ASQ Makes Case for Quality to Education Secretary

MILWAUKEE, June 4, 2009 — The case for driving quality improvements, including the use of Baldrige methods, in U.S. education reached a new level today, as ASQ delivered a position brief to Arne Duncan, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.

Duncan was in Milwaukee to talk to public officials and educators from Milwaukee Public Schools and Milwaukee Area Technical College and at Bay View High School.

While at Bay View, ASQ’s Laurel Nelson-Rowe presented Duncan with a copy of an ASQ position paper on education (PDF, 78 KB).

Nelson-Rowe also offered to have ASQ assemble a panel of leading primary-secondary educators and Baldrige education winners to brief key officials at the Department of Education on the proven benefits of quality processes and Baldrige for schools.

Duncan’s appearance at Bay View High School included remarks to the graduating class, as well as remarks from Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. The leaders celebrated the accomplishments of finishing high school and encouraged the graduates to continue on to higher education, after listening to the challenges some graduating seniors encountered in finishing high school and hearing their praise for the improvements and quality learning environment found at Bay View.

The meeting with Duncan was arranged by Bay View Principal Robin Kitzrow and Phil Schmidt of the ASQ Education Division.

Duncan indicated he is interested in learning more, so ASQ plans to send the Department Baldrige case studies and data-driven examples of how the quality process is helping to improve education systems.

ASQ will continue to reach out to the Department of Education to advance ASQ’s quality in education goals, which align with the Department’s aims for employing innovative best practices to accelerate educational achievement.