Question of the Week

Q: What resources does ASQ offer on using quality tools and processes in education?

A: Education, from kindergarten through college, is one of ASQ's major areas of interest. You can find lots of links, resources, networking opportunities and more by visiting the main education section of our Web site.

Here are some other resources to get you started:

ASQ’s Education Division Web site 

ASQ’s Education Blog: Quality in Education

ASQ’s Baldrige for Education Network is open to all, but participants are asked to register. 

Books

Thinking Tools for Kids: An Activity Book for Classroom Learning, Revised Edition
by Sally J. Duncan and Barbara A. Cleary
This is the first book of its kind written especially for young people. It describes challenges grade-school kids encounter and how they can be solved by a variety of quality tools.

The Baldrige Criteria for Educational Insititutions
by Juha Vaso and Kari Tuominen
Using the Baldrige Criteria, this book provides a series of 32 questions and contrasting pairs of examples specifically for educational facilities to help evaluate their performance, highlighting areas that need adoption or those that are currently excelling. The book makes it easier to involve the entire staff of the educational institute in launching development.

The Power of SMART Goals: Using Goals to Improve Student Learning
by Anne Conzemius and Jan O'Neill
Four real stories from elementary, middle, and high schools that are implementing SMART goals give you a firsthand look at their “probletunities” -- how they are turning challenges into opportunities for learning and improvement. The authors also provide templates and forms for implementing the SMART goals process in your own schools and classrooms.

Smart Teaching: Using Brain Research and Data to Continuously Improve Learning
by Ronald J. Fitzgerald
The very simple system components of this book are derived from many resources -- neuroscience, cognitive research projects, and observation of practice and results in K-12 and adult classrooms.

The Quality Rubric: A Systematic Approach for Implementing Quality Principles and Tools in Classrooms and Schools
by Steve Benjamin
The "Quality Rubric" teaches readers about applying quality in education, and provides a comprehensive framework that can be used to guide the gradual deployment of quality values, principles, tools, and techniques throughout your learning system.

Boot Camp for Leaders in K-12 Education: Continuous Improvement
by Lee Jenkins, Lloyd O. Roettger, and Caroline Roettger
Why "boot camp"? Because most of us are novices at leading schools where continuous improvement is the cultural norm; a culture where all-time-bests are continually strived for, achieved, and celebrated is rare indeed. In this book, Leaders can learn how to create a culture of continuous improvement with administrators, teachers, support staff, parents, and students.

Articles

Improve Schools With Empowerment Based Models
by John E. Westfall, James w. Peltier and Joseph Sheehan
Quality Progress, August 2005
How best-practice research led a large Wisconsin school district to use an enhanced logic
model for quality planning, which resulted in a three-phase initiative to improve curriculum and change classroom practices. Logged-in members/subscribers: Open Access. Or you can buy a PDF.

An Instrument for Measuring Engineering Education Quality from Students' Perspective
by James R. Detert and Roger Jenni
Quality Management Journal, July 2006
This paper reports the results of three studies designed to create and validate a survey instrument for measuring quality management/continuous improvement practices in educational settings. Open Access.

Learning From a Whole-System, Strength-Based Approach: A Case of Collaborative Curriculum Development
by Lindsey Godwin and Mary Grace Neville
Journal for Quality and Participation, April 2008
Too often, Faculty in schools of education view "practitioners" as too focused on narrow skill sets, while classroom teachers perceive higher-ed faculty as residing in “ivory towers” and out of touch with the daily realities of business. To bridge the communication gulf between these two groups, Southwestern University conducted a national dialogue that brought together voices from 55 educational institutions and business organizations. Although the summit context focused specifically on business education, it showed how bringing together disparate stakeholders’ perspectives within a system can improve an organizational design process. Open Access.

A Lexicon for Lifelong Learning
by Mike Schraeder, Willie Freeman, and Charles Durham
Journal for Quality and Participation, December 2007 
The belief that a college degree represents the culmination of one’s education is being challenged and replaced with the notion of lifelong learning. This article synthesizes a combination of literary material and practical insight into a set of principles that guide and support the need for lifelong learning. Open Access

Quality Goes to College
by John Dew
Quality Progress, April 2007
Quality principles and methods are being embraced by more colleges and universities
throughout the country, thanks in part to grassroots organizations. As a result, schools are focusing on applying quality in variety of areas, including admissions, finance, student housing, financial aid and procurement. Open Access.

Extending School Improvement Beyond Curriculum
by John E. Westfall, James W. Peltier, Joseph Sheehan and Harlan Weber
Quality Progress, November 2006
Improving schools requires more than just enhancing curriculum. Benefits from a curriculum improvement initiative led one district to extend the use of logic models as quality tools for prioritizing programs and aligning budgets, creating an empowerment-based process to better support student achievement. Open Access.

A Community College's Long-Term Commitment
by Sue Daniels
Quality Progress, June 2006
How Richland College in Dallas harnessed the power of the Baldrige model for sustained impact on student achievement. Logged-in members/subscribers: Open Access. Or you can buy a PDF.

University-Industry Partnership to Educate Calibration Technicians and Improve Data Quality
by Joe Fuehne
Journal for Quality and Participation, July 2008
The story of cooperation between engine manufacturer Cummins, Inc. and the Purdue University College of Technology, and how they developed a college claass to help prepare applicants for the Certified Calibration Technician exam offered by ASQ. Open Access

Case Studies

Continuous Improvement in Public Schools Through ISO 9001:2000
Since Wisconsin's Racine Unified School District achieved ISO 9001:2000 certification, the district has made notable progress in closing the achievement gap between demographic groups in reading and math, in decreasing truancy and suspensions, and increasing parent satisfaction.

Iredell-Statesville School District: Using Baldrige to Improve Teaching and Learning
This district's experience shows how a sustained effort to use the plan, do, study, act (PDSA) method and the Baldrige framework can bring results, such as improved reading scores and SAT scores.

Iowa School District Charts the Path for Continuous Improvement Journey
Introduced in 2006, a continuous improvement initiative in Iowa's Cedar Rapids Community School Districtuses the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence framework. Although it's early in the journey, the district has already earned a bronze award in the Iowa Recognition for Performance Excellence awards program.