Baldrige National Quality Program CEO Issue Sheet

BALDRIGE in Education: Performance 

Excellence Delivers World-Class Results

Maybe you have heard about a failing

school using a Baldrige assessment

to begin its turnaround. But why would

a school with good performance

undertake a Baldrige self-assessment?

To become better—and to get

better results. In today’s education

environment of high-stakes academic

testing and accountability to wideranging stakeholders, being resultsfocused is essential for schools.

Education leaders who understand

performance excellence know that

school results must deliver everimproving value to students and

stakeholders, promoting education

quality and organizational sustainability.

The seven, comprehensive Categories

of the Baldrige Education Criteria for

Performance Excellence are designed

to help education organizations

capitalize on their unique strengths

and identify their opportunities

for improvement. When schools

effectively develop and deploy

strategies in each of the first six

Baldrige Categories, they can expect

these linked processes to drive

better results.

The seventh Category of the Baldrige

Education Criteria is called Results.

This Category examines organizational

performance and improvement in key

outcome areas—student learning;

student and stakeholder focus;

budgetary, financial, and market;

faculty and staff; organizational

effectiveness; and leadership and

social responsibility. Baldrige Award

recipients have proven to be highperforming organizations that measure

outcomes in all their key areas

of performance and know where

they stand on each relative to

the outcomes of competitors and

education industry leaders.

Baldrige Award recipients strive to design and deliver effective educational programs

and activities that lead to strong learning results and educational improvement for

all students. 

• The Jenks Public Schools (2005 Award Recipient in Education) of Oklahoma have

adopted a team-based learning approach that has resulted in multiple awards and

recognition of students, faculty, and staff for academic achievements. Thirty-seven

percent of the district’s class of 2004 demonstrated college-level mastery by earning

an Advanced Placement test score of three or better, compared to the national

average of 13 percent and the highest state level of 21.2 percent. The district’s high

school graduation rate was 93 percent in 2003, 94 percent in 2004, and 95 percent

in 2005. For more information, contact Dana Ezell, Director of Communications,

(918) 299-4415, ext. 2211, dana.ezell@jenksps.org.

• Alaska’s Chugach School District (2001 Award Recipient in Education) began a

comprehensive restructuring effort in 1994 and progressed from a school district in

crisis to one with student performance exceeding state and national norms. The

district’s results on the California Achievement Test rose dramatically—in reading,

from the 28th percentile in 1995 to the 71st in 1999; in math, from 54th to 78th; in

language arts, from 26th to 72nd. For more information, contact Debbie Treece,

Quality Schools Coordinator, (907) 522-7400, dtreece@chugachschools.com.

Aim High: Student Learning Outcomes

Baldrige Award recipients demonstrate that they have satisfied students’ and

stakeholders’ key needs and expectations and have encouraged loyalty, student

persistence, and positive referrals.

• The Pearl River School District (2001 Award Recipient in Education) of Rockland

County, New York, satisfies students and stakeholders through collaboration, including

them as participants in annual reviews of the district’s mission and goals. The district’s

overall student satisfaction, measured with a recognized national survey, increased

from 70 percent in 1998 to 92 percent in 2001, surpassing the highest score in the

survey’s databank (86 percent in 2001). The district’s overall parent satisfaction ratings

increased from 62 percent in 1996 to 96 percent in 2001, also exceeding the highest

score in the survey’s databank (89 percent in 2001). For more information, contact

Sandra Cokeley, Director of Quality and Community Relations, (845) 620-3932,

cokeleys@pearlriver.org.

• The University of Wisconsin–Stout (2001 Award Recipient in Education) maintains

productive, collaborative relationships with stakeholders, recognizing them as vital to

the university’s success in accomplishing its strategic goals. Five follow-up surveys to

learn how employers view its graduates showed that 99 percent to 100 percent of

respondents rated UW-Stout graduates as well prepared for their positions. In addition,

more than 90 percent of graduate program alumni and almost 90 percent of undergraduate program alumni responded that, if they could do it all over again, they would

choose to attend UW-Stout. For more information, contact Julie Furst-Bowe, Provost

and Vice Chancellor, (715) 232-2421, furst-bowej@uwstout.edu.

Satisfy: Student-/Stakeholder-Focused Outcomes

Validating Key Results 
BALDRIGE in Education: Performance Excellence Delivers World-Class Results

An organization that values its faculty and staff is committed

to their satisfaction, development, and well-being. Baldrige

Award recipients are focused on creating and maintaining a

productive, learning-centered, and caring work environment

for all faculty and staff.

• The Jenks school district motivates faculty and staff to

develop their full potential by focusing on continuous

improvement and recognizing excellent performance.

Career and professional development opportunities

include cohort degree programs offered with an accredited

university. As a result, 48 percent of the teaching staff have

master’s degrees, and 98.5 percent are “highly qualified”

according to the federal No Child Left Behind standards.

For 2003 and 2004, the district’s annual turnover rate for

certified staff was 11 percent and 6 percent, respectively,

compared to the national average rate of 20 percent

both years.

• Despite high turnover among teachers and administrators

in Alaska’s rural communities, the Chugach School District

has improved work situations and used incentives such as

flexible scheduling and job rotation to reduce teacher

turnover from an average annual rate of 55 percent from

1974 to 1994 to only 12 percent average annual turnover

from 1995 to 2000. 

Maintain Fiscal Stability: Budgetary, Financial, and Market Outcomes 

Know Your Strongest Assets: Faculty and Staff Outcomes 

Operate as a Leader: Organizational Effectiveness Outcomes 

Senior leaders are responsible for tracking organizations’

budgetary, financial, and market results, assessing their use of

resources and their market challenges and opportunities.

Baldrige Award recipients show that they understand their

organization’s financial sustainability and market performance.

• The Community Consolidated School District 15 (2003 Award

Recipient) of Palatine, Illinois, has developed innovative

means of assessing its market performance: By calculating its

cost of $111.93 per percentage point of student performance

on state learning standards tests, the district determined that

it outperformed three comparison districts, which ranged

from $118.57 to $122.36. District 15 maintained a per-pupil

expenditure rate at or below the levels of its comparison

districts and the state average from 1995-1996 to 2001-2002.

For more information, contact Robert Tenczar, Director of

Communications, (847) 963-3211, tenczarr@ccsd15.k12.il.us.

• Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business (MCB) at the

University of Northern Colorado (2004 Award Recipient)

earns high marks for value, with 2003-2004 tuition and fees

39 percent lower than the national average, while student

performance on nationally administered exit exams is in the

top 10 percent. For more information, contact Mike Leonard,

Public Affairs, (970) 351-1273, michael.leonard@unco.edu.

Baldrige Award recipients strive to achieve organizational

effectiveness and process efficiency by developing and tracking

key operational performance measures that are relevant and

important to their organizations. 

• In the Pearl River School District, the percentage of students

graduating with a Regents diploma—a key objective for the

district—increased from 60 percent in 1996 to 86 percent

in 2001, only 4 percentage points below the state’s top

performer. By comparison, the percentage of students earning

Regents diplomas in schools outside the district with similar

socioeconomic profiles decreased from 61 percent in 1996 to

58 percent in 2000.

• At Richland College (2005 Award Recipient), a community

college in Dallas, the faculty’s use of eCampus Blackboard

technology—a tool which provides courses, discussions,

assignments, and grades online—has risen from below

10 percent in 2001 to 37 percent in spring 2005, exceeding

best-peer performance. For more information, contact

Jenni Gilmer, Manager of Public Information/Technological

Communications, (972) 238-6022, jgilmer@dcccd.edu.

Be a Role Model: Leadership and Social Responsibility Outcomes 

Baldrige Award recipients’ senior leaders understand the

value of serving as role models and of reinforcing their

organization’s ethics, values, and expectations, with the aim

of maintaining a fiscally sound, ethical organization that is a

good citizen in its communities.

• In the Jenks Public Schools, service learning by students is

considered part of preparing them to be productive,

responsible citizens. Students are involved in numerous

projects that help the community. The district also maintains

an innovative partnership—recognized by Education Week,

CNN, and People magazine—in which prekindergarten

and kindergarten classes are held in a long-term care

facility, benefiting students, teachers, and senior citizens in

the community. 

• Richland College’s across-the-curriculum Service Learning

program sends students to 68 community organizations as

part of their “community-building” learning. Students

contribute nearly 13,000 service hours annually to these

organizations. Senior leaders, faculty, and staff serve on

key civic and business boards and committees and give

volunteer service hours to various charitable agencies

serving the area. 

For more information about Baldrige, contact the Baldrige National Quality Program, (301) 975-2036 or nqp@nist.gov. 

Visit the Baldrige Program’s Web site at www.baldrige.nist.gov for a general overview.