason the system exists is to serve the needs, wants, and expectations of customers. Students are the primary external customers due to the fact they bring revenue into the system and have the longest and most intimate association with the product of the system - quality education. Examples of external customers of learning as a product include: parents, receiving classrooms, employers, higher education, and society-at-large. Examples of internal customers include: teachers, administrators and support staff.

Data - Numerical information used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, determining status, decision-making and analysis. Classroom data examples include: percent of homework completed, next grade/course level teacher satisfaction levels, student satisfaction levels, class quiz/test scores, attendance, discipline referrals as well performance on standardized tests such as the Michigan Educational Assessment Program [MEAP].

Deployment - Deployment refers to the extent to which (breadth and depth) the Baldrige criteria are being used in the organization.

85/15 Rule - In his famous Red Bead Experiment, Dr. W. Edwards Deming proved that the only way to improve a product or service is for management to improve the system that creates that product or service. This has been confirmed in our own Tinkertoy® Experience. When the 85/15 Rule is applied to education it sees student achievement as work process outcomes rather than individual student effort. Every work system has a maximum capability. By increasing system capability we improve system output or results. Thus, the grades of A, B, C, D, and E describe more about the work process designed by educators than the individual students who function within the work process or system.

Gap Analysis [GA] - Gap Analysis is the systematic application of data results to managing the successful completion of action plans and strategies. GA works best in a team setting. GA may employ one or more of the quality tools to explore perceived performance problems and write and implement supplemental action plans designed to “close the gap.”

Human Resources - Human resources are the workforce who make up the classroom as a system. Students are the primary human resource for the classroom with the teacher as the leader.

J-Curve - The J-Curve represents the theoretical distribution of grades in an education system where most students occupy the rising part of the “J,” which means most students can get above-average marks. Use of the J-Curve is closely related to the 85:15 Rule and other quality theory. This is the case because quality assurance experts view student achievement, grade distribution, and the like as reflections of the work processes created by educators rather than the efforts and abilities of individual students who function within the work processes. Click Here for more information.

Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence - The Criteria were created in 1987 and named posthumously for former Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige. Designed to help American business/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.

Mission Statement - A classroom mission statement translates customer requirements into a statement of what the classroom is going to do, for whom and how it will be done. The process of missioning brings key stakeholders of the classroom together to articulate a clear and focused statement of purpose. Following is an example of one classroom’s mission statement: The mission of our classroom is to work together for highest student achievement by creating and improving the classroom as a learning system.

PDSA - The Plan-Do-Check-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 ongoing improvement efforts. An example of the PDSA process follows:

P - Planning a change in the homework process
D - Implementing the change in how homework is assigned and reviewed
S - Studying the effect of the change with key stakeholders-parents, students, teachers
A - Translating what is learned from studying the homework process into ongoing, consistent action

Process - Process refers to linked activities with the purpose of producing a product or service for a customer within or outside of the classroom. Generally, processes involve combinations of people, machines, tools, techniques, and materials in a systematic series of steps or actions. Teaching and learning activities are key processes within the classroom as a system. Homework, group projects, student-led conferences, and parent communication are also examples of classroom processes.

Product - The core product for a classroom is the learning that teachers and students work together to produce. See the definition of Quality printed below.

Quality - According to Dr. W. Edwards Deming and other quality professionals, “there is no operational definition beyond what the customer says it is.” Thus, the goal of an educational enterprise should be to find out what the customer wants and then fine tune the process to ensure that they get it. Our customers have functionally defined quality by means of the district mission statement and three strategic objectives - proficiency on all sub-test of the MEAP, a dropout rate of 1 percent or less, and 100 percent perception of acceptance at school.

Quality Tools - The term refers collectively to a set of Problem-Solving/Graphical techniques. The so-called “quality tool kit” includes the Affinity Diagram, Cause and Effect Diagram, Check List, Control Chart, and Correlation Chart, Fishbone or Cause and Effect Diagram, Flow Chart, Force Field Analysis Diagram, Histogram, Issue Bin, Pareto Chart, Plus/Delta Chart, Run Chart, and approximately 40 additional tools.

School Improvement Team - The school improvement team is 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 composed 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 - Stakeholders of a classroom are those groups and/or individuals who have a vested interest in the capacity of the classroom to meet and even exceed customer requirements. Examples of stakeholders include: students, parents, other classrooms, the school at large, and the community.

Supplier - Suppliers to the classroom provide the resources, materials, services, and products the classroom needs to be successful. The sending grade/level/course is a primary supplier of students. Other suppliers include central office departments of curriculum and transportation, custodians, cafeteria staff, parents and the community.

Strategic Plan - Strategic Planning is the second of the seven Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence in Education. The Grand Blanc Community Schools’ approach to strategic quality planning includes a statement of core beliefs or values, an overall statement of mission or aim of the learning system, three strategic objectives, fifteen strategies, and over 150 action plans.

System - A set of well-defined processes that work together for meeting the classroom’s performance requirements. An example is the classroom as a system in which all the classroom activities work together to achieve classroom goals. Dr. Deming proved that the only way to improve a product or service is for management to improve the system that creates the product or service. This has been codified into the so-called 85/15 Rule. Click Here to view Dr. Deming’s original depiction of a customer-driven system.

Systematic vs. Systemic - Systematic refers to processes that are repeatable and predictable, rather than anecdotal and episodic. Systemic refers to the inter-relatedness and interdependency of parts and people within a system. Continual improvement requires a balance of both systematic actions and systemic thinking and connections.

Testing - Testing and assessment should be used to evaluate progress toward and predict achievement against federal and state-mandated performance requirements and district academic achievement goals. Faculty and staff should use assessments to determine what has yet to be learned. The only reason to test students is so the teacher knows what to do next. This is the essence of No Child Left Behind.

Total Quality Management or TQM - Total Quality Management (TQM) is a philosophy and a methodology that is widely used in business, and increasingly in education, to continuously improve the system or process that creates products and services. TQM consists of process-improvement activities that involve all members of an organization in an examination of the system. In schools where a quality management system has been tried, it has made an enormous difference. Users report increased attendance, increased student achievement, a lower dropout rate, and increased student and staff satisfaction. TQM is data driven.